Monday, October 1, 2012

Tuesday October 2 Housing and Economic stories



TOP STORIES:

Peregrine CEO indicted for lying to regulators – (www.thestar.com) Peregrine Financial Group founder andchief executive Russell Wasendorf Sr was indicted on charges of lying to regulators, a little over a month after he botched a suicide attempt and confessed to bilking customers of his brokerage for years. Wasendorf, 64, "overstated the value of PFG's customer segregated funds by at least tens of millions of dollars" to the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission, according to the indictment, filed in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The indictment carries a possible maximum sentence of 155 years in prison, a $7.75 million fine, and 93 years of supervised release following any imprisonment, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Japanese firms shut China plants, U.S. urges calm in islands row - (www.reuters.com) Some major Japanese brandname firms announced factory shutdowns in China on Monday and urged expatriates to stay indoors ahead of what could be more angry protests over a territorial dispute between Asia's two biggest economies. China's worst outbreak of anti-Japan sentiment in decades led to weekend demonstrations and violent attacks on well-known Japanese businesses such as car makers Toyota and Honda, forcing frightened Japanese into hiding and prompting Chinese state media to warn that trade relations could now be in jeopardy. Another outbreak of anti-Japan sentiment is expected across China on Tuesday, the anniversary of Japan's 1931 occupation of parts of mainland China. "I'm not going out today and I've asked my Chinese boyfriend to be with me all day tomorrow," said Sayo Morimoto, a 29-year-old Japanese graduate student at a university in Shenzhen.

Spanish Banks Bleeding Cash Cloud Bailout Debate: Euro Credit - (www.bloomberg.com)  Spanish banks, already hooked on cheap European Central Bank loans, are hemorrhaging deposits as the government debates whether to seek a bailout. Households and companies drained 26 billion euros ($34 billion) from Spanish bank accounts in July, driving the ratio of loans to deposits among lenders to 187 percent from 183 percent in December and 182 percent a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Bank of Spain. Shrinking deposits undermine the ability of banks to support economic growth by lending to companies and consumers. “There are significant outflows of deposits now in Spain and they won’t start coming back until people are sure they’re safe and that Spain is secure,” said Simon Maughan, a financial strategist at Olivetree Securities Ltd. in London.

Exclusive: Ghost warehouse stocks haunt China's steel sector - (www.reuters.com) Chinese banks and companies looking to seize steel pledged as collateral by firms that have defaulted on loans are making an uncomfortable discovery: the metal was never in the warehouses in the first place. China's demand has faltered with the slowing economy, pushing steel prices to a three-year low and making it tough for mills and traders to keep up with payments on the $400 billion of debt they racked up during years of double-digit growth. As defaults have risen in the world's largest steel consumer, lenders have found that warehouse receipts for metal pledged as collateral do not always lead them to stacks of stored metal. Chinese authorities are investigating a number of cases in which steel documented in receipts was either not there, belonged to another company or had been pledged as collateral to multiple lenders, industry sources said.

Japan's next disaster caused by climbing debt - (www.telegraph.co.uk) Far beyond the harbour at Kamaishi town in north east Japan, the ravaged remains of its sea defences still rise jagged above the water. Descending 63m, the breakwater had earned a place in the Guinness book of records as the world’s deepest and its presence offered the ancient steel town’s 40,000 residents visible reassurance. When the tsunami struck on March 11, 2011, though, the five-year-old defences could not hold. The wave washed in, climbing 10 metres above sea level, levelling hundreds of homes and killing over a thousand people. The sea wall held the water back for six minutes and reduced the height of the wave by six metres, but the protection had been an illusion.






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