Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Thursday September 13 Housing and Economic stories



TOP STORIES:

China's Wen says global crisis worsening  - (finance.yahoo.com) Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Thursday that the impact of the global economic crisis is worsening, and called during a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for closer cooperation to revive growth. Merkel was in Beijing for talks with Wen and other Chinese leaders aimed at expanding trade and allaying fears about Europe's debt problems. The visit comes as global growth slows and China struggles to reverse its deepest economic slump since the 2008 crisis. Wen said he had increased confidence in the eurozone after being briefed by Merkel but expressed concern about European debt and said Italy, Greece and Spain must increase their determination to reform.

Ex-Stock Broker: I Realized That Most Of What I Did Was Bad For Clients So I Quit - (finance.yahoo.com)  One of those who changed is Josh Brown, a former stock broker who now writes a well-read financial blog called The Reformed Broker. He worked for 10 years in the retail industry during both boom and bust markets. When times are good and people are making money, the inherent conflicts in the business are "masked," he says. But when the tide goes out, you find out who is swimming naked, Brown says quoting Warren Buffett. "As a retail broker, your job is to buy things with your clients money. That's it. When you are not doing that they pull the money," Brown tells The Daily Ticker in the accompanying interview. When times were bad and equities were not a good investment, he was forced to continue to buying, choosing the stocks that were the lesser of all evils. After the market crash of 2008, he realized that he was hurting clients by selling them stocks he didn't think they should buy. Brown abandoned being a "broker" and became a financial adviser at Fusion Analytics. In this new job, Brown says, his interests and his client interests are more closely aligned.

Europe drawn back to its first problem - Greece  - (www.reuters.com) The euro zone debt crisis was born in Greece. Nearly three years and two bailouts on, Europe must decide whether to give the country yet more help or cut it loose. For all its complexities, Greece's problems essentially come down to three simple questions: Can the country return to growth? How big are its debts? And will the first ever be enough to pay off the second? Put like that, one might wonder why policymakers have found a solution so elusive. But as ever, the devil is in the detail, and in Greece's case the details are devilishly difficult. That is why ongoing efforts by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund -- together known as the 'troika' -- to work out Greece's long-term growth and debt reduction prospects are so critical. Everyone from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to ECB President Mario Draghi and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras -- who wants two more years to make the cuts demanded of him -- is nervously awaiting the outcome of the troika's report, which is expected in late September or early October.

The Fed is running short of 'shock and awe' tactics - (www.telegraph.co.uk)  'Shock and awe' is the shorthand commonly used to describe the Federal Reserve's response to the financial crisis. Chastised for failing to spot it was coming in 2007, America's central bank quickly embarked on a series of policies designed to show it meant business in easing the crisis and preventing a repeat of the Great Depression. Interest rates were dropped to close to zero in the autumn of 2008. Two rounds of quantitative easing followed that saw the Fed print more than $2 trillion (£1.3 trillion) to buy US government debt and mortgage-backed bonds in a further effort to lower interest rates and stimulate demand in the economy.

Spanish Recession Deepens as Austerity Undermines Outlook - (www.bloomberg.com) Spain’s recession worsened in the second quarter as the government’s austerity push to reduce the euro area’s third-biggest budget deficit and a slump in consumer spending offset growth in exports. Gross domestic product fell 0.4 percent from the previous quarter, when it declined 0.3 percent, the Madrid-based National Statistics Institute said today. That’s in line with an estimate published July 30. Separately, Spain’s borrowing costs fell to the lowest in three months at an auction today after the nation’s bonds rallied this month on optimism the European Central Bank will agree on a plan to help peripheral nations. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy last month gave up on his forecast for a return to growth in 2013 as he unveiled budget cuts that will expand austerity measures to a total of 15 percent of annual GDP by 2014. He is due to host European Union President Herman Van Rompuy today for the first in a series of meetings aimed at solving the nation’s funding issues.





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