Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Wednesday August 28 Housing and Economic stories


Greek youth unemployment soars to 64.9pc  - (www.telegraph.co.uk) Greek youth unemployment soared to a fresh high of almost 65pc in May, underscoring the dire state of the recession-hit economy. Repeated doses of austerity under international bailouts have almost tripled Greece's jobless rate since its debt crisis began in 2009, weighing on an economy in its sixth year of recession. Unemployment rose to 27.6pc in May from an upwardly revised 27pc in April, according to data from statistics agency ELSTAT. This is more than twice the average rate in the eurozone, which stood at 12.1pc in June, and is the highest reading since Greece's statistics office began publishing monthly jobless data in 2006. This means there are now almost 1.4m people out of work in Greece, and 3.3m people who are considered economically inactive. Joblessness in the 15-to-24 age group jumped to 64.9pc, from 57.5pc in April.

Can Booze Save the U.S. Postal Service? - (danville.patch.com) With the U.S. Postal Service reporting a $740 million loss for the third quarter of 2013, mail officials are scrambling to figure out how to make the agency profitable.  A ingredient to the recovery could be alcohol. According to the Huffington Post, U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe recently pitched an idea to allow the U.S. Postal Service to deliver beer, wine and spirits directly from wineries, breweries and distilleries straight to your doorstep.  "U.S. law currently prevents the Postal Service from mailing alcohol," the Huffington Post reported. "The Postal Service even asks customers to cover any alcohol-related logos or labels if they choose to use an alcoholic beverage box for shipping." Donahoe claims that adding alcohol delivery could raise $50 million per year. But while the plan could generate dollars in theory, many smaller businesses like craft and microbreweries would likely not have the staff, resources and inventory to meet the demand of alcohol delivery service.

So you think Europe's debt crisis is finally over? Time to think again  - (www.telegraph.co.uk) One of the factors underpinning renewed confidence in the UK economy is the belief that the crisis in Europe is now essentially over. The immediate threat of banking and fiscal meltdown in the southern periphery has receded, and after one of the longest recessions on record – six successive quarters of economic contraction – there are even tentative signs of recovery. Among eurozone policymakers, the relief is palpable. Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, has waved his magic wand and apparently succeeded in calming the economic maelstrom. This is small thanks to the German core, which fought his actions tooth and nail but now seems more than happy to take credit. In any case, with the fear of financial Armageddon removed, European economies can begin the long march back to health. For Britain too, a key uncertainty for the banking and business sectors has been answered.

'Hindenburg Omen' hovering over Wall Street again - (www.cnbc.com) Jittery Wall Street traders are looking up in the sky and seeing Hindenburgs. That can be a bad thing for markets, which have suffered in the past when the tripwires associated with the "Hindenburg Omen" get activated. Market veteran Art Cashin said Monday that the market phenomenon is looming again. "There have been multiple occurrences of the Hindenburg Omen in the last several weeks," Cashin, the director of floor operations at UBS, said in his morning note.

Easy Money Policy Will Lead to World’s Greatest Credit Collapse - (finance.yahoo.com) With home prices rising, consumer confidence at levels not seen since 2008, and record high stock prices, what's not to love about the economic comeback? A lot, according to Steve Hochberg, the chief market analyst at Elliott Wave International, who says the warning signs are mounting that another, even worse, credit crisis is coming and a deep bear market will join it. "There's an age-old cycle that happens, where you have periods ofeasy money, and certain sectors of our economy gorge on the easy credit, and then invariably, when rates start to rise and the economy slows, whoever has been gorging on that easy credit gets into trouble, the economy falters and markets go down," Hochberg says in the attached video. Of particular concern to him are emerging markets, sovereign debt, municipal bonds and student loans, the latter of which is increasingly in the spotlight as recent college graduates face huge debt and weak jobs prospects. "We have $1 trillion worth of student loans out there, and recent studies show that only about 40% of them are actually being paid right now," he warns. "We think this is a huge problem area because as students graduate, there aren't the jobs or the wages to sustain themselves to pay off these loans."






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