November 2009

Uruguay May Elect Former Guerrilla Mujica Today on Pledge to Fight Poverty

November 29, 2009

By Eliana Raszewski Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) — Uruguay’s Jose Mujica , a former guerrilla leader who promises to maintain the ruling coalition’s economic policies, is poised to be elected president in a runoff vote today. Mujica, who is the governing Frente Amplio coalition candidate, has 49.6 percent support, compared with 42.1 percent for former President Luis Alberto Lacalle of the opposition National Party , according to a Nov. 25 poll by Montevideo-based Interconsult. “This government has been successful, and citizens appear to want to support it,” said Juan Carlos Doyenart, a political analyst who runs the polling company. “It’s really difficult for Mujica not to win the election.” Mujica, 74, who was imprisoned for more than a decade by the military juntas that ruled Uruguay in the 1970s and 1980s, campaigned on pledges to continue the policies of President Tabare Vazquez . Since taking office in March 2005, Vazquez, 69, has cut the unemployment rate to 7.3 percent in September from 12.3 percent, encouraged record foreign investment, increased social spending and boosted wages, Doyenart said. In last month’s first round, Mujica, who was a leader of the Tupamaros guerrilla movement, took 47.5 percent of vote, short of the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff. Lacalle received 28.5 percent, and Colorado Party candidate Pedro Bordaberry , who later endorsed Lacalle, finished third with 16.7 percent. Mujica, a former farmer, lawmaker and agriculture minister, says he will hand control of the economy to running mate Danilo Astori , who was Vazquez’s economy minister for four years before stepping down last year to be eligible for elected office. ‘Same Course’ “Economic policy will continue on the same course, taking advantage of the experience of Vazquez’s government,” Astori said at a Nov. 25 news conference in Melo, Uruguay. “We’ll keep betting on an investment climate that has had lots of results. We want higher investment, growth and employment levels because that’s the genuine basis for social reform.” Under Vazquez, central bank reserves almost quadrupled to $7.9 billion, and the country boosted trade with the U.S., Europe and Asia. In 2007, Finland’s Metsae-Botnia Oy opened a $1.1 billion pulp mill in the city of Fray Bentos, Uruguay’s biggest-ever investment. “The next government will need to continue to consolidate macroeconomic stability, with responsible management of public finances,” said Erich Arispe , 32, an analyst at Fitch Ratings in New York. Uruguay should change the composition of its debt, most of which is denominated in foreign currencies, making it “more vulnerable to the exchange rate,” said Arispe. Economic Growth The government forecasts the economy will expand 1.2 percent this year and 3.5 percent in 2010, spurred by rising prices for soybean, wheat and beef exports. Uruguay is the world’s eighth-largest exporter of beef, and shipments may climb 2.9 percent next year as global demand grows, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service. Lacalle, 68, who governed Uruguay from 1990 to 1995, said he would slow integration with Mercosur trade bloc partners Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay and seek to expand trade with countries such as India and China. He has said the ruling coalition had “failed miserably” in dealing with crime. Uruguay’s credit rating outlook was raised to positive from stable in July by Fitch Ratings, citing in a report the South American country’s “strengthening macroeconomic policy framework.” Fitch rates Uruguay’s foreign debt BB-, or three levels below investment grade. About 2.6 million Uruguayans are eligible to vote, the country’s electoral court said on its Web site . The next president takes office in March. The country sold $500 million of bonds in September to help fund future expenses amid a rally in emerging market bonds. Prices for the bonds, due in 2025, have climbed 6.6 percent to 108.14 cents on the dollar since Sept. 22. The yield has fallen to 6.07 percent from 6.66 percent since the bonds were issued. To contact the reporter on this story: Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires at eraszewski@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

Swiss Voters Approve Ban on Construction of Minarets in Popular Referendum

November 29, 2009

By Klaus Wille Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) — Swiss voters approved a proposal to outlaw the construction of mosque minarets, from where Muslims are called to prayer, the government said. The ban, sponsored by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, was approved by “a majority of the Swiss people,” the government said in a statement from the capital Bern today. It didn’t give a breakdown of the vote. “The Federal Council respects this decision,” it said in the statement . “Consequently, the construction of new minarets in Switzerland is no longer permitted. The four existing minarets will remain. It will also be possible to continue to construct mosques. Muslims in Switzerland are able to practice their religion alone or in community with others, and live according to their beliefs just as before.” Pro-ban posters showing a black-veiled figure standing next to a Swiss flag covered in missile-like minarets were outlawed in several cities on the grounds that they were discriminatory. Campaigners for the ban argued that minarets are symbols of religious and political power that will pave the way for the eventual introduction of Sharia law in Switzerland. About 5 percent of the country’s 7.8 million people are Muslim. Government Opposition The government and a majority of Switzerland’s lawmakers opposed the initiative. The Justice Ministry contended a ban on new minarets would violate freedom of religion as well as Switzerland’s international human-rights commitments and fundamental rights under the Swiss constitution. Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said today the outcome of the vote reflects fears about Islamic fundamentalist tendencies. “These concerns have to be taken seriously,” she said in the statement. “The Federal Council has always done so and will continue to do so in future. However, the Federal Council takes the view that a ban on the construction of new minarets is not a feasible means of countering extremist tendencies.” One of the country’s four minarets is in Geneva and another is in Zurich. To contact the reporter on this story: Klaus Wille in Zurich at kwille@bloomberg.net .

Read the full article →

Retailers in U.S. Post 0.5% Sales Gain as Friday Shoppers Grab Discounts

November 29, 2009

By Cotten Timberlake and Chris Burritt Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) — Retailers reported “strong” shopper traffic on Black Friday as discounts on televisions, toys and computers drew budget-conscious crowds across the U.S., the National Retail Federation said. High-definition TVs, laptops, Zhu Zhu Pets robotic hamsters and winter coats were among the most popular items, according to the federation, a Washington-based trade group. Sales advanced 0.5 percent to $10.7 billion, ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago- based research firm, said yesterday in a statement. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. , the world’s largest retailer, drew crowds with $298 Hewlett-Packard laptop computers and other specials that went on sale at 5 a.m. Best Buy Inc. , the biggest electronics chain, used $547.99 42-inch Samsung flat-panel TVs to lure shoppers grappling with the highest unemployment in 26 years. The retailer had bigger early-morning crowds than last year, Chief Executive Officer Brian Dunn said. “The surprise news is that they are actually buying for themselves as well, due to pent-up demand and frugal fatigue,” Marshal Cohen , chief industry analyst with NPD Group Inc. said in a Bloomberg Television interview Nov. 27. “They are saying ‘Let’s loosen up the purse strings a little bit,’ but it is still cautious spending.” NPD, based in Port Washington, New York, is a market research firm. Holiday Shopping Prediction The day after U.S. Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday, the traditional beginning of holiday buying. Explanations of the phrase’s origins differ, one holding that it’s the weekend when retailers go to being in the black, profitable for the year. Stores open early on Black Friday and offer early-bird discounts to attract business. A 4.9 percent sales decrease in the northeast countered gains in other regions, according to ShopperTrak. Consumer traffic was heavy throughout the country, the research firm, which plans to release store-visit figures in the next few days. “We’ve seen a gradual retail sales increase over the last two weeks and with Black Friday’s performance, it looks like November will be a positive month for retailers,” Bill Martin , a ShopperTrak co-founder, said in the statement. “The 1.6 percent increase we originally predicted for the holiday season remains intact.” Retailers’ chief marketing officers predicted Black Friday sales would climb an average 1.8 percent from a year ago at their own stores, according to a survey conducted by BDO Seidman LLP in October. Ninety-six of 100 executives said they would increase promotions this year, offering the biggest discounts on consumer electronics. Discounts on TVs “Retailers in all sectors have reported strong crowds,” according to an NRF statement Nov. 27. Walmart fell 33 cents to $54.63 on Nov. 27 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading . Richfield, Minnesota-based Best Buy lost 43 cents to $42.83. There seemed to be more discounts on TVs this year, and shoppers were snapping them up, said Charles O’Shea , a New York- based retail analyst with Moody’s Investors Service. In the four hours he spent checking retailers in northern New Jersey, he saw several shoppers standing at bus stops holding flat-panel sets. “It looks like everybody has caught the promotional bug,” O’Shea said in a telephone interview Nov. 27. The lines in front of Best Buy stores were longer and the company’s Web site attracted more visitors than in 2008, Best Buy’s Dunn said. “Those are both directionally important indicators for us,” he said in a Bloomberg Television interview. ‘Best Deal’ Samir Patel arrived at noon on Thanksgiving Day with his brother and cousin to claim the No. 1 spot in line at Best Buy in Jersey City, New Jersey. The 26-year-old, who has been unemployed since he graduated with a master’s degree in May, was waiting to buy a Sony Vaio laptop for $399.99 when the store opened at 5:30 a.m. the next day. “It’s the best deal for a laptop this year,” he said. “There’s a minimum of 10 in the store.” Liberty Media Corp.’s QVC shopping channel said it had more than $32 million in sales Nov. 27, its best-ever Black Friday, and a 60 percent increase from last year. The previous record was $22.3 million in November 2006, said Doug Rose, vice president of programming and marketing at QVC. Holiday sales make up a third or more of retailers’ annual profit. The International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade group, predicted sales at stores open at least a year will advance 1 percent in November and December after a year-earlier 5.8 percent decline, the worst in 40 years. ‘More Traffic’ “There’s a little more traffic than last year across the board, maybe 10 percent,” Bill Taubman , chief operating officer of Taubman Centers Inc., a U.S. real estate investment trust with 24 malls, said in a telephone interview Nov. 27. Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, kept stores open all night so shoppers could grab items when they went on sale at 5 a.m. The world’s largest retailer cut some toy prices to $5. Toys “R” Us, based in Wayne, New Jersey, had an average of 1,000 people outside its stores before they opened at midnight, five hours earlier than last year, said Chairman and CEO Jerry Storch . The chains sold a “significant number” of Apple Inc. iPods and tens of thousands of Zhu Zhu Pets robot hamsters, he said. “The last thing parents will cut back on is toys for their kids,” Storch said in a telephone interview Nov. 27. J.C. Penney, Macy’s Black Friday shopping at J.C. Penney Co. stores was strong throughout the U.S., the Plano, Texas-based retailer said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. J.C. Penney, which plans to report November sales on Dec. 3, fell $1.07 to $29.57 on Nov. 27 on the New York Stock Exchange. At the Macy’s Inc. store in New York’s Herald Square, shopper traffic appeared greater than a year ago, and continued to flow in after the initial rush, Macy’s Chairman and CEO Terry Lundgren said. Housewares and jewelry were selling “briskly,” he said. “Last year we were just getting rid of the inventory we bought six months before,” Lundgren said. “This year we’ve had a year to think through what is the sales trend.” Macy’s, based in Cincinnati, dropped 59 cents to $16.97 on Nov. 27 on the New York Stock Exchange. Promotions are shaping up to be less haphazard than last year when conditions were “downright dysfunctional” after the financial crisis forced retailers to clear out goods, Richard Hastings , a Charlotte, North Carolina-based consumer strategist for Global Hunter Securities LLC, said Nov. 27 in an e-mail. After this weekend, sales may slip into a lull until mid- December when retailers push out more discounts, Hastings said. “The season has a long way to go,” Hastings said. To contact the reporters on this story: Cotten Timberlake in Washington at ctimberlake@bloomberg.net ; Chris Burritt in Greensboro, North Carolina, at 1348 or cburritt@bloomberg.net .

Read the full article →

U.A.E. Central Bank Says It `Stands Behind’ Lenders, Offers Loan Facility

November 29, 2009

By Arif Sharif Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) — The United Arab Emirates’ central bank said it “stands behind” the country’s local and foreign banks, which face losses from Dubai World’s possible default, and offered them access to more money under a new facility. The central bank will make available to banks “a special additional liquidity facility linked to the current accounts” at the central bank that can be drawn upon at a cost of 50 basis points above the three-month Emirates inter-bank offered rate, the Abu Dhabi-based regulator said in an e-mailed statement today. Dubai World, a state-owned holding company struggling with $59 billion of debt and other liabilities, said Nov. 25 it would seek a “standstill” agreement with creditors. The news led to a slump in financial markets around the world and raised prospects of rising loan write-offs for U.A.E. and foreign banks. “This is a very re-assuring move by the central bank in order to limit the risk of any run on Dubai-based banks,” said John Sfakianakis , chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi in Riyadh. It will alleviate any “liquidity concerns by foreign banks about the banking system, mostly those based in Dubai,” he said. The U.A.E.’s banking system is “more sound and liquid than a year ago” and local banks’ sale of medium-term notes and commercial paper in foreign markets has declined by 25 percent over the period, the central bank said. Foreign interbank deposits make up only 5 percent of overall interbank deposits, the central bank said in the statement. To contact the reporter on this story: Arif Sharif in Dubai at asharif2@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

The New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity is grading political parties on their commitment to private sector pay equity, and so far the NDP is…

November 29, 2009

The New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity plans to make its cause an election issue. It wants provincial politicians to extend pay equity legislation to the private sector. As it stands, only the public sector is covered

Read the full article →

London Market Set For Raft Of IPO – Reports

November 29, 2009

the flotation wouldn’t be made until after Christmas, the paper adds. The fashion retailer is owned by private equity groups Apax and Permira and the Sunday Telegraph says it could be valued at around GBP1.7 billion. The Sunday Telegraph also reports

Read the full article →

Bernie Sanders: Bernanke Won’t Get My Vote For Second Term (VIDEO)

November 29, 2009

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Sunday that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke would not get his vote for another five-year term. “I absolutely will not vote for Mr. Bernanke,” the Vermont senator said on ABC’s “This Week.” “He’s part of the problem. If he’s the smartest guy in the world, why didn’t he do anything to prevent us from sinking into this disaster that Wall Street caused and which he was a part of? No, I will not vote for Bernanke to stay on as chairman.” In August, Sanders sharply disagreed with President Obama’s decision to renominate Bernanke, saying the Fed chair had been “asleep at the wheel.” Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Read the full article →

Real estate: Sale prices of metro-east homes (Belleville News-Democrat)

November 29, 2009

This snapshot of real estate transactions is compiled from public records.

Read the full article →

Jeff Danziger: Statue of Credit

November 29, 2009
Read the full article →

U.A.E. Central Bank Makes Additional Liquidity Facility Available …

November 29, 2009

Tagged as: above-the-three, asset-coalition, classes-on- real , country, deals, distressed debt, events, finds-the-best, hedge-fund, hedge-funds, limit-the-risk, private-equity, related-sites, struggling-with, the-central. Leave a Comment. Name *. E-mail *. Website … Commercial real estate is a great investment. Commercial property investment is different from the residential one. Read the original post: Commercial Real Estate : A Great Investment Option | Money | Money … …

Read the full article →

Professor Advises Underwater Homeowners To Walk Away From Mortgages

November 29, 2009

Go ahead. Break the chains. Stop paying on your mortgage if you owe more than the house is worth. And most important: Don’t feel guilty about it. Don’t think you’re doing something morally wrong. That’s the incendiary core message of a new academic paper by Brent T. White, a University of Arizona law school professor, titled “Underwater and Not Walking Away: Shame, Fear and the Social Management of the Housing Crisis.”

Read the full article →

Ben Bernanke Makes Case For Strong Fed Role On Banks

November 29, 2009

NEW YORK — The chairman of the Federal Reserve is concerned that congressional efforts at financial reform could weaken the central bank’s ability to handle future crises and may politicize monetary policy. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke made the comments in an Op-Ed piece to appear in Sunday’s Washington Post, five days before the Senate Banking committee holds a hearing on his nomination for a second term. His current four-year term expires Jan. 31. Bernanke wrote the nation is challenged to design a financial oversight system that will “embody the lessons of the past two years and provide a robust framework for preventing future crises and the economic damage they cause.” But two proposals being considered “are very much out of step with the global consensus on the appropriate role of central banks, and they would seriously impair the prospects for economic and financial stability in the United States,” he said. The first item in question is a bill before the Senate that would strip the Fed of its bank regulation authority and give the Senate a role in selecting the 12 regional Federal Reserve bank presidents, proposed by Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn. Dodd says his measure would return the Fed to its core mission of setting monetary policy, claiming it proved itself “an abysmal failure” by not cracking down on risky lending practices that led to the financial meltdown. Bernanke countered that the Fed played “a major part in arresting the crisis.” In what will likely be seen as an implicit defense of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who was president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank last year, Bernanke said some government actions may have been “distasteful and unfair” but were needed to avoid a global economic catastrophe rivaling the Great Depression. “My colleagues at the Federal Reserve and I were determined not to allow that to happen,” Bernanke wrote. Notably, he makes no mention of the bill’s language that would strip the Fed of consumer protection authorities, which he has previously opposed. That may indicate a concession to political and populist demands for a new pro-consumer agency. The second piece of legislation Bernanke comments on is an amendment from Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, in a House financial regulatory bill that would repeal a 1978 ban on congressional audits of Fed interest-rate decisions. Paul maintains the repeal would bring more transparency and accountability, and notes it contains language that states it should not be construed as interference in or dictation of monetary policy by Congress. Bernanke said the Fed’s ability to set interest rates and provide stimulus through lending and asset-purchase programs depends upon being able to operate independently of political influence. Opening monetary policy decisions to the scrutiny of Congress “would undermine the confidence the public and the markets have in the Fed to act in the long-term economic interest of the nation.” The Fed chairman recognized that the proposals are in part born of public anger over the financial crisis and the rescues of big financial firms. He said he strongly supports measures to ensure that such interventions never happen again. He wants tougher oversight of large, complex financial firms to make sure that no one company is “too big to fail,” and that the costs of future failures are not borne by taxpayers. “There is a strong case for a continued role for the Federal Reserve in bank supervision,” he said, citing expertise needed to supervise “highly complex financial firms” and the information gleaned from regulating banks that is used to set monetary policy. He also pointed to the results of the “stress tests” done on banks earlier this year, maintaining they helped restore public confidence in the banking system. ____ Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington contributed to this report.

Read the full article →

Hale "Bonddad" Stewart: Why Hysteria And The Economic Blogsphere Are Best Friends

November 29, 2009

Reading blogs that in any way write about economics has generally become an exercise in utter futility. According to most good news is either propagated by corporate whores who are blind to the realities around them or presented without considering “all” the facts. All government statistics and all economists are wrong — unless they support or present a bearish viewpoint. Then the facts are treated as irrefutable truths presented by intellectual gods. And Goldman Sachs or the Federal Reserve manipulated everything to further some plot. In other words, ridiculous conspiracy theories are far more common than simple factually based analysis. How did things get so out of line? There are several reasons. The first and most obvious is, “if it bleeds it leads.” This is a saying from the days when newspapers were the predominant form of presenting and communicating information. Bloody pictures and sensationalistic headlines simply sold more newspapers. Translate that to the blogsphere and proclamations that the economy is going to hell will probably attract more readers. For reasons that I still don’t understand, train wrecks are fun to watch. I’m reminded here of the album by Megadeath titled Peace Sells … But Who’s Buying? Then there is the issue that many people in the blogsphere were right about the economy. Over the last three or so years, the only people who issued any warnings about the US’ economic trajectory were blogs. At first they were the lunatic fringe, the voice in the wilderness. But after the crash happened more people tuned into blogs to get their financial information. Readership increased. But as the facts changed — as we saw economic indicators start to bottom and then turn positive — blogs did not change their opinions. The reasons here are two fold. First, many people made a name for themselves by being bearish. Changing their perception would mean giving up the quality that made them famous in the first place and thereby threaten their readership. The second is many people have a preconceived perspective — that is, some people are fundamentally bearish regardless of the economic environment. Just as importantly, there are some who want things to be bad in order to create an environment where fundamental change is more likely. In other words, these people have a clear political agenda; they simply use economics to accomplish these ends. There is nothing wrong with this. But their bias should be understood and clearly made. Third, there is the simple fact that people who write about the economy don’t understand the economy. Here is a classic example. The unemployment rate is a lagging economic indicator. This means it goes down after the economy starts growing. The intuitive reason for this is simple. During a recession businesses cut production and lay people off. As the economy starts to grow, businesses first increase production and the hours that their existing work force works. Then, as demand picks up more and more, businesses start to hire again. However, reading the economic blogsphere it becomes very obvious that people writing about the economy don’t know about this relationship. I’d love to tell you that unemployment will suddenly drop to 5% next quarter. But that’s just not going to happen because that’s not the way the economy works. Certain things happen at certain times in economic cycles. And finally there are the conspiracy theories floating around the Internet. According to some the entire crash was orchestrated by Goldman Sachs. According to others, the Federal Reserve is part of a secret plot to do … something. The reality is the economic meltdown was caused by numerous, inter-related events coming together in what is literally a once-in-a-lifetime perfect economic storm. It’s going to take a long time to sort through the mess to figure out what went wrong and how all of those pieces fit together. In difficult times it’s easy to scapegoat parties and institutions. The reality is it’s a lot more complicated. So, here’s the reality of where we are. The economy is back from the brink; we’re no longer falling off a cliff. Last quarter the economy grew by 2.8%. Yes, that was the result of the stimulus — which is exactly what is supposed to happen at the end of a recession. However, we have a lot of work to do. The unemployment rate is still over 10.2%. Unemployment benefits must be increased and extended. And plans to get the unemployment rate down should be initiated.

Read the full article →

Charities to rebrand ABC Learning care centres

November 29, 2009

ABC Learning childcare chain want to rebrand the business as Good Start centres, offering daycare to the disadvantaged. Private equity group Archer Capital is vying against the charitable consortium, which involves Mission Australia, the Brotherhood of

Read the full article →

Thomas Kochan: The Jobs Summit: Opportunity To Forge A New Social Contract

November 29, 2009

This week, President Obama will convene a Jobs Summit to build support for new initiatives aimed at ensuring workers are not left out of the economic recovery. This could be a historic event, but only if it is more than a one-time meeting and serves as the starting point for getting business, labor, and government leaders to work together to create well paying jobs. Current data on jobs and wages show why workers rightly feel they are being left out of the economic recovery. Unemployment is at a quarter century high and the Congressional Budget Office predicts that unless stronger actions are taken, unemployment will remain above 10% in 2010, 9% in 2011, and 7% in 2012. This means that between 15 to 20% of the nation’s human capital will remain unemployed, underemployed, or out of the labor force for the next three years — clearly an unacceptable outcome that will further delay and weaken economic recovery. The wage data are equally unacceptable. Average worker incomes have been flat or fell during the recession. Nor did they grow over the seven years of the past economic recovery. Indeed, workers have been getting a declining share of the productivity they helped create (most of it went to those in the top one percent of the income distribution) for the past three decades. Unless more direct action is taken, the earning power of existing and new jobs will remain stuck at the same levels they have been at for many years. Given that consumption accounts for 70% of the economy, a wage-less recovery translates to a weak and unsustainable recovery. A number of ideas for job creation have been proposed. Among them are a work sharing proposal that would provide unemployment benefits for reduced hours of work, an employer tax credit for creating new jobs, use of TARP funds to provide credit for small business, additional stimulus funds for local and state governments, and expanded investments in infrastructure and construction. All these proposals are worth considering. No one solution alone is a silver bullet. The mix of options chosen will have to produce nearly 8 million jobs just to make up for those lost since the beginning of the recession. Getting wages moving again will require a new social contract between labor and business to replace the one that has been broken since the 1980s. The president should call on workers and their unions and associations to work in partnership with employers receiving taxpayer funds to build the high performance workplaces and work processes needed to generate high productivity and high service quality. Evidence from manufacturing, health care, and other industries shows that major financial and/or technological investments only pay off in high productivity when matched with state of the art workplace practices and cooperative labor management relationships. In return, employers receiving funds should be expected to follow compensation principles that share equitably the gains generated from productivity and economic growth. Implementing this new social contract will require business and labor to work together in ways they have been unwilling to do for many years. The sad reality is that they have been locked in an ideological stalemate over the legitimacy of unions and over how to fix and modernize a failed and outdated labor law. The president needs to use this historic opportunity to break this impasse and launch an era of productive and innovative labor management relations needed to foster and sustain the new pact. To do so, the president should announce his intention to work for speedy passage of a reframed and expanded Employee Free Choice Act, a labor law reform bill currently stalled in Congress. The reframing would state the objectives of the Act are both to restore workers’ ability to join a union and gain access to collective bargaining and to transform labor management relations in ways that get wages once again growing in tandem with productivity and economic growth. Provisions should be added to the bill to create an on-going national labor management advisory council to oversee implementation of the new law and provide advice on how to promote and diffuse productive, innovative, and cooperative labor management relations. This national body should be supplemented by industry-specific councils where taxpayer dollars are being invested such as health care, infrastructure, aviation, and renewable energy. Industry management and labor experts should be held accountable for making sure the right mix of high performance and compensation practices get implemented. Likewise, local level labor, business, community, and government leaders need to work together to translate stimulus funds for infrastructure repair, weatherization, and green jobs into projects that are completed on time, on budget, safely and that generate new job and career building opportunities for women and underrepresented minorities. There is much talk about creating broad-based green jobs coalitions at the local level but to date they have been slow in materializing and, as a result, job creation has been equally slow. Active facilitation of multi-stakeholder negotiations will be needed to accelerate the pace of job creation. If it is a first step rather than a one-time event, the Jobs Summit will be recorded as a historic achievement — the day a new social contract was put in place for workers and families to share in the economic recovery they help produce and the day the foundation was laid for creating good sustainable jobs and 21st century labor management relationships.

Read the full article →

Sacramento Housing» Blog Archive » You Need HUGE PAYDAYS …

November 29, 2009

You Need HUGE PAYDAYS… Commercial REAL ESTATE Amazing OFFER! (Don’t Wait). Posted on November 29, 2009 (1 hour ago) in: Housing. Article; Comments (0). Searching for apprentices to shape into commercial realty executives. …

Read the full article →

First private African donation to Global Fund

November 29, 2009

Extract not available.

Read the full article →

One In Eight Americans On Food Stamps

November 29, 2009

With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children.

Read the full article →

Hotels, Like Homeowners, Behind On Payments (NPR)

November 29, 2009

They have been enticing travelers all year with sweet deals: credits for in-house spas and restaurants, up to 50 percent off five-star rooms, even free nights. But all that discounting hasn’t stopped occupancy from dropping an average of 10 percent. The result? Hotel loans have begun falling into delinquency faster than any other kind of commercial real estate debt.

Read the full article →

Trichet, Juncker Say They Failed to Sway China on Letting Yuan Appreciate

November 29, 2009

By Bloomberg News Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) — European officials indicated that they failed to shift Chinese policies that have held the yuan steady against the dollar since July last year. “I can’t say I’m more optimistic” about yuan appreciation, Jean-Claude Juncker , who chairs a group of euro-area finance ministers, said at a press briefing in Nanjing, China today. Chinese officials had explained that it was hard to convince their public of the benefit of immediate gains, Juncker said. European leaders want China to loosen controls on the yuan that shelter Chinese exporters from the U.S. currency’s slide and expose the euro region to it. The euro has surged about 20 percent versus the U.S. currency since Feb. 18, making exports less competitive and undermining the region’s recovery from the worst slump since World War II. “An orderly and gradual appreciation of the renminbi would be in the best interests of China and the European economy,” Juncker said, using another term for the yuan. He said that the EU and China had “not yet” reached an agreement on this “very difficult point of concern.” Both European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and Juncker indicated at the briefing that no immediate change to China’s currency polices was likely. Chinese officials confirmed that they will continue to implement currency reforms begun in 2005, when a fixed exchange rate ended, Trichet said. ‘We Will See’ Trichet told Bloomberg Television: “I don’t over-interpret our discussions. It is their decision and we will see.” The European officials met today with Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zhang Ping , People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan , Finance Minister Xie Xuren and Premier Wen Jiabao . Juncker said the Europeans delivered their message about the currency in a “frank” way. The Europeans’ visit is after U.S. President Barack Obama left Beijing this month without a commitment from the authorities to let the exchange rate strengthen. International pressure is growing on China after the Group of 20 nations, of which it is a member, agreed in September to make the world economy less reliant on Chinese savings and U.S. demand. Trichet told Bloomberg Television that rebalancing the global economy would also aid China’s “own stability and prosperity.” ‘Quite Confident’ In the past six months, the yuan has fallen 6.5 percent against the euro. China has kept the yuan at about 6.83 against the U.S. dollar since July 2008, arguing that stability has aided the global recovery from the financial crisis. Obama told President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao that the U.S. expects progress on making the yuan “more flexible” by mid-2010, according to Jon Huntsman , the American ambassador to China. That is when talks between the U.S. State and Treasury secretaries and their Chinese counterparts are due to take place in China. “There will be a bit stronger pressure on China even if the point is probably more effectively made behind the scenes,” Julian Callow , chief European economist at Barclays Capital in London, said before today’s briefing. “But I imagine Trichet having gone all this way, that they want to come back with a message that China understands their position and is committed to more flexibility in due course.” Stimulus to Stay While the 16-member euro-region economy returned to growth in the third quarter, the euro’s ascent is making exports less competitive abroad and eroding companies’ earnings. European Aeronautic, Defence & Space & Co., the owner of Airbus SAS, said on Nov. 16 that third-quarter earnings slumped 77 percent, partly because of a weaker dollar. Juncker said today that while the euro area was showing clear signs of an economic recovery, there would be no major withdrawal of fiscal stimulus measures in the region in 2010. Around the world, it’s too early to eliminate stimulus, he added. Deutsche Telekom AG Chief Executive Officer Rene Obermann said on Nov. 5 the company is looking “very carefully” at developments in currency markets. The dollar’s depreciation and other exchange-rate movements cut third-quarter revenue at Europe’s biggest phone company by about 100 million euros compared to the second, spokesman Andreas Leigers said. — Judy Chen , Stephen Engle, Michael Forsythe, Stephanie Wong, Kevin Hamlin, Belinda Cao, Simone Meier. Editors: Paul Panckhurst , Chris Malpass . To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Judy Chen in Shanghai at +86-21-6104-7047 or Xchen45@bloomberg.net .

Read the full article →

NSE to launch MF platform tomorrow

November 29, 2009

NEW DELHI: The country’s top mutual fund houses, including UTI Mutual Fund, are keen to join National Stock Exchange’s new mutual fund service system (MFSS), which will be launched on Monday. According to market sources, UTI

Read the full article →

Review of mutual fund advisory fees is long overdue

November 29, 2009

For example, investment advisory fees are distinct from expenses incurred by mutual funds, which, properly, are charged to fund shareholders. However, investment advisory fees are (or should be) identical, regardless of the nature of the advisory

Read the full article →

Private Equity Leaders Forum 2009 to Review Qualifications for Private Equity Firms to Acquire Banks

November 29, 2009

national tally of failed banks this year, only 12 days are left to register for GoldenNetworking.com’s Private Equity Leaders Forum 2009 Buying Failed Banks: Opportunities and Pitfalls FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PR Log (Press Release) – Nov 29, 2009 –

Read the full article →

Private Equity Leaders Forum 2009 to Discuss Capital Commitment for Private Equity Firm Buying Banks

November 29, 2009

national tally of failed banks this year, only 12 days are left to register for GoldenNetworking.com’s Private Equity Leaders Forum 2009 Buying Failed Banks: Opportunities and Pitfalls FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PR Log (Press Release) – Nov 29, 2009 –

Read the full article →

Private Equity Leaders Forum 2009 to Evaluate Expected Returns for Private Equity Firms Buying Banks

November 29, 2009

national tally of failed banks this year, only 12 days are left to register for GoldenNetworking.com’s Private Equity Leaders Forum 2009, forum where private equity executives, investment and hedge fund managers will congregate Buying Failed Banks:

Read the full article →

Put These Top Managers to Work for You

November 29, 2009

So, now that we’ve named our nominees for Fund Manager of the Decade, are you thinking about adding one or more of their funds to your portfolio? If you’re sitting with a collection of mediocre funds right now

Read the full article →

Japan consumer prices fall 2.2%

November 29, 2009

Japan consumer prices fall 2.2%

Read the full article →

WTO conference to set freer trade

November 29, 2009

WTO conference to set freer trade

Read the full article →

Strong quake shakes island of Mindanao

November 29, 2009

Strong quake shakes island of Mindanao

Read the full article →

Limiting Fed Independence would impair economy in US

November 29, 2009

Limiting Fed Independence would impair economy in US

Read the full article →

Barroso gives internal market role to France

November 29, 2009

Barroso gives internal market role to France

Read the full article →

Questions remain about Russia tax fraud

November 29, 2009

Questions remain about Russia tax fraud

Read the full article →

Cadbury chief sweet on family values

November 29, 2009

Cadbury chief sweet on family values

Read the full article →

Todd Stitzer hints at backing for Hershey

November 29, 2009

Todd Stitzer hints at backing for Hershey

Read the full article →

Report: Indebted Dubai World rejected asset sale

November 29, 2009

as saying over past months Dubai World ‘rejected the idea of selling some of its good investment and real estate assets.’ Dubai World’s holdings range from ports to real estate. It said Wednesday it was seeking a debt payment deferment of at least six

Read the full article →

Hotel owners, like home owners, behind on payments (AP via Yahoo! News)

November 29, 2009

Like many home owners, hotels are starting to drown in debt.

Read the full article →

Split capital trusts return to the stage

November 29, 2009

at Killik & Co, thinks investors looking for capital growth 'may want a lower risk profile' than a fund invested mainly in UK equities. But Watkins is optimistic that the tax benefits, together with the prospect of significant capital growth, will prove

Read the full article →

Tax credit could multiply home sales (The Steamboat Pilot & Today)

November 29, 2009

Steamboat Realtors are optimistic that the combined effect of twin federal tax credits for homebuyers could unstick a portion of the local real estate market.

Read the full article →

Tribes have waiver for salmon take (San Francisco Chronicle)

November 29, 2009

Guess who came to dinner in San Francisco? Would you believe 20,000 pounds of salmon? Where did all these salmon come from – especially in a year where salmon populations were so distressed that commercial fishing for them was banned along the California…

Read the full article →

Letting your home go into foreclosure does have consequences

November 29, 2009

residences found themselves in this situation, Zillow.com reported this month. Glenn Kelman, chief executive of the online real estate brokerage, contends that giving up should be an option. ‘I think there are a lot of people who don’t walk away from

Read the full article →

Advice if you’re trying to swoop in on a foreclosure deal (Everett Herald)

November 29, 2009

Question: I enjoyed your article last week on real estate investing. I was wondering about foreclosures, and how to buy these? Are there potential deals here?

Read the full article →

Real estate rebound in the offing (Kingston Daily Freeman)

November 29, 2009

The regional real estate market, which has not suffered as much as others following the burst of the national housing market bubble, seems to be stabilizing and could be poised for a rebound in the next few years, real estate professionals say.

Read the full article →

Real estate: Our readers weigh in on walking away from a home (Arizona Daily Star)

November 29, 2009

Last Sunday’s column about the idea of underwater homeowners walking away from their properties generated such a wide variety of responses — from enthusiastic support to calls for personal responsibility — that I thought we would return to it for a follow-up.

Read the full article →

Tiger Woods Remains Silent for Second Day About One-Car Accident, Injury

November 29, 2009

By Nancy Kercheval Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) — Tiger Woods refused to meet with Florida police for the second day after he was injured in a car accident that caused as much as $8,000 damage to his sport- utility vehicle. Officers from the Florida State Highway Patrol haven’t seen Woods since he crashed into a fire hydrant and tree as he left his driveway at 2:25 a.m. local yesterday, Sgt. Kim Montes said. Woods, the No. 1 player in the World Golf Rankings , was taken to a hospital for treatment of facial cuts before the investigating officer arrived. “We were asked by his agent to come back (Sunday),” Montes said in a telephone interview. “The law does not require him to make a statement, but this is an opportunity to give his side to move the investigation forward.” Montes said police action on these types of minor crashes routinely is completed in one day. Investigators will review the Orange County Sheriff’s office 911 tapes, which may be released as early as tomorrow if they are deemed to be not pertinent to the probe, Montes said. Woods’s 2009 Cadillac Escalade was towed from the scene of the crash in his community of Windermere, Florida, for “safekeeping” and awaits pickup, Montes said. The left front hit the fire hydrant, while the right front struck the tree. Total damages were set at $5,000 to $8,000, she said. Police want to know how both back passenger windows were shattered, Montes said. Neither the front window nor the driver’s side windows were damaged. Golf Club Woods’s wife, Elin, used a golf club to break out windows in the car to free her husband, Windermere police told the Associated Press yesterday. The back window of the car wasn’t broken as previously reported, Montes said. Woods’s playing status is unknown. He is scheduled to play in the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, California, next week. Woods is host of the tournament, which is not part of the U.S. PGA Tour’s regular season and attracts most of golf’s top players. He last played two weeks ago, winning the Australian Masters in his first appearance in that country since 1998. This season, Woods won six times in 17 events after undergoing reconstructive surgery on his left knee following his 2008 U.S. Open victory. He also had three runner-up finishes among his 14 top 10s in a year in which he failed to win one of golf’s four major titles for the first time in five years. Woods led the U.S. Tour with $10.5 million in earnings, and ended the season by capturing the yearlong FedEx Cup title for the second time. The championship also included a $10 million bonus. $1 Billion With that bonus, Woods became the first athlete to surpass the $1 billion mark in career earnings, Forbes magazine reported in October, citing its own calculations of Woods’s golf and endorsement earnings. In this year’s majors, Woods tied for sixth at the Masters Tournament and U.S. Open. He then missed the cut for weekend play at the British Open, only his second missed cut at a major in his professional career. His best chance to add to his list of 14 major titles came at the PGA Championship in August. While Woods led the field after 54 holes at Minnesota’s Hazeltine National Golf Club, he wasn’t able to fend off Y.E. Yang and lost for the first time as a pro when holding the lead going into the final round. Woods lives in the Windermere community in Orange County, Florida, with his wife and two children. He is building a new home on Florida’s Jupiter Island. To contact the reporter on this story: Nancy Kercheval in Washington at nkercheval@bloomberg.net .

Read the full article →

Honduran Soldiers to Stand Guard in Election Today as Zelaya Urges Boycott

November 29, 2009

By Helen Murphy and Jonathan J. Levin

Read the full article →

Scottish Finance Companies May Cut 3,000 Jobs in 2010, Ernst & Young Says

November 29, 2009

By Scott Hamilton Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) — Scottish financial-services companies may cut 3,000 jobs in the next year as the country’s economy lags behind that of the U.K. as a whole, Ernst & Young LLP’s Scottish Item Club said. Scotland lost 4,300 finance positions in the 15 months through June and will suffer further staff reductions as banks restructure, the group, which uses the same economic model as the U.K. Treasury, said today in an e-mailed statement. “Recent announcements by the banks suggest that the process of rationalization is yet to get into full swing,” Dougie Adams , an economic adviser at the forecasting group, said in the statement. “However, we remain hopeful that the location of activity by some of the new players in the sector in Scotland will soften the loss of employment from the changes.” Scotland is emerging from the financial crisis that forced bailouts of Edinburgh-based Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and HBOS Plc, the country’s two biggest financial institutions. Lloyds Banking Group Plc , which now owns HBOS, said this month it plans to cut 5,000 U.K. jobs, while RBS has also pledged to eliminate more positions. London’s financial-services industry will add staff in 2010, according to Oct. 15 forecasts by the Centre for Economic and Business Research. Job openings in the British capital rose to the highest level in a year last month, according to a survey by recruitment firm Morgan McKinley. ‘Patchy Recovery’ Scotland’s economy will have “a slow and patchy recovery” and will lag behind the U.K. because of “disturbing weakness” in financial services, business services and the hotel and catering industry, the Item Club’s report said. The Scottish economy will contract 4.9 percent this year, followed by growth of 0.7 percent in 2010, the group said. That compares with its U.K. forecast for a 4.6 percent drop followed by expansion next year of 1.1 percent. Scotland may also lose a total of 14,000 government-related jobs in the five years through 2014 as part of spending cuts to trim Britain’s record budget deficit , the Item Club said. “Scotland’s unemployment rate among those eligible for benefits has almost doubled since spring last year and there is undoubtedly more pain to come,” Adams said. To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Hamilton in London at shamilton8@bloomberg.net .

Read the full article →

China 2009 Gold Demand, Output May Rise to Records on Soaring Global Price

November 29, 2009

By Bloomberg News Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) — China, the world’s largest gold producer, may have record demand and output this year as jewelry consumption soars and miners expand production after prices reached all-time highs, according to the China Gold Association . The country’s gold demand may be more than 450 metric tons this year, up from 395.6 tons in 2008, and output may climb to 310 tons, compared with 282 tons a year earlier, Zhang Yongtao, deputy secretary-general of the association, said at a conference in Kunming today. Annualized growth in China’s gold production was 9.5 percent in the past eight years, he said. China overtook South Africa to become the world’s largest producer in 2007 and the World Gold Council said in July that the nation may pass India as the biggest consumer. Bullion touched a record of $1,195.13 an ounce Nov. 26 as a weaker dollar drove demand for precious metals as an alternative asset. “The inflation concern this year has boosted the Chinese consumer demand for things like property, autos and gold,” Zhou Shijian, professor at Tsinghua University, said today from Kunming, capital of the southern Yunnan province. Bullion, up 34 percent this year, is set for a ninth annual gain as central banks, pension funds and individual buyers seek to protect their assets from potential currency debasement and inflation. Gold may climb to $1,500 an ounce as the dollar falls amid low interest rates, Kenneth Tropin, chairman of Graham Capital Management, told Barron’s in its Nov. 30 issue. ‘Double-Digit’ Jewelry sales in China will climb at a “double-digit’’ pace this year as record household savings fuel demand for investment products and wedding gifts, Hong Kong Resources Holdings Ltd. Chairman Kennedy Wong said Oct. 23. Middle-class buyers in China, who have only just started to buy gold as an investment product, drove a 16 percent gain in gold and silver jewelry sales in the first nine months, said Wong, whose company has 219 jewelry stores in mainland China. Gold for immediate delivery declined 0.9 percent to $1,177.63 an ounce on Nov. 27 as commodities slumped the most this month after Dubai sought to defer some debt payments, rattling investors and spurring a dollar rally. Bullion found support from International Monetary Fund sales to central banks. Sri Lanka bought 10 metric tons from the IMF for about $375 million, the IMF said, following India and Mauritius. China is “quite a likely” buyer in coming weeks, Ben Westmore , an analyst with National Australia Bank, has said. “Record prices boosted profitability of Chinese miners, giving them incentive to expand production,” the gold association’s Zhang said in a speech. Shares of Chinese miners have jumped this year with Zijin Mining Group Co ., the nation’s largest gold producer, more than doubling, outpacing a 70 percent gain in the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index . For Related News and Information: Top commodity reports: CTOP Top metal and mining stories: METT Precious metal stories: NI PCS

Read the full article →

Job Losses in U.S. Probably Eased, Manufacturing Growth Slowed in November

November 29, 2009

By Timothy R. Homan Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) — Employers in the U.S. probably cut fewer jobs in November while manufacturing grew at a slower pace, indicating the labor market will take time to mend as the recovery unfolds, economists said before reports this week. Payrolls fell by 120,000 workers this month, the smallest drop in almost two years, according to the median of 67 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News ahead of a Dec. 4 Labor Department report. The unemployment rate probably held at 10.2 percent, a 26-year high. “The economy is recovering, but at a distinctly subpar pace,” Jan Hatzius , chief U.S. economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in New York, said in a note to clients. “Growth looks too sluggish to lower the 10 percent-plus unemployment rate to a meaningful degree anytime soon.” Policy makers, with an eye toward congressional elections next year, are likely to zero in on the plight of American workers. President Barack Obama will convene a “jobs summit” at the White House the day before the employment report, and senators will grill Ben S. Bernanke during his nomination hearing to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. The projected decrease in payrolls would be the smallest since January 2008, the month after the recession began. The world’s largest economy has lost 7.3 million jobs since the start of the contraction, the biggest drop in the post-World War II era. The jobless rate is projected to exceed 10 percent through the first half of next year, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed this month. Jobs Summit Obama will meet with business and labor leaders on Dec. 3 to discuss ways to revive the economy and spur employment. The president’s approval rating this month fell below 50 percent for the first time in polling by Quinnipiac University on growing discontent over jobs and the war in Afghanistan. The percentage of people who approve of Obama’s handling of the economy fell to 43 percent, according to results issued Nov. 18, down from 47 percent in an October poll. Bernanke is slated to appear before the Senate Banking Committee, whose chairman, Connecticut Democrat Christopher Dodd , has said the Fed’s lax supervision contributed to the housing bubble. The bust that followed deepened the worst recession since the Great Depression. The economy grew at a 2.8 percent annual pace from July through September, slower than initially estimated, according to Commerce Department figures released last week. The gain was the first in more than a year. ‘Slow Recovery’ “We are going to have growth hopefully, but it’s going to be a slow recovery,” Kenneth Chenault , chief executive officer of American Express Co., said in a Washington interview with Bloomberg Television that aired Nov. 20. “There can be a far more concerted effort on the part of the private sector and the government sector to work together to create jobs.” Chenault in the past year announced the elimination of about 11,000 jobs, or 17 percent of the workforce. Defaults at American Express fell to 7.8 percent in October, the sixth straight monthly decline. The company is now engaged in “selective” hiring, he said. Still, “it dose not mean that we can go back necessarily to the hiring rates we had pre-downturn.” Manufacturing, which accounts for about 12 percent of the economy, has been a driver of the recovery. The Tempe, Arizona-based Institute for Supply Management may report Dec. 1 that its factory index fell to 54.8 in November from a three-year high of 55.7 the previous month, the survey median showed. The gauge has surpassed the breakeven level of 50 since August. Less Production The figures would confirm earlier reports that showed the rebound in manufacturing was slowing. Factory production fell in October for the first time in four months, and orders for durable goods unexpectedly dropped, data from the Fed and the Commerce Department have shown. A report from the Commerce Department on Dec. 4 may show factory bookings were unchanged in October after jumping 0.9 percent the previous month, according to the survey median. Another report from the supply managers may show the broader economy is picking up. The group’s gauge covering non- manufacturing companies, due Dec. 3, probably rose to 51.5, the highest level in more than a year, according to the survey median. Dubai Jitters Stocks ended on a sour note last week, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index falling 1.7 percent Nov. 26 on concern over Dubai’s attempt to delay debt repayments. The index is up 61.3 percent since sinking to a 12-year low on March 9 as the economy showed signs of recovering. Like manufacturing, reports on housing this week may show the industry has reached a plateau. The National Association of Realtors on Dec. 1 may report that pending sales of existing homes fell 1 percent in October after jumping more than 6 percent in each of the previous two months, according to the survey median. Spending on construction projects, due from the Commerce Department the same day, may have dropped 0.5 percent last month after rising 0.8 percent in September, the survey showed. To contact the reporter on this story: Timothy R. Homan in Washington at thoman1@bloomberg.net

Read the full article →

Treasury to Pressure Lenders to Complete More U.S. Home Loan Modifications

November 29, 2009

By Dawn Kopecki Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Treasury Department will step up public pressure on lenders to finish modifying more home loans to troubled borrowers under a $75 billion campaign against the record tide of foreclosures. More than 650,994 loan revisions had been started through the Obama administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program as of last month, from about 487,081 as of September, according to the Treasury. None of the trial modifications through October had been converted to permanent repayment plans, the Treasury data showed. That failure is getting the administration’s attention. “We are taking additional steps to enhance servicer transparency and accountability as part of a broader focus on maximizing conversion rates to permanent modifications,” Treasury spokeswoman Meg Reilly said in an e-mail yesterday. The Obama administration plans to announce additional steps tomorrow, including new private-public partnerships and resources for borrowers. The modification program was announced in February as a way to combat a surge in foreclosures that has pushed property values lower and curtailed economic growth. It hasn’t stopped foreclosures, which are now being driven by unemployment that was at a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October. The Mortgage Bankers Association, the industry’s largest trade group, predicts foreclosures won’t peak until after unemployment rates crest, some time in the second half of next year. Cash Incentive The administration’s initiative provides a cash incentive of $1,000 to the mortgage servicer once a loan is converted from a trial to a permanent modification plus annual payments of $1,000 for as long as three years provided the loan remains in good standing. Bank of America Corp. was among the worst performers in the program, with 14 percent of loans in modification in October, according to the Treasury. The bank, the largest in the U.S. and the biggest mortgage servicer, has 990,628 eligible loans, a greater total than any other company on the Treasury’s list. A spokesman for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank, Dan Frahm , has said the eligibility data may be overstated. “As many as one-in-three of those borrowers listed as eligible for the program will not actually qualify for HAMP because the home is vacant, the customer has a debt-to-income ratio below 31 percent or is unemployed,” Frahm said in a Nov. 10 interview. Eligible Loans Eligible loans under the program are at least 60 days past due, in foreclosure or bankruptcy, and originated before 2009. The underlying property must be owner-occupied and conform to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits, which can be as high as $729,750 in some areas. The data excludes Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Affairs loans. A borrower’s mortgage payment must be 31 percent or more of their gross monthly income to qualify. Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. led the pack of U.S. banks modifying home loans to troubled borrowers through October under the foreclosure prevention plan, the Treasury Department said. Citigroup, the third-largest U.S. bank by assets, began 88,968 trial modifications, or 40 percent of its eligible mortgages. JPMorgan, the second-largest U.S. bank, has started 133,988 modifications, or 32 percent of those eligible, the Treasury said. Morgan Stanley’s Saxon Mortgage Services had begun trials for 44 percent of its 80,477 eligible loans. In all, 20 percent of eligible U.S. homeowners have received trial modifications through the government program, according to the data. Bank of America’s modifications started rose to 136,994 in October from 94,918 in September. The bank also accounted for 30.7 percent of the 3.2 million loans eligible for the program and about 22 percent of the 919,965 modification offers extended to borrowers by all the participating banks combined. TARP Recipients The administration program requires banks that received federal aid from the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, as well as mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to lower monthly payments for borrowers at “imminent risk” of default. Banks can lengthen repayment terms, lower interest rates to as low as 2 percent and forbear outstanding principal, among other methods. President Barack Obama announced the program in February, and final criteria for administering the modifications on loans owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage-finance companies seized by the government, were released in April. Specific program guidelines for loans owned by other investors were provided in June and the Treasury later gave new details for loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration. The administration’s $75 billion Making Home Affordable program includes the mortgage modification initiative and loan refinancing through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. To contact the reporter on this story: Dawn Kopecki in Washington at dkopecki@bloomberg.net .

Read the full article →

SEB removes nine funds

November 28, 2009

from their selection. The funds are: Pictet Funds Biotech Schroder Emerging Europe Schroder Emerging Markets Debt JPMF Pacific Equity Fund Schroder Japanese Smaller Companies Schroder US Smaller Companies Schroder UK Equity JPMF Eastern Europe Equity

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →