Personal Finance Daily: Gift cards are more flexible than you may realize

Personal Finance Daily DECEMBER 27, 2011 Gift cards are more flexible than you may realize By MarketWatch Don't miss these top stories: Got gift cards? Sell or even invest them Car Review: Three top cars for speed Tales from the mutual-fund crypt Did the holiday season leave you with a big stack of gift cards? If so, you have more options than you may realize for tapping those cards. Read Jennifer Waters's story today for some tips on exchanging, selling and even using your gift cards to invest. Plus, don't miss Chuck Jaffe's look at the lessons investors can learn from a few of the 1,300 mutual funds that died in 2011. And, in other news, find out why consumer confidence hit an 8-month high this month. — Andrea Coombes , Personal Finance editor Got gift cards? Sell or even invest them Gift-card sales are expected to reach a record $27.8 billion this year. If you received more cards than you can use, here are four ideas for how to sell, exchange or invest them. Read more: Got gift cards? Sell or even invest them. Car Review: Three top cars for speed What would I pick if Santa would drop off any car in the world? Read more: Three top cars for speed. ECONOMY & POLITICS Consumer confidence hits 8-month high Consumers showed the most confidence in December in eight months, largely because of an improving labor market, according to a closely followed survey. Read more: Consumer confidence hits 8-month high. U.S. home prices drop in October: Case-Shiller U.S. home prices took a step backward for a second month in October, according to a key index released Tuesday. Read more: U.S. home prices drop in October. Car sales may soon peak, confidence data suggest Though confidence data is at an eight-month high, there's some worrying signs beneath the hood. Read more: Car sales may soon peak, confidence data suggest. INVESTING Tales from the mutual-fund crypt No one mourns the loss of a mutual fund, but investors should not ignore for whom the bell tolls. Read more: Tales from the mutual-fund crypt. 2012: Stocks up 10% — or Doomsday scenario? Paul Farrell counts down the 10 'macrotriggers' threatening capitalism as 'Super-Rich Gap' rivals the wealth gap before the 1929 market crash. Read more: 2012: Stocks up 10% — or Doomsday scenario? Latin American IPOs face a difficult 2012 Latin America's market for initial public offerings faces a difficult year in 2012, mostly due to the sluggish economy across the region. Read more: Latin American IPOs face a difficult 2012. Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com to your list of approved senders. Sent to: kumaresan.selva.blogger@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Subscribe Copyright 2011 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (updated 6/26/07). MarketWatch - Attn: Customer Service, 201 California St., San Francisco, CA 94111