Navigating through insurance options has become more complicated for consumers as the types of financial products have grown tremendously.

While term life insurance has received a lot of attention lately because of the continued drop in premiums, insurance professionals agree that the market in general has changed with respect to consumer choices.

Term and permanent remain the two primary types of life insurance. While permanent (also known as whole) insurance focuses on cash buildup, term is geared strictly for protection.

"Term insurance has always been a product that is for someone who needs life insurance. There is no cash value build up like in a whole life policy," says Jim Shoemaker, president of Shoemaker Financial.

Last fall, the Insurance Information Institute predicted that the price of term-life insurance policies will drop 3% in 2006. The institute attributes the low premiums to a competitve insurance environment and better underwriting practices. Another reason that term remains inexpensive is that policy holders are less likely to die while owning it.

Life Insurance Policy

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According to "Kate DuBose Tomassi", Banc of America Securities analyst Tim Long called the IP edge
routing market an “emerging battleground” with a “robust opportunity
for the winners,” in a report Wednesday.

“While the incumbent
vendors are sure to play a meaningful role in this market, we believe
the IP edge paradigm is far from established, creating inroads for less
established IP players,” said the research analyst.

Companies like Alcatel, Redback Networks and Tellabs could break the "stranglehold" companies like Cisco System and Juniper Networks have on the IP edge market, according to the analyst.

The analyst said that two architectural approaches have emerged
in the edge market. One is the “one box solution” distributed by
Juniper Networks and Redback. The other is Alcatel’s and Cisco’s
“two-box solution."

“With both solutions having won major
deployments, it remains unclear as to which architecture the market
will ultimately favor,” the analyst said.

“We believe Alcatel and Redback are best positioned to win share
in this market given their small size, installed customer base, and
strong product sets, while Cisco and Juniper are likely to cede modest
share, but maintain their market leading positions."

The analyst’s top picks in the data networking and wireline equipment sector are Nokia, rated “buy” with a $21 price target, and Qualcomm, rated “buy” with a $54 price target. His least favorites are Ciena and Lucent Technologies, both rated “neutral” with price targets of $2.50.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/

Emerging Battleground

S.Y. Bancorp Inc. has increased its regular quarterly cash dividend to 14 cents per share from 13 cents per share. The dividend will be paid April 3 to shareholders of record as of March 17, according to a news release.

The company also has extended its stock repurchase plan to February 2007. S.Y. Bancorp’s most recent stock buy-back plan authorized the repurchase of up to 550,000 shares. It has repurchased about 186,000 shares at an average cost of $23.31 per share.

Louisville-based S.Y. Bancorp (NASDAQ: SYBT) is the holding company for Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co, which operates more than 20 branches in Louisville and Southern Indiana and one branch in Indianapolis.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2006/02/20/daily12.html

Raises Dividend

According to Bizjournals.com GroupSystems Corp. has secured an additional round of venture financing from Slottsbacken Ventures, a Swedish venture capital firm owned by 6apFond, which is based in Gothenburg, Sweden, the company said Tuesday. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Broomfield-based GroupSystems, a provider of group intelligence and team decision-making software and strategic solutions, said the additional capital would allow GroupSystems to strengthen its European presence while continuing to create group intelligence solutions and services in the North American marketplace.

GroupSystems also said it was expanding its partnership with Douglas S. Griffen. The partnership will focus on the development of strategic services for large interactive corporate events and other specialized group innovation solutions.

As part of an effort to solidify and expand its footprint in the United Kingdom, GroupSystems said it has partnered with Marratech UK, a Web-conferencing provider with a large U.K. customer base, to offer a comprehensive product and service offering. GroupSystems has also entered an extended partnership with Consensus On-Line - Denmark to offer large interactive events for the European Union and European Commission.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/banking_financial_services/venture_capital/2006/02/20/denver_daily5.html

Swedish VCs

According to "Topix.net", The board of directors of Qwest Communications International 
awarded CEO Richard Notebaert
approximately 1.46 million restricted shares and stock options to buy
an additional 2.33 million shares at $6.15 per share, according to
documents filed with securities regulators after Friday’s close of
trading. The award and options can be exercised only if Qwest’s stock
price averages $7.50 or above for 188 consecutive trading days from now
to Feb. 16, 2008, or above $8 for 188 days from Feb. 17, 2008, to Feb.
16, 2010. Alternatively, should Qwest close a "merger, consolidation,
reorganization or asset sale transaction," the awards will vest on the
closing date, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
filings. The company has a similar arrangement with CFO Oren G. Shaffer for proportionally smaller amounts.

Home Depot 
will report results for the fourth quarter on Tuesday before the start
of trading. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call expect the home
improvement retailer to report earnings of 56 cents per share on
revenue of $18.74 billion. In the year-ago period, Home Depot reported
earnings of 47 cents per share on revenue of $16.81 billion. Credit
Suisse said on Tuesday strong quarterly results recently reported by Masco ,
Home Depot’s biggest supplier, bode well for the earnings outlook. The
research firm rates Home Depot shares at "overweight" with a $50 price
target. "The investment story we believe is quite compelling," it added.

Source:  http://www.forbes.com/

Eye On Stocks

According to "Bizjournals.com", Like spectators at a tennis match, the public has followed the volleys between Johnson & Johnson and in their quest to acquire Guidant Corp.
The deal’s twists and turns have exposed a negotiation process that is
almost always handled behind closed doors, even for public companies.
Public bidding wars are not necessarily a growing trend, but rather
stem from unplanned events.

Bidding wars take place outside the public purview in 98 percent of cases," said Jack Helms, CEO of Goldsmith-Agio-Helms,
a Minneapolis investment-banking firm. "If a seller approaches the
market properly, [bidding wars] are commonplace, if not universal. When
you see it take place in the public, something changed or the public
company made a deal without running a process."

Steven Kennedy, partner and head of Faegre & Benson’s
public companies practice, said, "The goal is always to get a
competitive bidding process. The boards’ job and the lawyers’ job is to
create a level playing field to permit all interested buyers to
participate."

What happens

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