Los Angeles Public Library | Web Links | Business, Company, & Consumer Information

Web Links

Home

SEARCH FOR:

Business, Company, & Consumer Information

Banking

Interest Rates

Bank Rate Monitor Infobank: Offers interest rates, mortgage rates, news and other information including consumer tips.
Card Web: CARDTRAK contains a survey of credit cards and their interest rates.
Selected Interest Rates FRB H15: Issued weekly by Federal Reserve Board. Shows daily rates for interest/yields on commercial paper, banker's acceptances, CD's, prime rate, US government securities (treasury bills, secondary market, etc.) and corporate bonds.

Foreign Exchange Rates

Foreign Exchange Rates, Monthly, FRB G.5 (405): Provides monthly exchange rates for selected currencies, issued by Federal Reserve Board.
Foreign Exchange Rates, weekly, FRB H.10 (512): Provides weekly exchange rates for selected currencies, issued by Federal Reserve Board.
Oanda 164 Currency Converter: Currency exchanges rates for 164 different currencies from January 1, 1990 through previous market day.

Federal Reserve Banks

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Home Page: Contains archive of approximately previous 6 months releases as well as current releases. Includes access to FRB Statistical weekly releases H.3; H.4.1; H6, H.8 H.10 and H.15; Monthly releases G.5 G.17 G.19; and Quarterly release Z.1. Includes the Beige Book.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Home Page: FRB St. Louis operates FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data), a site which includes economic research papers and other FRB indexes, statistics and series.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Market Rates: Offers Commercial paper rates, and other banking statistics on a timely basis.

Monetary Conversion

How Much is That? Economic History Service: Answers questions of relative value, comparing purchasing power (for U.S. Dollar back to 1665), exchange rates, and other variable between past and today.
The Inflation Calculator: Adjusts any given amount of money for inflation, according to the Consumer Price Index from 1800 to present.
Inflation Calculators: Lists several inflation calculator web sites
Salary Calculator: Use this calculator to compare the cost of living in hundreds of U.S. and international cities.

Additional Resources

California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency (BT&H): Links to other state departments which are involved in banking and financial affairs, such as:
Department of Corporations
Department of Financial Institutions
Census of Finance and Insurance (1997): Provides comprehensive statistics on the banking, investment, and insurance industries.
Census of Real Estate and Rental and Leasing (1997): Provides comprehensive statistics on the , real estate and rental and leasing industries.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): Includes banking news, consumer information, and banking laws and regulation.
International Monetary Fund: Includes publications, reports as well as statistics issued by the International Monetary Fund.
U.S. GSA Consumer Information Center: General Services Administration offers consumer information to a wide range of subjects. Its section on Money includes information on fair credit reporting and debt collection laws, and investing and financial planning.
U.S. Treasury Department: The Treasury Department offers links to many banking and money related agencies, such as:
Bureau of Public Debt
Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Financial Management Service
Office of the Controller of the Currency
Office of Thrift Supervision
U.S. Mint
World Bank: Offers publications, proceedings and programs as well as statistics issued by the World Bank.

Companies

Private Companies

Internet 800 Search: Includes toll free telephone number of businesses.
Super Pages: Includes businesses with detailed street location map.
Thomas Register of American Manufacturers: Includes manufacturers in US and in Canada. Searchable by product, company, and brand name.

Public Companies

Annual Reports Library: Provides links to annual reports of many publicly held companies. Includes also annual reports of selected nonprofit organizations.
EDGAR: This official Securities and Exchanges Commission site offers annual reports and 10-K statements of all publicly held companies.
Hoover's Online: Lists both private and public companies. Information includes financial data, and key personnel.
Wall Street Research Net Company Research: Includes publicly held companies in US and Canada.

Check the section on Investment for more sites linking to financial information of the publicly held companies

International Companies

The European Business Directory: Maintained by Euredit, this page serves mainly companies in European communities who wish to trade beyond their national borders. The directory lists 150,000 selected companies from 25 countries.
BizWeb: Lists companies by services and products. Provides links to company's internet site.

Consumer Information

Agencies That Process Complaints Against Businesses and People: List from LAPD of local, state, and national agencies that assist with consumer complaints.
Better Business Bureau: Provides consumer and business guidance and information on dispute resolution.
California Department of Consumer Affairs: Provides information on consumer rights and responsibilities
Consumer Action: Provides consumer tips, advice and the Consumer Assistance Directory.
Consumer Guide: Includes product reviews and information.
Consumer Reports: Provides product ratings and general consumer information.
Consumer Search: Provides product reviews and information.
Consumer World: Provides information on products, prices and consumer agencies.
Credit Reports Free Annually: Federal Trade Commission site that provides information and a link on how to order your annual free credit reports.
Federal Consumer Information Center: Provides consumer information on numerous topics.
First Gov for Consumers: Resource for consumer information available from the federal government.
Phone Fraud: Consumer education to help people protect themselves from phone fraud, provided by the Federal Trade Commission.
Recalls.gov: Federal government inter-agency web site providing safety information covering consumer products, motor vehicles, boats, medicine, cosmetics and environmental products.

Industry & Economy

NAICS/SIC Conversion Table: Introduces the industrial numbering system scheduled to replace Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Codes.
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) System Search: Identifies Standard Industrial Classification codes for industry.

General Industry Statistics

Census Bureau: Economy - Wide Page: Gives national statistics on minority owned businesses, North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) which replaced the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) in 1997. Broad based information on business ownership, financial statistics and research for Business.
County Business Patterns: Provides business statistics by Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code and by county. Beginning in 1998, data are tabulated by industry as in the North American Industry Classification System: United States, 1997 (NAICS). Data for 1997 and years are based on the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) System.
Economic Census, Summary of National Statistics: Summary of establishments, sales, payroll and number of employees by SIC
or by industry. Profiles of U.S. economy every 5 years.
How to Find the Latest Business Data: Provides links to a variety of additional data available from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Regional Economic Accounts System: Employment and industry data for county and regional areas.

Statistics By Industry

Agriculture

Census of Agriculture

Offers agricultural statistics by geographic areas.

Internet AgriBusiness and AgriEconomics Resources

Includes commodities, futures and options, cooperative extension reports, statistics, trade agreements.

USDA: United States Department of Agriculture

News, general information, and opportunities with the USDA
Construction

Census Bureau: Construction Industry

Provides many reports on the construction industry published by the Census Bureau.
Manufacturing

Census Bureau: Manufacturing

Offers census reports on manufacturing industry, including Annual Survey of Manufacturers, Census of Manufactures, Manufactures' Shipments to Federal Agencies, Manufacturing Technology Surveys, and the Survey of Plant Capacity Utilization.

Current Industrial Reports

Provides statistical data on commodity production and shipments for approximately 5000 products, accounting for more than 1/3 of all U.S. manufacturing.
Mining and Mineral Industries

California's Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources

California Department of Conservation's site which offers oil and gas statistics in California.

California Department of Conservation's Geological Survey

Offers additional statistics of minerals in California.

Census of Mineral Industries

Provides detailed information on products, selected supplied, minerals used, machinery installed and fuels consumed. Geographic Area Series consists of 9 reports covering the US protectorates.
Retail and Wholesale Industries

Census Bureau's Retail & Page

Includes the Advance Monthly Retail Sales Survey, Monthly Retail Trade Survey, Annual Retail Trade Survey, and Census of Retail Trade as well as Advance Monthly Wholesale Sales survey, Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey, Annual Wholesale Trade Survey, and Census of Wholesale Trade. There are links to related sites.
Service Industries

Census Bureau's Services Page

Includes links to all the Censuses that involve service industries, eg. Census of Service Industries, Census of Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate, Census of Transportation, Communications, and Utilities, Truck Inventory and Use Survey, Commodity Flow Survey, Motor Freight Transportation and Warehousing Survey, and Annual Survey of Communication Services.
Tourism Industries

California Tourism Research

Vital visitor statistics & research articles on California tourism industry.
Transportation Industries

Census of Transportation and Warehousing (1997)

Provides data on passenger and freight transportation, communication services. and electrical, gas, steam, water, or sanitary services to the general public or to business.

U.S. DOT. Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Includes Transportation Statistics Annual Report, American Travel Survey and other travel and transportation related statistics.

U.S. DOT. Office of Airline Information

Includes statistics of airline industry
Utilities

Federal Communications Commission

The home page of FCC offers information on auctions, consumer information, rules and regulation, and many other useful information.

Census of Utilities (1997)

Includes census information of communications industry as well as sanitation, electricity, gas, and water utilities.

Economic Indicators

Bankruptcy Statistics: Offers statistics of business and personal bankruptcy filings. Includes annual and quarterly statistics for US and major metropolitan statistical areas.
The Beige Book: Current Economic Conditions (2002): The report, published by by Federal Reserve Board, provides summary of economic conditions by federal reserve district. Includes major economic indicators, and interviews with key businessmen, economists, market experts, and other sources.
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA): Includes many important national, international, and regional economic indicators. Links to many BEA's publications, including Survey of Current Business.
Business Cycle Indicators of the Conference Board: Includes links to many leading economic indicators, consumer confidence index, and other business cycle indicators.
Census Bureau's Economic Briefing Room: Provides current statistics of household income, poverty and other economic indicators.
Consumer Price Indexes: The Bureau of Labor Statistics' official site on consumer price index.
The Inflation Calculator: Offers instant calculation of inflation, based on consumer price index, from 1800 to 1997.

World Economic Indicators

UN Indicators on Income and Economic Activity: Provides basic income statistics of member countries of United Nations.
UN Indicators on Housing: Provides basic housing statistics of member countries of United Nations.

International Trade

Trade Leads and Suppliers

Asian Sources: Includes product suppliers and manufacturers in many Asian countries.
Business Information Service for the Newly Independent States: Trade leads and matchmaker services for companies doing business with former Soviet states.
Central & Eastern Europe Business Information: Companies doing business with Central and Eastern European countries.
Commerce Business Daily & FedBiz Opps: The official source for government contracts and bids is now available on the web. You can get one week free if you register as a guest.
Export Opportunity Hotline, Small Business Administration: Provides export assistance.
Owens Online: Provides trade leads and international credit reports.
Trade Opportunities Program (TOPS): Provides companies with current sales leads from international firms seeking to buy or represent their products or services. This is a fee based service, but you can get information without subscription for trade leads three months and older.
World Trade Center Association: Provides international trade leads from World Trade Center.

Country Specific: Regulations & Practices

Country Library [TradePort]: Summarize all information you need to know in order to trade with a specific country. Includes each country's demographics, political environment, economic outlook and trends, trade regulations and standards, business travel overview, etc.
Guides to Doing Business: More than 100 Guides to doing business for Countries, States or Provinces compiled by Lex Mundi, an association of independent law firms.
Hong Kong Trade Development Council: Provides access to product suppliers and service providers from Hong Kong and China. Includes information on trade leads, tradeshows, and practical tips for doing business in Hong Kong and in China.
International Business Resources on the WWW: Maintained by the Center for International Business Education and Research of Michigan State University. This site leads to news and magazine articles relating to international trade, and many regional or country specific information sites.
Official Economic Information of Mexico: Maintained by Mexico's Ministry of Finance & Public Credit, this site contains basic economic and financial data, documents and reports on economic policy, and links to various other Mexican economic sites.
Taiwan Products: Lists manufacturers in Taiwan.

Supporting Services

California State Overseas and Investment Offices: The State of California maintains offices in Hong Kong, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom to promote California products and to assist California exporters locally. You will be able to find the addresses and contact information of these oversea offices at this site. Administers a loan guarantee program for California-based firms with at least one year export experience.
CEDAR's International Trade Site: Maintained by California Economic Diversification And Revitalization (CEDAR), this site offers many valuable links to export guides and regulations, trade leads, international directories, and other resources relevant to international trade such as shipping.
Export.gov: Portal to all export-related assistance and market information offered by the federal government, providing trade leads, free export counseling and help with the export process. Click on �Partner Agencies� to find other links, including the U.S. Commercial Service, which give additional information.
Export-Import Bank of the United States: Assists in export financing of US goods and services by offering direct and intermediary loans to foreign buyers of US exports, working capital and loan guarantees.
Journal of Commerce: The daily journal of trade logistics. The new JOC Week paper edition is located at the Reference Desk in the Business & Economics Department in the Central Library.
SCORE (Small Business Administration): The SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives Association), is made up of retired, professional business managers from all disciplines of business and government. They volunteer their time to provide free management and business counseling and workshops.
Trade Information Center: Supported by the International Trade Administration, the Trade Information Center is the first stop for information about all federal export assistance programs, as well as country and regional market information.
U. S. Bureau of Industry and Security: Official site of the US Bureau of Export Administration offers information on export regulations and related information on exporting from US.
U.S. Customs Service: Provides general information about custom regulations.
U. S. Department of Commerce. International Trade Administration: Provides assistance in researching foreign markets, making business contacts overseas, and promoting products abroad.

International Trade Statistics

Foreign Trade Statistics: Trade statistics issued by U.S. Census Bureau.
ITA. Office of Trade & Economic Analysis: The Office offers Global Data Links, U.S. Foreign Trade Highlights, State Export Data, and many other trade statistics from its site.

Investment

Quick Quotes and Charts

BigCharts: Provides stock quotes, charts and links to stocks, mutual funds and futures traded in all major exchanges. Historical information included. Market reports on each exchange included.
Yahoo! Finance: Provides opening, closing, high, low, volume information, including splits and dividends and foreign currency exchange rates. Historical information downloadable in spreadsheet format. Covers bonds, mutual funds as well as EFTs [Exchange Traded Funds] and indices. Market reports available.

Investment Information & Stock Analysis

American Association of Individual Investors: This site gives all sorts of help to the investor. Pages include a glossary of investment terms, building an investment plan from scratch, basic investment principles, techniques for picking stocks, and others.
Hot Links for Traders: Links to sites of interest to the investment trader.
IPO Central: A commercial site that has the latest Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). Includes links to the EDGAR SEC IPO filings and other sites of interest.
Motley Fool: Provides stock quotes, company news, and opinions on publicly traded companies. Graphs and charts are available for most companies. A humorous and insightful approach to investing.
MSN Money: Provides comprehensive investment assistance and financial information about publicly held companies.

Stock and Commodity Exchanges

American Stock Exchange: Home page for the American Stock Exchange (AMEX).
Chicago Board of Trade: Includes news, quotes, and other marketing information on futures and options trading.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange: Includes news, consumer information (how to choose a broker), and trading information.
NASDAQ Home Page: Home page for the NASDQ network.
New York Stock Exchange Web Site: NYSE's Home Page "is designed as an educational tool for investors, students and teachers. It provides links to a rich diversity of information."

Bonds, Commodities and Mutual Funds

Investing In Bonds: Offers basic information on investing in bonds and how to read bond prices in the daily newspapers.
MorningStar: Offers rating and financial analysis of mutual funds as well as stocks.
World Bank Commodity Price Pinksheets: Commodity prices.

Labor & Employment

Job listings - See Jobs & Career

Employment and Labor Market Statistics

California. Labor Market Information: Maintained by California Employment Development Department, this site offers labor market statistics by industry or occupation, and by county.
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. News Releases: This site has current news releases in a number of areas of interest to labor. It has employment and unemployment, prices and living conditions, productivity and technology, employment projections, and regional news releases.
United Nations: Indicators on Unemployment: Provides unemployment rates for all member countries of the United Nations

Labor Laws & Unions

Americans with Disabilities Act ADA Home Page: Provides links to other sites which cover ADA information, technical assistance, and information hot lines.
California Labor Code & Others: Maintained by California Employment Development Department, this sites offers links to California Business and Professions Code, California Labor Code, and California Unemployment Insurance Code.
Law.Com: Maintained by a law firm, this site provides comprehensive coverage and links to documents and information relating to labor and employment laws.
National Labor Relations Board Decisions: Full text of NLRB decisions.

Salaries and Wages

Employment Standards Administration, Wages and Hour Division: Gives information on the minimum wage, Family and Medical Leave Act, and employee rights.
JobStar Salary Survey: Provides links and descriptions to 150 salary surveys.
Salary Calculator: This calculator can be used to compare the cost of living in hundreds of U.S. and international cities
WageWeb: Provides average salaries for clerical, professional and managerial jobs.

Real Estate

Finding a Home

Homebuyer's Fair: Includes listings for homes available for sale, and links to other useful information relating to home buying.
Homebuilder.com: Includes new home production, floor plans, and real estate market of the U.S. Links to 7,000 home builders' sites.
International Real Estate Directory: Includes real estate listing outside U.S.
Los Angeles Times hosts DataQuick: Gives sales comparisons and latest sale prices for the five county area (Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County, San Bernardino and Ventura Counties).

Mortgage

Quicken Mortgage Home Page: Offers links to everything you need to know about securing a mortgage.

Government Housing Agencies

California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency (BT&H): Provides links to California state departments regulating real estate industry, including the Department of Real Estate, and Office of Real Estate Appraisers.
U.S. General Services Administration Consumer Information Center: Housing: Maintained by the General Services Administration, this section of the Consumer Information Center offers consumer information on housing and mortgages. It offers links to many booklets available in a wide range of subjects, see the section on Banking for the CIC pamphlets on money and financial services.
U. S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD): Offers links to consumer information on housing assistance.

General Resources

Building Owners & Managers Association (BOMA): This site provides information on industry data and expenditure analysis of commercial real estate.
California Association of Realtors: This site provides consumer and industry information for California real estate industry. Its Economics page offers current economic trends and forecast.
MSN House & Home: Maintained by Microsoft, this site offers a one-stop shopping service for home hunters. Links to neighborhood information, price comparison, mortgage calculations, and property listing.
Realtor.com: Includes home listing, directory of realtors, and links to other useful resources in home buying.

Small Business

Start-Up Information

Be the Boss: Includes links to franchise information.
Entrepreneur Magazine's Small Business Square: Includes everything you need to start and run a business. Lists businesses for sale, and forms for all business activities.
EntreWorld: Includes links to information on starting your business, increasing your business, and supporting entrepreneurship.
Fictitious Business Name Statements (DBA): Fictitious Business Name Statements (DBA) searches for Los Angeles County provided from Chamber of Commerce Journal site.
SBA Franchise Hotlist: Current links to franchise resource sites.

Business Plans

Small Business Administration, Business Plan Guide: Includes a step by step tutorial on how to write a business plan.
Bplan.com: Offers hands-on guidance to writing business plans. Includes real plans of companies that gained financing.

General Resources

Digital Commerce Center: Resources in the areas of electronic commerce, Internet advertising, digital asset management, small business development and corporate education.
Small & Home Based Business Links: Offers links to franchise and home based business opportunities.
Small Business Resource Library: A virtual center, designed to complement public library on-site services and resources for people starting or working in small businesses. Created and maintained by a California State Library Grant.
Small Business Advisor: Contains a wide variety of on line information for the entrepreneur and small business owner.

Supporting Organization

Business Assistance Virtual Network (BAVN): Free service provided by the City of Los Angeles Minority Business Opportunity Committee (MBOC) and the Los Angeles Opportunities & Procurement Services. Contract opportunities, jobs, and permits & licenses information are highlighted.
California Small Business Development Centers: Offers information, referrals, and one-on-one professional business counseling, and regular workshops to small business owners.
CalGOLD: Provides businesses with information on permits and other requirements of California agencies at all levels of government, and links. Searchable by type of business and location.
Small Business Administration: The official home page of Small Business Administration offers assistance, regulatory information, and statistics relating to small businesses.

Unclaimed Property

California Unclaimed Property: �

Site Map