Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Wednesday May 4 2016 Housing and Economic stories


Puerto Rico Will Default on Bank Debt as Crisis Intensifies - (www.bloomberg.com) Puerto Rico will default on a $422 million bond payment for its Government Development Bank, escalating the pressure on investors to negotiate a broad debt restructuring and on Congress to act on legislation to help lessen the island’s financial crisis. Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla invoked a debt moratorium law approved last month, saying during a televised address Sunday that the commonwealth needs to focus on providing essential services. The bank, already operating under an emergency period, has until the end of Monday to make the payment. “Faced with the inability to meet the demands of our creditors and the needs of our people, I had to make a choice,” Garcia Padilla said during his 10-minute speech. “I decided that essential services for the 3.5 million American citizens in Puerto Rico came first.”

Iraq declares state of emergency as protesters storm Green Zone, parliament - (www.usatoday.com) Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said Saturday that security had been restored in Baghdad but called on demonstrators who stormed the capital's heavily fortified Green Zone and broke into parliament to return to "designated protest areas." The prime minister issued the appeal on Twitter after hours of rowdy protests by hundreds of people chanting and waving Iraqi flags in the highly protected zone that houses government ministries, parliament and foreign embassies, including the U.S. embassy. Security forces generally appeared to maintain restraint amid the chaos, but did use tear gas against crowds at one entrance to the Green Zone, according to the Associated Press.

Former Goldman Sachs president says our economic situation 'will end in tears' - (finance.yahoo.com) Taking the long view is one of those easier-said-than-done propositions, right? For instance, while you might think that the economy has pretty much recovered from the Great Recession of 2008, one prominent financier thinks the problems that caused that big meltdown have been papered over and will come back to hurt us again. And then there’s the little issue of China’s economy surpassing ours soon. John Thornton, the former president of Goldman Sachs (GS), who likes to take the long view, says he’s “feeling uneasy” about the global economy right now and thinks we’re living on borrowed time. “After the events of 2008, really since then, the central banks either collectively or individually have tried to implement policies which would, in effect, buy time for individual governments to take the actions they should take to put their houses in order,” Thornton says.

Saudis Heed an Oil Warning From History - (www.bloomberg.com) After the failure of the Doha deal to freeze oil production, Saudi Arabia's output is now almost certain to rise in the coming months. It wants to regain market share in China and meet the summer peak in its own domestic demand without cutting exports. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, it's no surprise that Saudi Arabia refused to join the output freeze championed by Venezuela and Russia. It has little interest in seeing oil prices rise far enough to throw a lifeline to high-cost producers, who are beginning to buckle. With the failure in Doha, the kingdom will probably lift production over the summer, helping prolong the oil glut. The use of crude for Saudi's domestic power generation usually rises more than 400,000 barrels per day between winter and summer, and we can expect oil production to follow a similar path this year to preserve the volume available to export.

US banks sound caution on commercial property loans - (www.ft.com) Top US bankers have sounded caution over commercial real estate lending as concerns rise that bubbles are forming in parts of the country’s property market. Lenders have helped fund a boom in recent years in cities such as New York and Miami, where luxury high rises have sprung up across the skyline. But executives at several banks signalled during results season that they were tightening up standards for CRE lending, which includes mortgages secured against big apartment and office developments. “We want to be careful on CRE,” said Brian Moynihan, chief executive of Bank of America, which has a $58bn commercial real estate portfolio. Richard Davis, chief executive of US Bancorp, told investors that the country’s fifth-largest lender by assets was being “very watchful”. “We’re protecting what we have, and probably being more careful,” he added. “A lot of the banks are growing that [CRE] a lot. It’s been flat for us.”




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