Sunday October 16 Housing and Economic stories

KeNosHousingPortal.blogspot.com

TOP STORIES:

The Postal Service's Desperate New Ads Warn About The Dangers Of Email - (www.businessinsider.com) The Postal Service's latest ad campaign shows its desperation as it lingers on the brink of annihilation. It wants you to use snail mail again. Why? Well, the first ad says that it's because email is dangerous (because of hackers and viruses), while traditional mail is safe and reliable. The second is more subtle, hyping up the face-to-face human quality of snail mail. Here are the two 30-second spots. A big thanks to the Washington Post for finding and putting them up:

Morgan seen as risky as Italian banks - (www.bloomberg.com) Morgan Stanley (MS), which owns the world’s largest retail brokerage, is being priced in the credit- default swaps market as less creditworthy than most U.S., U.K. and French banks and as risky as Italy’s biggest lenders. The cost of buying the swaps, or CDS, which offer protection against a default of New York-based Morgan Stanley’s debt for five years, surged to 488 basis points as of 4:20 p.m. in New York, or $488,000, for every $10 million of debt insured, from 305 basis points on Sept. 15, according to prices provided by London-based CMA. Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISP) had CDS trading at 422 basis points, andUniCredit SpA (UCG) at 426, the data show. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percent. “The CDS spreads are making investors and creditors nervous” about Morgan Stanley, said Brad Hintz, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York who rates the company’s stock “outperform,” in an e-mail.

US unemployment an 'unheard of national crisis': Ben Bernanke - (www.telegraph.co.uk) US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has warned that the unemployment rate in America amounts to a "national crisis" unheard of in the country's recent history. "This unemployment situation we have, the jobs situation, is really a national crisis," Mr Bernanke said in response to questions after a speech in Cleveland, Ohio. "We've had close to 10pc unemployment now for a number of years and, of the people who are unemployed, about 45pc have been unemployed for six months or more. This is unheard of." The comments are the bluntest and bleakest yet from the world's most powerful central banker and come just a week after the Fed launched "Operation Twist", its latest effort to reignite the economy's faltering recovery. American unemployment has been above 9pc since April 2009 and most forecasters expect it to stay that way next year.

Greek ministry sit-in forces troika reschedule - (finance.yahoo.com) Striking civil servants occupied the Transport Ministry building in Athens early Friday, forcing international debt inspectors to reschedule a meeting where they were to discuss reforms, including new licensing laws for taxis. Transport Minister Yannis Ragoussis's morning meeting was delayed to the evening after the debt inspectors, collectively known as the troika, arrived to find the building under occupation and protesting employees in the courtyard. A similar meeting Thursday with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos was moved to a different government building in central Athens due to an occupation of that ministry. "This is our answer to those who seek to further degrade our lives ... Our aim is to overturn this barbaric policy," said Ilias Vrettakos, deputy leader of the civil servants union, ADEDY. The union fiercely opposes a new round of pay cuts, due to take effect on Nov. 1, and plans to suspend at least 30,000 of their members on reduced pay. A senior government official said key details of the suspension plan were to be worked out at an emergency Cabinet meeting on Sunday. He asked not to be named, pending official announcements.

THERE IT IS: John Paulson Lost Another 6% In September - (www.businessinsider.com) You can end your speculation. John Paulson lost another 6% in September according to Bloomberg. There's been tons of speculation about how well he did in August, especially considering the carnage in the gold miners, which he is heavily invested in. The Advantage Fund is down 28% for the year, according to the report. It's his Advantage Plus Fund that's much worse, having already lost over 40% going into this month.

OTHER STORIES:

German bailout vote is 'too little, too late' - (www.telegraph.co.uk)

Consumer Spending in U.S. Slows as Incomes Fall - (www.bloomberg.com)

New Unemployment Claims Tick Down to 420,000 - (finance.yahoo.com)

IPOs Shelved at Record Pace - (www.bloomberg.com)

Eurozone economic confidence falls further - (finance.yahoo.com)

Pending Home Sales Hit a Four Month Low - (finance.yahoo.com)

Consumers' confidence remains weak in September - (finance.yahoo.com)