Philanthropy Today:Jake Gittlen Memorial Golf Tournament 2013

The Jake Gittlen Memorial Golf Tournament will be held this week from August 14-18 at the Hershey Country Club,Pennsylvania.The tournament began in 1965 as the Blue Ridge Invitational,founded by Jake Gittlen to bring together the Blue Ridge Country Club and public course golfers.When he died of cancer in May 1970,it was renamed in Gittlen's honor by the country club.His son Warren,who had been a Penn State golf team captain,transformed the tournament into a fundraiser for cancer research at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center in his father's memory.*The first Jake Gittlen Memorial was held in September 1970 with 50 players.It was moved to the Hershey Country Club in 1996.Funds raised contributed to the development of the first anti-cancer vaccine,Gardisil,which helps prevent cervical and other cancers.*The tournament has grown from raising 2,500 dollars in 1970 to 850,000 in 2012,for a total of 15,840,000 to date.It is the nation's largest amateur golf fundraiser,with major support from Giant Food Stores.Other corporate sponsors include ABC27;AFLAC;Highmark Blue Shield;Merrill Lynch;Northwestern Mutual;Pepsi;Sysco;Sprint;T-Mobile;and Wells Fargo Advisors,LLC.

Investing Today:Trends and Prospects

There are certain types of home buyers that want a new home.I don't see that dissipating quickly,said Carl Tannenbaum,chief economist at Northern Trust.Prices almost across the country are rising nicely.
I don't think the risk of disinflation in the US is terribly high.The Great Recession created a lot of capacity in factories and labour markets,and we're just now bringing that down.As long as we don't have backsliding,I think the Federal Reserve will start tapering back their asset purchasing.
Chinese home prices rose as those in Guangzhou soared by the most in over two years.
The late forties and early fifties are the only really comparable period to today,according to Barry Knapp,head of equity strategy at Barclays Capital.Not until the Fed exited did defensive stocks underperform.
Looking deep within the equity market,any exposure to China massively underperformed in the past month.Japan's gain is the rest of Asia's loss.
Ford says it can capture 6% of the Chinese auto market by 2015,while Intel forecasts Q2 earnings that may beat estimates on server chip demand.PepsiCo's Q1 profit beat estimates as snack food sales rose.
iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction ETF(ITB),Intel(INTC),PepsiCo(PEP),Ford Motor Company(F),iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund(FXI)

Inside PepsiCo-should you buy the stock

PepsiCo Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston reflected on his firm's beating the estimates of its Q1 performance.We increased media and launched Pepsi Next,which is off to an incredibly strong start;as well as Quaker Medley oatmeal,which has chunks of fruit and nuts in it.We reaffirmed all our targets,Mr.Johnston pointed out.We're looking to build toward consistent long term high single digit growth.We put 5.5% pricing in for the year.We wanted to put it in immediately so we wouldn't have to raise prices again during the rest of the year,Hugh Johnston explained.PepsiCo analysts give the company 12 buy ratings,along with 8 holds and 1 sell.Their average price target for the food and beverage stock is 68.85.PepsiCo has just been chosen as exclusive beverage supplier to DineEquity restaurants,including all U.S. Applebee's and IHOP stores.Bloomberg's dividend watchers are predicting another increase in the company's payout to shareholders in the near future.It is a holding of mutual fund company Yacktman Asset Management. PepsiCo(PEP),DineEquity Inc.(DIN)

Conditions At Goldman Sachs-plus its current strategy

Considered by many to be the profit and influence king among investment banks in modern times,Goldman Sachs was nonetheless subject to the same economic forces as everyone else in Q4 2011.The firm beat earnings estimates,but missed on revenue,or sales.Goldman's clientele is being cautious about investing and mergers and acquisitions in this difficult climate.
Trading and investment banking is down.It's not a good time to be an investment banker or trader,according to William D. Cohan,author of the well-regarded book "Money and Power:How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World."With the new rules,it's gonna be very tough to do business on Wall Street.
You're gonna get 5-8 years in the limelight at Goldman Sachs;then you're gonna be moved out for younger people.That's a good thing.
I think Goldman Sachs wants to be below the radar screen,not the whackamole.They want to get beyond being the poster child for bad behavior on Wall Street,Mr.Cohan observed.
With regard to the company's current perspective on equities,Dave Costin,Chief Equity Strategist at Goldman,says U.S. companies with the most exposure to the U.S. ought to outperform.It's one of our fundamental strategies for 2012.Consumer staples are what we prefer.Labor slack means little wage growth,hence poor discretionary spending.
Long term,two-thirds of corporate cash is reinvested in growth.In this environment,we're looking at 11% growth of dividends,Mr.Costin noted.
In other words,companies are plowing a lot of cash into dividends today to attract the skittish investors of these volatile times.It's why so many investment advisors are recommending the good dividend payers such as Procter&Gamble and PepsiCo to their clients.
Goldman Sachs(GS),Procter&Gamble(PG),PepsiCo(PEP)

Fund Manager Sees Overextension

Barbara Marcin,fund manager of the PIMCO Blue Chip Value Fund,thinks we're about 6-9 months ahead of ourselves.You should be a little more defensive,buying high quality companies with global exposure that pay a dividend,such as PepsiCo,Kraft Foods or Johnson and Johnson.They have good balance sheets with strong cash flow.Their relative performance is what's gonna stand out in the next year or two,Ms.Marcin believes.Her colleague at PIMCO,Mohamed El-Erian,says that the market and economics are not reconciled right now.