Monday, March 31, 2014

Tuesday April 1 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

China Steel Mills Slide as Credit Squeeze, Iron Ore Panic Grips - (www.bloomberg.com) Chinese steel companies, the world’s largest, helped drive a regional industry benchmark index to a seven-month low as concern builds that some mills face financial difficulty amid a government credit squeeze.“They are having trouble accessing finance,” Yunde Li, chairman of Ishine, a unit of ChinaZhongsheng Resources Holdings Ltd., which processes iron ore in Shandong, said today in an interview in Perth. Some of Ishine’s steel mill customers cannot make their payments to his company, Li said through a translator, declining to name the companies. Closely-held steel mills in China are struggling to get funding at the moment and that’s led to panic selling of iron ore, according to Morgan Stanley. The nation’s top banking regulator said yesterday strict credit guidelines will be imposed on mills that were big polluters and users of energy. “The capital squeeze on steel traders has started to affect mills,” said Henry Liu, Hong Kong-based executive director of China Merchants Capital and head of its commodities research department. “It looks like the credit crunch is worsening.”

How States Are Cracking Down on Small Business Tax Cheats - (www.businessweek.com) Small businesses and the self-employed stiff the federal government on billions of dollars (PDF) in unpaid taxes each year, according to IRS estimates of the tax gap. That’s the difference between taxes owed and and the amount actually collected. States also have tax gaps: California’s is about $10 billion annually, and the Golden State is investing $670 million over five years in technology to improve its collections, expected to raise an additional $1 billion a year in tax revenue. California isn’t alone. According to interviews with revenue officers from 30 states published last week by Bloomberg BNA (subscriber only), states are betting on new compliance tools aimed at collecting billions of dollars in unpaid taxes. While those efforts aren’t focused solely on Main Street, there are plenty of developments small business owners would do well to keep up on. Here are four takeaways from the BNA report:

Venezuelan Businesses, Starving for Dollars, May Get Some Relief - (www.businessweek.com) Oswaldo Contreras is hoping that Venezuela’s third foreign exchange system will be the charm. Contreras, who sells vitamins, shampoos, and accessories to pet stores, has been buying dollars on the country’s black market to pay for the products he sells, all of which are imported. Over the last year, the black market rate has soared to more than 90 bolivars to the dollar, or roughly 14 times the official exchange rate. “What I import isn’t regarded as a priority,” says Contreras, explaining why he has no access to officially sanctioned mechanisms for procuring dollars. “I have no choice but to hit the black market. I am hoping that the new auction will make the dollar more affordable.” Venezuela plans to kick off as soon as tomorrow the new SICAD 2 auction, which will enable companies and individuals to buy and sell dollars under the supervision of the Central Bank of Venezuela.

Puerto Rico Gets a Break With Rates on Its Bonds - (www.nytimes.com) Puerto Rico is expected to sell roughly $3 billion in bonds on Tuesday at interest rates that are considerably lower than many investors in the municipal market had expected, providing a rare bright spot for the cash-squeezed island. The lower yields, investors say, are being driven by a combination of factors, including a recent flow of investments in mutual funds that are large buyers of municipal bonds, Puerto Rico’s progress in closing its chronic budget gap, its improved financial disclosures and a general sense of relief that the commonwealth still has access to the debt market. “There’s a very explicit, almost to the point of jarring, acknowledgment of many problems,” said Robert Donahue, a managing director at Municipal Market Advisors, referring to a long-sought liquidity report issued last week by the Puerto Rican government. “Now the commonwealth has opened the curtain.”

Copper Slumps to 44-Month Low on Concern China Demand Is Slowing - (www.bloomberg.com) Copper reached a 44-month low in London amid concern demand is weakening in China, the biggest consumer of the metal. Futures traded in Shanghai touched the lowest price since 2009. The metal slumped this week after figures showed exports from China unexpectedly fell the most since 2009 last month. The nation’s central bank will cut reserve ratios for lenders next quarter amid increased downside risks to the economy, Nomura said in a report. China’s industrial output slowed in February as retail sales sped up, economists said before data tomorrow. “The markets were spooked by the export data, and if retail sales and industrial production come in iffy, it won’t look good,” said Rob Montefusco, a trader at Sucden Financial Ltd. in London.





Sunday, March 30, 2014

Monday March 31 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

The scary factors behind copper's price plunge - (www.cnbc.com) Cascading copper prices have multiple root causes that lead to one conclusion: The anticipated global economic recovery may not be all it's cracked up to be. Consequently, analysts are in virtual unison that the extended-term trajectory is lower for the metal often used as a growth barometer. Copper futures are off more than 12 percent in 2014 and 7 percent over just the past three days, though they rose less than 1 percent in Wednesday trading. A slowdown in the global economy, forced selling by Chinese banks and technical factors have converged in multiple calls for more weakness in a commodity known by traders and economists as "Dr. Copper" for its ability to accurate make economic prognoses.

Herbalife says FTC opens inquiry; shares slump - (www.cnbc.com) The Federal Trade Commission has opened a formal investigation into Herbalife's operations Wednesday, pushing shares of the nutrition and weight loss company sharply lower. Shares of Herbalife plunged as much as 15 percent after being temporarily halted but gradually recovered from lows. Shares were up more than 4 percent prior to the halt. A circuit breaker also briefly halted trading in shares of rival Nu Skin due to volatility. Herbalife said it will fully cooperate with the FTC, saying it "welcomes the inquiry given the tremendous amount of misinformation in the marketplace." On Wednesday, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman accused Herbalife of breaking direct-selling laws in China, its fastest-growing market. Representatives of the FTC declined to comment. Ackman and Pershing Square also declined to comment.

CHART OF THE DAY: Gundlach Warns NYSE Margin Debt Is In 'The Scary Zone' - (www.businessinsider.com) Traders are borrowing more than ever to leverage up their bets on the stock market. Some fear that this is a sign of a bubbly stock market that's doomed to crash. Others argue it's a more benign coincident indicator and at least partially reflective of the increasing presence of hedge funds. "It is in the scary zone," said DoubleLine Funds' Jeffrey Gundlach during a webcast on Tuesday. "If and when it hooks over, that’s when you’re likely to see a double-digit decline in market indexes." While he's not predicting imminent doom for stocks, he encourages us to be on the look-out for a reversal. Gundlach has previously characterized margin debt as both a cause and effect of the market rally. Margin debt could very well continue to rise with the stock market. But it has a nasty way of adding to the downward momentum when stocks sell.

Obama wants to expand overtime pay - (money.cnn.com) President Obama will ask the Labor Department on Thursday to issue tougher rules on overtime, which could lead to extra pay for millions of workers who aren't currently paid for extra hours of work. The administration will point out that some convenience store managers, fast food shift supervisors and office workers may be expected to work 50 or 60 hours a week without overtime, and that their hourly pay rate may actually be less than the $7.25 an hour minimum wage. Currently, most hourly workers must be paid time-and-a-half if they work more than 40 hours a week. Most salaried workers do not need to be paid overtime, unless they earn less than $455 a week. But that works out to $23,660 a year, which is less than the federal poverty level for a family of four. The $455 threshold for overtime hasn't been raised in 10 years, since President Bush upped it from $250 a week. It would be $553 today if it had gone up in line with inflation.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Shares Fall on Wind-Down Measure - (www.bloomberg.com)  Leaders of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee announced long-awaited plans to dismantle Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, pushing the companies’ common shares to their biggest intraday drop in 10 months. Fannie Mae shares tumbled as much as 44 percent, paring the losses to 31 percent to close in New York at $4.03, after Edwin Groshans, a managing director at Washington-based equity research firm Height Analytics LLC, described the proposal as holder-negative. Freddie Mac fell 27 percent to close at $4.04. Preferred shares also dropped, some by as much as 12 percent. The bipartisan measure, drafted with input from President Barack Obama’s administration, would replace the U.S.-owned mortgage financiers with government bond insurance that would kick in only after private capital suffered losses of at least 10 percent, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson and Senator Mike Crapo said in a statement yesterday. The bill would require most borrowers to make down payments of at least 5 percent.





Thursday, March 27, 2014

Friday March 28 Housing and Economic stories


Iron Ore’s Bear Market Deepens on Demand Concern in China - (www.bloomberg.com)  Iron ore extended its decline into a bear market on concern that demand in Chinamay slow as credit tightens in the largest buyer, exacerbating the impact of rising global supplies that are seen spurring a surplus. Ore with 62 percent content delivered to Tianjin fell 8.3 percent to $104.70 a dry ton, the lowest since October 2012 and the biggest drop in more than four years, according to data from The Steel Index Ltd. yesterday. The benchmark price lost 27 percent since Aug. 14, when it reached a five-month high of $142.80. The raw material dropped into a bear market on March 7. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Rio Tinto Group predict lower prices this year after producers spent billions of dollars to expand output. Banks from Citigroup Inc. toStandard Chartered Plc predict a surplus, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. listed iron ore among its least-preferred commodities for 2014. Credit concerns in China may have helped to amplify volatility in prices, according to Jimmy Wilson, BHP’s head of iron ore.

Staples to shut 225 stores in North America as sales fall - (www.reuters.com) Staples Inc. said it would close up to 225 stores in the United States and Canada - 12 percent of its North America outlets - and forecast another quarter of sales decline as it loses customers to mass market chains and e-retailers. Shares of the largest U.S. office supplies retailer fell as much as 17 percent after the company also reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter results and forecast a profit for the current quarter that fell far below analysts' estimates. Staples has 1,846 stores in the United States and Canada. "Our customers are using less office supplies, they're shopping less often in our stores and more online, and their focus on value has made the marketplace even more competitive," Chief Executive Ronald Sargent said on a post-earnings call. Staples said it had initiated a multi-year cost reduction plan that was expected to generate annualized pretax cost savings of about $500 million by 2015.

Copper Prices Hit Four-Year Low on China Fears - (online.wsj.com)  Copper prices fell to their lowest level in nearly four years Tuesday, amid continued worries that a slowdown in China—the world's biggest buyer—will damp demand for the industrial metal. The most actively traded contract, copper for May delivery, was recently as low as $2.9420 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, losing nearly 2.5% to hit its lowest level since July 2010. Copper futures have been on shaky ground, as investors fear that China's economy will cool off as the government shifts its focus to longer-term growth. China accounts for 40% of the world's copper imports. "Investors are beaten down and they don't know what China's plans are," said Ira Epstein of the Linn Group. "The mentality is to watch and wait and see what happens next." Losses in copper have ramped up in recent days, after China's first corporate debt default intensified concerns about the country's banking system. 

Top German body calls for QE blitz to avert deflation trap in Europe - (www.telegraph.co.uk) A leading German institute has called for full-blown quantitative easing by the European Central Bank (ECB) to head off a deflation spiral, marking a radical shift in thinking among the German policy elites. Marcel Fratzscher, head of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin, demanded €60bn (£50bn) of bond purchases each month to halt the contraction of credit and avert a Japanese-style trap. "It is high time for the ECB to act. Otherwise Europe risks falling into a dangerous downward spiral of sliding prices and declining demand", he wrote in Die Welt. "The ECB must counter the deflation threat quickly and decisively, and launch a broad-based programme of bond purchase along the lines of the Federal Reserve," he said. The scale should be 0.7pc of eurozone state debt each month, comparable to 'QE3' in the US.

Fed’s Aid in 2008 Crisis Stretched Worldwide - (www.nytimes.com) Tuesday morning, Sept. 16, 2008, was perhaps the darkest time for the United States economy in modern memory — even if nobody knew it quite yet. It was barely 24 hours removed from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, and a few hours before the government would rescue the insurer American International Group. Events had been set in motion that would drive the unemployment rate to double digits and cause half a decade of economic misery. But before they would confront any of that, the men and women of the Federal Reserve received an urgent briefing on Norway. A few minutes into the meeting of the Fed’s policy committee, according to newly released transcripts, William C. Dudley, then the head of the markets desk at the New York Fed, brought dangerous tidings from across the Atlantic. “I have just sketchy details based on a phone call,” Mr. Dudley said. “But my understanding is that this morning Norway put in place a facility by which they are going to offer their banks dollars, up to $5 billion,” adding that “the fact that Norway is doing this suggests that the situation has broadened quite a bit further.”




Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Thursday March 27 Housing and Economic stories


Banks Enriched by Junk Resist U.S. Regulator Standards - (www.bloomberg.com)  More than five months ago, the Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency told some of the biggest banks to improve underwriting standards for non-investment-grade loans. The market is showing few signs of tightening as lenders chase lucrative fees. Banks are arranging junk-rated deals that leave companies with debt levels exceeding guidelines set by regulators. Among them: the $1.7 billion of loans led by UBS AG and Deutsche Bank AGlast month to finance KKR & Co.’s purchase of a majority stake in Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc., and the $700 million loan Credit Suisse Group AG arranged in January for Applied Systems Inc., a maker of software for insurance companies.

NYC Property Tax Change Seen Yielding $4 Billion Windfall - (www.bloomberg.com)  Mayor Bill de Blasio’s vision of raising income taxes to pay for pre-kindergarten and after-school programs would generate $530 million a year. By revamping property taxes -- and taking on some of New York’s richest residents -- he could get eight times as much. De Blasio, a self-described progressive Democrat, was elected on a promise to reduce income inequality in a city where the richest 1 percent took home almost 40 percent of all earnings in 2012. New York’s property-tax structure does little to reduce that divide and may even widen it.

Disney's Magic Kingdom Nears $100 Tickets, and the Crowds Keep Coming - (www.businessweek.com) Walt Disney (DIS) is prying parental wallets open a little wider for that vacation visit to the theme park. The Empire of the Mouse is now charging $99 for a one-day park pass at its Magic Kingdom Park near Orlando, an increase of $4 that comes just eight months after the last price hike. Behind the steadily rising ticket prices is the small world of supply and demand. People keep flooding Disney’s U.S. theme parks, notwithstanding steeper costs. The company reported a 16 percent increase in operating income, to $671 million, for the most recent quarter at its theme park division as sales rose 6 percent, to $3.6 billion. In Disney’s last fiscal year, theme park income rose 17 percent, to $2.2 billion. The company does not disclose attendance data.

‘Warren Buffett Indicator’ Signals Collapse in Stock Market - (www.moneynews.com) It is only a matter of time before the stock market plunges by 50% or more, according to several reputable experts. “We have no right to be surprised by a severe and imminent stock market crash,” explains Mark Spitznagel, a hedge fund manager who is notorious for his hugely profitable billion-dollar bet on the 2008 crisis. “In fact, we must absolutely expect it."  Unfortunately Spitznagel isn’t alone. “We are in a gigantic financial asset bubble,” warns Swiss adviser and fund manager Marc Faber. “It could burst any day.”  Faber doesn’t hesitate to put the blame squarely on President Obama’s big government policies and the Federal Reserve’s risky low-rate policies, which, he says, “penalize the income earners, the savers who save, your parents — why should your parents be forced to speculate in stocks and in real estate and everything under the sun?”  Billion-dollar investor Warren Buffett is rumored to be preparing for a crash as well. The “Warren Buffett Indicator,” also known as the “Total-Market-Cap to GDP Ratio,” is breaching sell-alert status and a collapse may happen at any moment. 

Allegedly Corrupt Politician Seems To Be Planning A Golf Fundraiser — Without The Golf - (www.businessinsider.com)  New York State Sen. Malcolm Smith, who is currently under investigation for federal corruption charges, is holding an unusual fundraiser later this month. On his campaign website, Smith is advertising a "virtual golf outing in his honor" on March 24. Participation in the event ranges from a $100 donation, which gets a donor "teesign/friend" status, to $500, the level at which donors can become "sponsors." However, as Capital Tonight's Liz Benjamin points out, it's not clear if there's any "golf" involved -- or any other activity for that matter. There is no listed location for the event and no other details beyond a picture of an unnamed golf course and the golf-themed designations for donations of various sizes. 





Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Wednesday March 26 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

China’s credit reckoning draws closer - (www.marketwatch.com) Friday saw China’s first-ever onshore corporate default on a 1 billion yuan ($163 million) bond, which was followed by the weekend release of an unexpected trade deficit in February — the first since April 2013. Both these events point to risks the market will enforce tighter monetary conditions going forward. The failure of Chinese solar-equipment maker Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy to make a deadline on interest payments last Friday came after it warned it was struggling to raise funds. The significance of this default is that it ends the belief Chinese corporate debt came with a de-facto government guarantee. The glass-half-full view is that this will be a positive development, as it helps to inject risk and proper pricing into a $1.5 trillion domestic bond market. The less sanguine take is that introducing market pricing at this stage in China’s cycle comes a bit late to instill real discipline. Instead, prepare for an ugly unraveling, as the removal of the ‘Beijing put’ opens the floodgates on credit defaults.

Is Con-Edison Igniting A New Housing Crisis In New York? - (www.mfi-miami.com) “It’s clear that now is not the time for Con Edison to demand that its customers pay more,” -New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. As people in the New York metropolitan area began breathing a sigh of relief from brutal winter that has plagued most of the U.S. for the past five months, they were thrown into shock when they opened their Con-Ed bills this week to find that their bill increased by 200-300%. From the Hudson Valley to Long Island, people were talking about the increase of their Con-Ed bills. Homeowners were streaming into MFI-Miami’s New York office scared of what would happen if they paid their Con-Ed bills over their mortgage payment. Many New York homeowners saw their bills double from $300 to over $650. Wives and single mothers in mortgage modifications fear they will be homeless because they can’t afford to pay both. One restaurant owner in Warwick, New York, almost collapsed when he opened his bill which had jumped from $1500 to $2500.

Stock caution urged as margin debt levels hit new highs – (www.marketwatch.com) A number of warning signals are flashing in the stock market, and while not indicative of an imminent crash, they’re telling investors to exercise caution, say market strategists. Stocks finished higher last week, ending on a choppy Friday highlighted by the release of a better-than-expected job report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.8%, the S&P 500 Index rose 1% to close at another record high of 1,878.04, and the Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 0.7% for the week. All except the Dow are higher for the year, which is still down 0.8% in 2014. The gains haven’t come without a share of fretting that the good times can’t last. Among the warnings signs: The indexes’ string of record highs; high levels of margin debt, or borrowings to finance stock buys; the slim number of prior bull markets that have lasted past this point; and valuations that are close to levels when stocks last peaked. Margin debt, which tends to spike alongside stock rallies and pullbacks, has been rattling investors for months. “As that debt goes up, the market’s foundation gets shakier and shakier,” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial. “The correction could be deeper.”

CREDIT SUISSE: 'We've Just Lost A Quarter' - (www.businessinsider.com) Economically speaking, 2014 hasn’t gone exactly as expected, particularly in the United States. At the end of 2013, the prevailing wisdom was that the U.S. economy would finally break out of its post-recession holding pattern and start to grow in earnest. The euro crisis had stabilized, removing a key source of global risk, and a Congressional budget deal struck in December reduced federal spending cuts made earlier in 2013. An important labor market indicator was flashing green, too: The unemployment rate had fallen from 7.9 percent at the end of 2012 to just 6.7 percent in December. But the once-upbeat narrative had a few plot twists in store.

Pizza chain Sbarro files for bankruptcy protection - (www.reuters.com) Pizza chain Sbarro LLC has filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in three years after struggling with too much debt and fewer customers in malls that house many of its restaurants. Lenders would take control of the Melville, New York-based company under a "pre-packaged" Chapter 11 reorganization, which Sbarro on Monday said could allow it to made a "quick exit" from bankruptcy before May 7. Sbarro expects to cut its debt load by more than 80 percent, and said nearly all its lenders support its restructuring, which requires court approval. The company will invite other buyers to submit better offers. Founded in 1956, Sbarro had tried to boost sales by revamping its recipes to entice diners who increasingly favor "fast casual" chains such as Chipotle and Panera Bread.




Kerry Makes Push to Ease Ukraine Tension in Lavrov Talks - (www.bloomberg.com)