Monday March 12 Housing and Economic stories

KeNosHousingPortal.blogspot.com

TOP STORIES:

Europe's banks bleed from Greek debt crisis - (www.reuters.com) The scars of Greece's debt crisis were laid bare in heavy losses from a string of European banks on Thursday, and bosses warned the region's precarious finances would continue to threaten economic growth and earnings. From France to Germany, Britain to Belgium, four of the region's biggest banks lined up to reveal they lost more than 8 billion euros last year from their Greek bonds holdings. "We are in the worst economic crisis since 1929," Credit Agricole chief executive Jean-Paul Chifflet said. Credit Agricole reported a record quarterly net loss of 3.07 billion euros ($4.1 billion), performing worse than expected from the cost of shrinking its balance sheet and after a 220 million euro charge on its Greek debt. For 2011 as a whole, the bank took a hit of 1.3 billion euros on its Greek debt. "We think 2012 is going to still be a tense period," Chifflet said, adding: "We're hoping that our results will be largely better than in 2011."

European Banks Take Greek Hit After Deal - (www.bloomberg.com) Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Commerzbank AG (CBK) ofGermany and France’s Credit Agricole SA booked losses on their Greek government debt two days after creditors agreed to the biggest sovereign restructuring in history. RBS, Britain’s biggest government-owned lender, posted a wider-than-expected full-year loss after taking a sovereign-debt impairment of 1.1 billion pounds ($1.7 billion). Commerzbank, Germany’s second-biggest lender, booked a 700 million-euro ($1.1 billion) writedown on Greek debt in the fourth quarter. Credit Agricole, France’s third-largest bank, reported a quarterly loss after 220 million euros in impairments on Greek debt.

Banks' House Seizure Ability Threatened in MA Court Case - (www.businessweek.com) The highest court in Massachusetts is poised to rule as soon as this month on a foreclosure case that could lead to a surge in claims from home owners seeking to overturn seizures. The justices are deciding whether to uphold a lower court ruling that gave a Boston home back to Henrietta Eaton after Sam Levine, a 25-year-old Harvard Law School student, argued in front of the nation’s oldest appellate court that the loan servicer made mistakes when it foreclosed because it didn’t hold the note proving she was obliged to pay the mortgage. “If the Massachusetts court says this defense works, that would have a huge ripple effect across the country,” said Kurt Eggert, a professor at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California.

For boomers, it's a new era of work til you drop - (www.ap.org) When Paula Symons joined the U.S. workforce in 1972, typewriters in her office clacked nonstop, people answered the telephones and the hot new technology revolutionizing communication was the fax machine. Symons, fresh out of college, entered this brave new world thinking she’d do pretty much what her parents’ generation did: Work for just one or two companies over about 45 years before bidding farewell to co-workers at a retirement party and heading off into her sunset years with a pension. Forty years into that run, the 60-year-old communications specialist for a Wisconsin-based insurance company has worked more than a half-dozen jobs. She’s been laid off, downsized and seen the pension disappear with only a few thousand dollars accrued when it was frozen. So, five years from the age when people once retired, she laughs when she describes her future plans. “I’ll probably just work until I drop,’’ she says, a sentiment expressed, with varying degrees of humor, by numerous members of her age group.

OTHER STORIES:

Currency Volatility Falls to the Lowest Level Since 2008 on Growth Signs - (www.bloomberg.com)

IMF Said to Limit Exposure to Greece at 30 Billion Euros After New Loan - (www.bloomberg.com)

ECB lending operation to define sentiment - (www.ft.com)

Chinese Banks Wrestle With Rising Funding Costs - (online.wsj.com)

Euro Economy to Contract as Italy, Spain Tumble: EU - (www.bloomberg.com)

EU Confirms Spain Will Relapse Into Recession, Warns on Further Austerity - (www.bloomberg.com)

Wen Seen Setting China Growth Target Below 8% in 2012: Economy - (www.bloomberg.com)

German Business Confidence Climbs More Than Forecast to Seven-Month High - (www.bloomberg.com)

Jobless Claims in U.S. Hold at Four-Year Low - (www.bloomberg.com)

Analysis: Can U.S. economy withstand gasoline price curse? - (www.reuters.com)

Obama proposes lowering corporate tax rate to 28 percent - (www.washingtonpost.com)