Apple has called for a news conference to inform the markets of their decision on the $98 Billion dollars in cash that they hold. Yes $98 Billion, that is larger than the market cap of most company and the GDP of a lot of countries.

Investors are expecting that Apple will issue a dividend of some sorts, either a one time dividend or a quarterly one. Apple with sells the popular iPhone and iPad brings in tremendous amounts of cash everyone month, to the tune of over a billion dollars a month.

In anticipation of the dividend, investors have pushed up Apple’s stock to over $600 a share, its up 700% since the low in 2008 driven by huge demand for its products.  Apple also last Firday released the new iPad, which was also meet with huge demand.

Last week the S&P 500 reached 1400. The highest level since 2008. The market is rallying on renewed confidence in the economy, which is based on economic numbers. An additional boost to the market is the job market, which is improving giving investors some hope in a economy that is growing on its own.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee met last week, while they did not change the interest rate or announce QE3, they did upgrade their view of the economy.

Europe continues to be a concern, with unresolved debt issues in Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Italy the market could be in for a period of rockiness, depending on the news coming out of Europe.

Another concern for many economists is the price of oil. While our economy has become more energy efficient since 2008, oil and oil prices are still a major factor in the economy, with prices hoovering around $110 any spikes in oil prices may result in a derailment of the recovery of the economy.

Market trades this week will be looking towards interest rates as it seems that they have bottomed. How high they go in the short term will depend on inflation and the speed of the economics recovery.

Apple touched $600.00 a share today before pulling back later in the day. The Stock reached a new high and is up over 20% year to date. Apple has been rallying in anticipation of the new iPad and that Apple may issue its first dividend in over 17 years.

The new iPad comes with a sharper display and stronger processor and support for the 4G network is expected to help maintain Apple’s lead in the tablet market.

Wall Street has high expectations for Apple which is expected to sell over 65 Million iPads this year. While the new iPad goes on sale now Apple will continue to sell the iPad 2, however at a lower price point. Maybe an attempt to take on the Android tablets hitting the market, like Amazon’s Kindle. Tablet sales are expected to increase to 326 million by 2015 with Apple largely dominating the market, according to research firm Gartner, the sale of tablet are expected to increase to 326 million by 2015 with Apple largely dominating the market.

It looks like the web bubble is back on again, Yelp (YELP) a web based review company of local establishments went public Friday, only to quickly jump 64%. Yelp which is still losing money turned down google’s $500 million dollar buyout offer a few years ago is not worth $1.5 Billion, based on its current market value. It’s first day open, along with Groupon and others is bring back memories of the tech boom of the late 90s. Before you buy Yelp Stock there is a few things to consider, the company is dependent on google for the majority of its web traffic which is kind of scary consider the size of the company, and that its looking money. It will be interesting to see how the company can grow its business without being dependent on google for traffic, as other companies know, google tends to change the way they rank sites which affects traffic patterns to websites. In the long run, its hard to see them surviving as a stand alone company.

Since Amazon.com launched the Kindle device, the Kindle Gift Card has been one of its best selling accessories. The Kindle Gift Card allows you to add money to your account via the kindle which then allows you to make purchases of movies, books, music through the Kindle Device. The Kindle Gift Card also makes for a great present for someone, as long as they have a kindle they are able to use the Kindle Gift Card. So if you need to give a gift for someone and don’t know what to purchase them, give them a kindle gift card and watch their enjoyment of your gift.

The stock market has always had a bit of volatility in it, during some period in the market volatility has been greater than others, but with great volatility comes great opportunities. One sector of the stock market that has a great amount of volatility is the PENNY STOCKS segment. Penny Stocks are stocks are priced under $3.00, with a great majority of them priced under $1.00. They tend to move around a lot and if accompanied with the right background information and understanding of the penny stock market there is an opportunity to make a tidy sum of money trading Penny Stocks. Penny Stocks aren’t usually long term investments but they make great short term trading plays. One way to learn more about penny stocks is to subscribe to Penny Stock newsletters; most Penny Stock websites offer a newsletter. As for what they cover in the newsletter that varies depending on the website and how they trade Penny Stocks. In the end the method of trade doesn’t matter, as long as there are profits to be made.

One troubling statistic is that 25% of the U.S. population without access to the banking system. Some of that maybe by choice but the majority of it may be due to previous transgressions. If anyone in that 25% group wrote a bad check they maybe on a ChexSystems list. When someone attempts to opens a new checking account, banks often run the person’s name through ChexSystems list of checking account offenders. If your name is on that list banks will often reject your request to open a new checking account. Being without access to a bank account in what is becoming a cashless economy is really tough and no one should be without access to a bank account in these times.