4th of July Snapshot: Gas Prices, Economic Indicators Heat Up Like Roman Candles

As we approach the July 4th 2014, the economy news at summer’s midpoint celebration is increasingly rose-colored like one of those ground bloom flower fireworks.

On the one hand, as Bloomberg reports, “jobs growth adds more sunshine” to the U.S. Economy. Specifically, job growth, in payroll specialist ADP’s report ahead of the official Federal figures, was much higher than expected. ““The labor market appears to be firing on all cylinders and is finally self-sustaining,” the Bloomberg said, citing two two PNC Financial Services economists.

Visa Raising Standards on Prepaid Debit Cards

According to a recent NY Times article, Visa is responding to consumer concerns that prepaid cards are often trickier to use — or to give — than they should be, since fees and terms often differ, leaving users confused, or simply with less of a balance than they imagined they had.

P.F. Chang’s Breach, and Krebs on “What Do Hackers Want?”

It’s good to keep an eye on the “Krebs on Security” website, where much of the recent all-too-spectacular news about data breaches gets broken, and later analyzed. This week, Brian Krebs is reporting on the latest retail breach, coming from the chain of P.F. Chang’s China Bistro restaurant (if you’ve eaten at one lately, doublecheck your plastic!)

Updates: California Senate Lets EMV Law Lapse; The State of Security

We wanted to update you on an item we ran last week, wherein California’s State Senate was on the verge of issuing its own mandates for a switch over to EMV standards in card transactions, setting April 1, 2016 as the date.

However, according to a report in Computerworld, “the full Senate missed the voting deadline of May 30, ending its chances of passage until a new legislative session begins.”

EMV Vote In California While MasterCard Announces “Zero Liability” for PINs

The push for those chip-carrying EMV cards, which would make it more difficult for fraudulent transactions to occur, continues apace. In California, the State Senate is advancing a bill that would make April 1, 2016 — no fooling! — the date by which both retailers and card issuers would need to support the chip-and-PIN standard.

Memorial Day — and Summer Travel Season — Arrive

With Memorial Day, summer’s first “bookend” arrives, for a season that marks its midpoint with the 4th of July, and wraps up — practically speaking — with Labor Day.

More on Upbeat Consumers (and Banks): Fed Reports Card Use Up for Spring

Last week, we reported on findings that consumer confidence was on the rise, and this week, we have some tangible evidence of how that confidence is manifesting. After a winter slowdown, in part caused by the harsh weather, consumers started to say “charge it!” more often in March.

Consumers Happier, While Symantec Resigned to Security Breaches

An interesting array of tea leaves to read and report on this week. The first “leaf batch” comes from the folks at Nielsen. Yes, “Nielsen” of TV rating fame, but they report on all kinds of consumer trends and “ratings.” Recently they issued a report stating that consumer confidence ‘round the world had climbed to pre-recession levels in the year’s first quarter. That confidence had “ended on a flat note in 2013,” their article said, “but signs of a brighter sentiment were right around the corner. With an index score of 96 in the first quarter—the highest level since first-quarter 2007, that optimism was validated.

After The Breachin’: Chip-and-Pin Comes to Target

As was pointed out about the recent Heartbleed security hole that was so pervasive, it presented a chance — bad as it was — for a lot of companies to reinvent and update their security protocols, for consumers to opt in for “double login” options on various accounts (a password and a PIN, say), and for the general level of security, web-wide, to be enhanced.

Category: AVP Solutions News and Events