Thursday, August 16, 2012

Friday August 17 Housing and Economic stories



TOP STORIES:

The Paragraph In Deutsche Bank's Layoff Statement That Should Scare All Of Wall Street – (www.businessinsider.com)  We found one paragraph that gives you a hint of what will happen if you do get to keep your job at Deutsche Bank. Basically, you should expect some changes in your compensation. Deutsche Bank is committed to being at the forefront of cultural change in the banking industry. As part of a range of measures to bring about a cultural change, the Bank is reviewing its compensation practices, in order to address both the absolute level of compensation and the relative balance between rewards for shareholders and those for employees. In addition, the Bank is reviewing its codes of personal conduct to ensure that they are in line with its long tradition of doing business to the highest standards. That goes along with what Meredith Whitney said this morning on Bloomberg TV— Wall Street should expect more job cuts and lower compensation across the board. (Learn more about Whitney's life and calls here). After all, this isn't just a Deutsche Bank problem. The capital requirements that are making cash so expensive for them are industry-wide (for big banks, at least). And other risk factors that make cash hard to find (like the sovereign debt crisis in Europe) are ongoing.

Spain to Urge More Regional Budget Cuts as Deficit Deepens - (www.bloomberg.com) Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro will urge Spain’s regions to extend budget cuts today during a meeting Catalonia plans to boycott, as efforts to prevent them defaulting deepen the central government’s own deficit. Representatives of Spain’s 17 semi-autonomous regional governments are scheduled to convene in Madrid at 4:30 p.m. for a budget checkup. Data released today showed the central government exceeded its target for the 2012 budget shortfall with half the year still to go. The biggest contributor to Spain’s economy, the Catalonia region centered on Barcelona, said today it won’t take part in the meeting to protest the central government’s rigid stance on deficits. No news filtered out from a separate gathering before the talks between Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and regional executives from his People’s Party.

Deutsche Bank to Cut 1,900 Jobs in Bid to Save EU3 Billion - (www.bloomberg.com) Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) said it will eliminate 1,900 jobs by the end of the year, including 1,500 at the investment bank and support areas, as part of an effort to save 3 billion euros ($3.68 billion). Germany’s biggest lender, which employed 10,079 at the investment bank at the end of June, said most of the positions slated for removal at the unit will be outside Germany. The Frankfurt-based lender forecast “substantial costs” to achieve the savings without giving an exact figure in a statement to the stock exchange today. The job reductions were prompted by a strategy review Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen, Deutsche Bank’s new co-chief executive officers, are conducting as the lender grapples with declining revenue from the investment bank, which reported a 63 percent decline in second-quarter earnings today. Pretax profit at the unit slid to 357 million euros, missing the 835 million- euro average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

As ‘fiscal cliff’ looms, debate over pre-Election Day layoff notices heats up - (www.washingtonpost.com) The deep federal spending cuts scheduled to take effect at the start of next year may trigger dismissal notices for tens of thousands of employees of government contractors, companies and analysts say, and the warnings may start going out at a particularly sensitive time: Days before the presidential election. By law, all but the smallest companies must notify their workforce at least 60 days in advance when they know of specific job cuts that are likely to happen. Obama administration officials say that the threat of layoffs is overblown and that Republicans are playing up the possibility rather than trying to head it off. The Labor Department said Monday that it would be “inappropriate” for contractors to send out large-scale dismissal notices, because it is unclear whether the federal cuts will occur and how they would be carried out.

Capital flees Spain as budget gap jumps - (www.reuters.com)  Capital flight from Spain gathered pace in May and the central government deficit rose further above target in June, taking the country two steps closer to the full-scale bailout it is desperate to avoid. Outflows rose to 41.3 billion euros ($50.6 billion) as the government's rescue of one its biggest banks hit already fragile investor confidence and triggered a plea for European aid worth up to 100 billion euros for the country's lenders. In all, 163 billion euros - or around 16 percent of economic output - left Spain between January and May, with domestic banks sending money abroad, foreign lenders pulling out cash and mostly non-resident investors dumping domestic assets.






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