Monday, July 7, 2014

Tuesday July 8 Housing and Economic stories


Chinese Port's Missing-Metals Mystery Deepens - (online.wsj.com) Citic Resources Can't Locate Alumina at Qingdao, Amid Probe Into Commodities-Backed Loans. The state-owned Citic Resources Holdings Ltd.  said about half of the alumina stockpiles it had stored at China's Qingdao port couldn't be located, heightening concerns over the use of commodities for financing in the country. Citic Resources, a mining and trading company, said this month that it had applied to a court in Qingdao, a port on China's eastern coast, for help in securing metals it owns in warehouses. Citic Resources' parent is Citic Group, one of China's largest state-owned companies and a big financial concern. Citic Resources, in a statement released Wednesday to the Hong Kong stock exchange, said the court couldn't locate 123,446 metric tons of alumina, a mineral used to produce aluminum. Citic Resources said it stored 223,270 tons of alumina and 7,486 tons of copper at the port that was awaiting delivery to buyers. The company said it would now conduct its own investigation into the missing commodities. At current market prices, the missing alumina is worth about $50 million.

San Francisco’s Tech Frenzy Reaches Biggest Bank Tower - (www.bloomberg.com) An iconic San Francisco office property in the heart of the financial district is poised for a makeover as surging technology firms squeezed out of the popular South of Market area migrate to other neighborhoods. The complex at 555 California St., once Bank of America Corp.’s world headquarters and the city’s biggest office building, has about 200,000 square feet (18,600 square meters) available for the first time since its 1969 opening, said Bill Cumbelich, the listing broker at CBRE Group Inc. New York-based Vornado Realty Trust (VNO)has hired an architect for a revamp of the property and is seeking more technology tenants following leases with Microsoft Corp. and Supercell Oy.

IRS Contempt of Congress - (online.wsj.com) The IRS is now telling Congress that it has lost the emails of no fewer than seven IRS employees central to the targeting of conservative nonprofits, though that's only half the outrage. There's also the IRS's quiet admission that it has spent most of the past year willfully defying Congress. After informing Congress on Friday that it can't find two years of email from former Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner, House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp revealed Tuesday that the IRS can't produce records for six more employees whose hard drives also supposedly failed. These six happen to have been central to the IRS crackdown on conservative groups, and the lost emails were sent when the targeting took place, including in 2010 and 2011. The six include Nicole Flax, former chief of staff to former IRS Commissioner Steven Miller.

Harvard Money Managers Exit After Years of Subpar Returns  - (www.bloomberg.com) After years of subpar results at Harvard Management Co., three high-level managers have exited the $32.7 billion endowment and the university is searching for new leadership. Apoorva K. Koticha, 48, among the highest-paid traders at Harvard Management in 2011, has left, according to two people familiar with the matter. News of his departure comes a week after Jane Mendillo, chief executive officer of the university’s investment company since July 2008, said she will resign at the end of the year. Mark McKenna, 43, a money manager at the endowment, moved to BlackRock Inc. (BLK) this month to start an event-driven hedge fund. Since April 2013, Harvard Management has also parted ways with two heads of its private-equity unit.

Argentine Traders Brace for Default After Bond Swap Offer - (www.bloomberg.com) Argentina is heading for a technical default as it searches for ways to skirt a U.S. court ruling obligating it to make good on old liabilities, trading in the credit-default swaps market shows. The upfront cost to buy protection against a default for one year with credit-default swaps more than doubled this week to $4,322 on $10,000 of debt, the world’s most-expensive rate. The country’s restructured bonds tumbled a third day following a proposal announced last night by Economy Minister Axel Kicillof to swap securities subject to New York laws into local debt. 





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