Thursday, September 5, 2013

Friday September 6 Housing and Economic stories


Abandoned Dogs Roam Detroit in Packs as Humans Dwindle  (www.bloomberg.com)  As many as 50,000 stray dogs roam the streets and vacant homes of bankrupt Detroit, replacing residents, menacing humans who remain and overwhelming the city’s ability to find them homes or peaceful deaths. Dens of as many as 20 canines have been found in boarded-up homes in the community of about 700,000 that once pulsed with 1.8 million people. One officer in the Police Department's skeleton animal-control unit recalled a pack splashing away in a basement that flooded when thieves ripped out water pipes. “The dogs were having a pool party,” said Lapez Moore, 30. “We went in and fished them out.” Poverty roils the Motor City and many dogs have been left to fend for themselves, abandoned by owners who are financially stressed or unaware of proper care. Strays have killed pets, bitten mail carriers and clogged the animal shelter, where more than 70 percent are euthanized. “With these large open expanses with vacant homes, it’s as if you designed a situation that causes dog problems,” said Harry Ward, head of animal control.

Denver officials evict murdered woman's family 72 hours after her slaying - (www.ft.com) Three days after a Denver woman was brutally murdered, the city’s housing authority evicted her family because the slain woman was the only one on the lease. Just days after losing a loved one, the victim’s mother and autistic son are now homeless, sleeping wherever they can after they were booted from their own house. The eviction occurred after 47-year-old Sandra Roskilly was murdered on the front porch of her home. Daniel Abeyta, the 31-year-old gunman who was armed with a rifle, shot the Denver woman to deathon Friday. He also shot a second woman in the leg and tried to detonate a propane canister in the street. A police sniper shot and wounded the gunman, who now faces a first-degree murder charge, KUSA-TV reported. Police believe Roskilly was an innocent bystander when Abyeta, who lived in a neighboring home, went on a shooting rampage. The murder has devastated the woman’s family.

Istanbul Skyline Reflects Cheap Dollars Now Growing Scarce - (www.nytimes.com) In a city where skyscrapers sprout like weeds, none grew as high as the Sapphire tower in Istanbul. Today, it stands as a symbol of how far the mighty may fall. Like a vast majority of new buildings that have blanketed the Istanbul hills in recent years, the Sapphire — at 856 feet it is the tallest in Turkey and among the loftiest in Europe — was built on the back of cheap loans, in dollars, that have flooded Turkey and other fast-growing markets like Brazil, India and South Korea. The money began to flow when the Federal Reserve and other major central banks cut interest rates to the bone in 2009 and cranked up the printing presses in a bid to spur recovery in the United States and other advanced industrial nations. But now, with expectations mounting that the Federal Reserve, led by its departing chairman Ben S. Bernanke, may soon begin to tighten its monetary spigot, Istanbul’s skyline could well be a harbinger of an emerging-market bust brought on by unpaid loans, weakening currencies, and, eventually, the possible failure of developers and banks.

Analysis: Sovereign funds' fortunes turn as emerging assets sour - (www.reuters.com) The world's biggest sovereign wealth funds may see their bumper profits of 2012 diminish this year as recent diversification into high-growth emerging markets starts to produce disappointing returns. Their long-term horizon may allow many sovereign funds, which globally control $5 trillion of oil and other windfall assets, to weather losses. But the sheer size of these funds may increasingly limit the window of opportunities even when emerging markets recover. SWFs have piled into emerging markets, crucially via public equity and debt markets, which are cheap to invest in and big enough to absorb sizeable investments, rather than potentially higher-yielding private equity deals, which are often too small and labor-intensive to discover real gems. According to Thomson Reuters data, the world's top 38 sovereign funds which globally invest nearly $900 billion in listed public equities allocate more than a third of the total to emerging markets at $383 billion, up 18 percent from mid-2012.

Currency Volatility Is Unnerving Investors - (www.nytimes.com) Lawmakers and central bankers in India, Indonesia, Turkey and several emerging-market economies are scrambling to contain the damage from falling currencies and to keep foreign investors from heading for the exits. Money has poured out of those economies over the last few weeks, pushing down the prices of a wide array of assets, including stocks, bonds and currencies. On Tuesday, the Indian rupee fell to a record low against the dollar, while the Indonesian rupiah dropped to its lowest level against the dollar since 2009. In an effort to slow the exodus of foreign money from Turkey, the country’s central bank raised a key interest rate on Tuesday. That came as the Reserve Bank of India announced that it would start buying Indian government bonds later this week to “address the risks to macroeconomic stability.” “At this point in time I personally see the current government is completely in panic,” said Arvind Singhal, the chairman of Technopak Advisors, a consulting firm in Delhi. 






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