TOP
STORIES:
Peregrine Customers’ Claims Priced at 25 Cents on Dollar - (www.bloomberg.com)
Customers’ claims on
Peregrine Financial Group Inc., whose founder is accused by regulators of
misappropriating more than $200 million, may fetch less than a quarter of their
value in the wake of the firm’s bankruptcy, a trader said. Quotes of 22 cents
on the dollar to 25 cents were given today to half a dozen Peregrine customers
who called CRT Capital Group LLC, which buys and sells distressed debt, said Joseph
Sarachek, managing director of claims trading. By comparison, U.S.
commodity customers of bankrupt MF Global (MFGLQ) Inc. have always
been able to sell their claims in the high 70s, he said. Peregrine filed for
bankruptcy July 10 after the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued the
brokerage alleging the firm and its founder, Russell Wasendorf Sr., “used
customer funds for purposes other than those intended by its customers, and
consequently, have misappropriated these funds.” False reports on customer
funds were also filed with the CFTC, it said. “This is much messier than MF
Global because it appears there is fraud involved, based on the CFTC
complaint,” Sarachek said.
Foreclosures
are on the rise again in Las Vegas - (www.vegasinc.com)
After months of steady
decline, foreclosure activity picked up last month in Las Vegas. Las Vegas
moved from No. 15 to No. 13 on RealtyTrac's list of large metro areas with the
highest foreclosure rates. It’s not yet known if the June numbers signal a
trend. Stricter paperwork requirements have made it harder for banks to
foreclose on homes in Nevada, and local real estate agents are watching
foreclosure filings to see if banks move to repossess a bigger chunk of
backlogged homes. ''Lenders and servicers are slowly but surely catching up
with the backlog of delinquent loans that under normal circumstances would have
started the foreclosure process last year,'' RealtyTrac CEO Brandon Moore said
in a statement. ''The increases in foreclosure starts in the first half of the
year will likely translate into more short sales and bank repossessions in the
second half of the year and into next year.''
Disaster Declared in 26 U.S. States as Drought Sears Midwest
- (www.bloomberg.com) More than 1,000 counties in
26 states are being named natural-disaster areas, the biggest such declaration
ever by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as drought
grips the Midwest. The declaration makes
farmers and ranchers in 1,016 counties -- about a third of those in the entire
country -- eligible for low-interest loans to help them weather the drought,
wildfires and other disasters, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today.
The USDA is also changing procedures to allow disaster claims to be processed
more quickly and reducing the penalty ranchers are assessed for allowing
livestock to graze on land set aside for conservation. “Agriculture remains a
bright spot in our nation’s economy,” Vilsack said. “We need to be cognizant of
the fact that drought and weather conditions have severely impacted farmers
around the country.” The declaration is effective as of tomorrow.
Italy stats office threatens to stop issuing data - (www.reuters.com)
Italy's
national statistics body ISTAT threatened on Thursday to cease issuing data on
the economy, saying it had been crippled by government spending cuts aimed at
reducing national debt and righting public finances. The euro zone's third
biggest economy, whose statistics are closely watched as the country's huge
state debts put it at the center of the bloc's financial crisis, would face
stiff European Union fines if the flow of data is cut off, ISTAT President
Enrico Giovannini was quoted as saying.
KRUGMAN:
The Government Has To Do More Deficit Spending To Avoid A Full-On Depression
- (www.businessinsider.com) In order to avoid a full-on
depression, the U.S. government needs to ignore the size of the deficit and
start spending to stimulate the economy, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul
Krugman tells us. "Somebody has to spend more than their income, and, for
the time being, that has to be the government," says Krugman. But what
about the deficit, that so many people are concerned about? After all, Krugman
was something of a deficit hawk during the Bush administration. He notes two
things: One is that the deficit spending under Bush was totally wasteful, and
that that should have been time to pay down debts. But he also says he's
learned from watching the US and Japan that it's much harder for a country to
have a debt crisis than he previously appreciated.
Fed officials are worried about economy, divided over what to
do about it - (www.washingtonpost.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment