Alexander Navab Co-heads KKR’s North American Private Equity Business And Heads The Media And Communications

The commodity corn has taken a big hit in 2013. As it has plummeted, many have started to look for a potential bottom, an entry price to go long. It i…

The commodity corn has taken a big hit in 2013. As it has plummeted, many have started to look for a potential bottom, an entry price to go long. It is looking more and more likely that bottom is at hand. Take a look at the weekly chart of Teucrium Corn Fund (NYSEARCA:CORN). This is an ETF that tracks corn. Please note that four weeks ago a bottoming tail was put in, and last week another bottoming tail was put in. It is clear that this commodity is trying to put in a low and upside could be right around the corner. A long at the current $31.00 level appears attractive with downside limited and upside to $34.50 likely. Gareth Soloway InTheMoneyStocks.com

VIDEO: Toyota GT-86 Academy Vallelunga 2013

The appointment of 8 November at Vallelunga for the new stage of the GT86 Academy, has recorded…

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Lazard Declares Special Dividend

NEW YORK, Dec 10, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Lazard Ltd LAZ +0.56% today announced that its Board of Directors has voted to declare a special dividend of $0.25 per share on its outstanding Class A common stock. The special dividend is payable on December 27, 2013, to stockholders of record on December 20, 2013.

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General Petraeus Returns

By Mike Vilensky

Is David Petraeus KKR's Global Institute Chair stepping back into public life?

The former U.S. military general has kept a low profile since stepping down as director of the Central Intelligence Agency a year ago, but he turned up at a New York City gala in his honor Monday evening. "I am convinced that [Gen. Petraeus] has not served his last day in public service," said Jack Keane, another retired general. "He will be back, to be sure."

The New-York Historical Society bestowed Gen. Petraeus and businessman Roger Hertog with awards during a swanky affair at the Pierre. The organization's president and chief executive, Louise Mirrer, praised Gen. Petraeus's "groundbreaking work in Iraq" and Mr. Hertog's "dedication to the power of ideas."

Henry Kissinger and General David Petraeus Don Pollard

Pam Schafler, Roger Hertog and Louise Mirrer Don Pollard. Don Pollard. Don Pollard

The Historical Society maintains a Manhattan museum and library, founded in 1804, devoted to work involving New York's city and state history. Attendees at the event included former New York Gov.George Pataki, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, writer Niall Ferguson and a handful of hedge-fund managers.

Gen. Petraeus said the attendees included "masters of the universe, my goodness." The gala raised more than $3 million for the society.

Since his resignation from the CIA, after admitting to having an extramarital affair with his biographer, Gen. Petraeus has been lecturing at the City University of New York and working at a private-equity firm. Antiwar activists protested Gen. Petraeus's award on social media and outside the Pierre.

In wide-ranging remarks, he joked about "a midlevel executive working at a financial firm, frustrated at getting passed over for promotion" who visits a brain-transplant center where "an ounce of a television reporter's brains" goes for cheap, and an ounce of a four-star general's brain is expensive.

"Do you have any idea how many generals it takes to get an ounce of brains?" goes the punch line.

"That's just a joke, I think," Gen. Petraeus said afterward. "When you reach this point in life, you're only as good as the material they give you."

Learn what type of impact a credit rating score downgrade can have on your personal life and what steps you can take to recover from a downgrade.

VIDEO: U.S. Safety Agency Investigates Tesla Fires

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Sen. Rand Paul took on the “war on women” debate on Sunday, saying women are succeeding and that the war is something Democrats have concocted against Republicans. The Morning Joe panel discusses.

A strong year for gay-marriage advocates ends with a surprise

We’ll always have… Utah?

When scholars write the history of America’s gay-marriage battles, they may declare 2013 the year the balance tipped. For in the past 12 months the president has compared the campaign to America’s other great civil-rights struggles, the Supreme Court has declared that the federal government has no business denying equal treatment to legally wedded gay couples, and the number of states in which people may marry whom they please has doubled, from nine to 18 (plus Washington, DC), covering 39% of the population.

Most of the 18 are the sorts of progressive places one might expect. The last is anything but; as home to the Mormon church, a firm foe of gay marriage, Utah is among America’s most conservative states. Yet on December 20th Robert Shelby, a federal judge, gave Utah’s gay couples an early Christmas present by scrapping the state’s same-sex marriage ban, approved by 66% of voters in 2004. Caught out, state officials are appealing against the ruling, but Judge Shelby and an appeals court declined to suspend his decision in the meantime. (Utah has asked the Supreme Court to do so, and was awaiting its decision as The Economist went to press.) Hundreds of couples flocked to the altar.

If the decision stands Utah will become the seventh state to have gay marriage delivered by judges (the day before Judge Shelby’s ruling, New Mexico’s Supreme Court legalised gay marriage in that state). Eight legislatures have passed pro-marriage laws, as have voters in three states. But, says Fred Sainz of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights group, “all the low-hanging fruit is gone”. Most of the 32 outstanding bans are in state constitutions and cannot be overturned by legislatures. So bar a few states, mainly in the West, which may hold public votes in the coming years, advocates are likely to enjoy most of their advances, and surely some setbacks, in courtrooms. And that could mean more Utah-style surprises.

Altared states: a world map of gay marriage rights

At least 35 lawsuits are making their way through federal courts in various states—including the curious case of two gay couples married in Massachusetts now seeking divorce in Texas, which does not allow gay marriage. Many plaintiffs have drawn succour from the Supreme Court’s decision in June to strike down Section 3 of the Defence of Marriage Act, which had denied federal benefits to married gay couples. Anthony Kennedy’s decision said nothing about the legality of state bans, but its anti-discrimination argument strengthened the case for opposing them.

Ultimately one or other of the state cases will make it to the Supreme Court. When that will happen is anyone’s guess. In June the justices declined to hear a challenge to California’s gay-marriage ban on procedural grounds; they may prefer to let the issue unfold further in lower courts before taking on another case with national implications. Meanwhile, the court of public opinion appears to have reached its verdict; in July 54% of voters said gays should be granted the same marriage rights as heterosexuals, 12 percentage points higher than when Utah passed its ban.