Sunday, June 22, 2014

Monday June 23 Housing and Economic stories


1 In 4 Obamacare Signups Are Faulty - But, We Are Sure Obama Never Knew Anything About It Until Now - (www.zerohedge.com) While the administration unabashedly argued that they would not hand out taxpayer cash subsidies to anyone who didn't verify income on... it seems once again, they lied. 9 months later and AP reports that 2 million of the Obamacare sign-ups have data discrepancies that could jeopardize coverage for some, a government document shows. Direct from the HHS itself, AP adds that several congressional committees are actively investigating the discrepancies, most of which involve important details on income, citizenship and immigration status. The farce is complete as no resolution looks likely anytime soon - "Current system access and functionality...limits the ability to resolve outstanding inconsistencies." Of course, this is the first that Obama would have heard about it (from AP) and a probe of this SNAFU will begin immediately... As AP reports,
More than 2 million people who got health insurance under President Obama's law have data discrepancies that could jeopardize coverage for some, a government document shows. About 1 in 4 people who signed up have discrepancies, creating a huge paperwork jam for the feds and exposing some consumers to repayment demands, or possibly even loss of coverage, if they got too generous a subsidy. The 7-page slide presentation from the Health and Human Services department was provided to The Associated Press as several congressional committees are actively investigating the discrepancies, most of which involve important details on income, citizenship and immigration status.

German Eurosceptics gain support before EU alliance decision - (www.reuters.com) Support for Germany's Eurosceptical AfD party has hit a record high in a new poll released on Wednesday, when a European Union political bloc that includes Britain's ruling Conservatives is due to decide whether to admit the German party as a member. The Alternative for Germany (AfD), formed just over a year ago amid German disenchantment with the euro, notched up its first election success on May 25 by taking seven seats in the European Parliament after winning 7 percent of German votes. In a poll by Forsa for stern magazine and broadcaster RTL taken after the EU elections and measuring voter intentions for the next national election, support for the AfD, which also wants tougher rules on immigration, stood at 8 percent.

China state media calls for 'severe punishment' for Google, Apple, U.S. tech firms  - (www.reuters.com) Chinese state media lashed out at Google Inc GOOGL.O, Apple Inc AAPL.O and other U.S. technology companies on Wednesday, calling on Beijing "to punish severely the pawns" of the U.S. government for monitoring China and stealing secrets. U.S. companies such as Yahoo Inc YHOO.O, Cisco Systems Inc CSCO.O, Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Facebook Inc FB.O threaten the cyber-security of China and its Internet users, said the People's Daily on its microblog, in comments echoed on the front page of the English-language China Daily. It is not clear what sparked this latest round of vitriol, nor what information the U.S. firms are alleged to have stolen. But Chinese media have repeatedly attacked American tech companies for aiding the U.S. government's cyber espionage since U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden revealed widespread spying programs including PRISM. Under PRISM, the NSA seized data from companies such as Google and Apple, according to revelations made by Snowden a year ago.

[Hilsenrath] Fed Officials Growing Wary of Market Complacency - (online.wsj.com) Federal Reserve officials are starting to wonder whether a tranquillity that has descended on financial markets is a sign that investors have become unafraid of the type of risk that could lead to bubbles and volatility. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, up a steady if unspectacular 1% since the beginning of the year, has consolidated big gains registered last year. The VIX, a measure of expected stock-market fluctuations based on options trading, has gone 74 straight weeks below its long-run average—a string of steadiness not seen since 2006 and 2007, before the financial crisis and recession. Moreover, the extra return that bond investors demand on investment-grade corporate debt over low-risk Treasury bonds, at one percentage point, hasn't been this low since July 2007. The lower this "spread," the less risk-averse are bond investors. The Fed's growing worry—which could influence future interest rate decisions—is that if investors start taking undue risk it could lead to economic turbulence down the road.

JPMorgan’s $100 Billion CLO Forecast Shows Volcker Solved - (www.bloomberg.com) The business of bundling junk-rated corporate loans into top-rated securities is booming like never before following the implementation of regulation aimed at making the financial system safer. More than $46 billion of collateralized loan obligations have been raised this year in the U.S. through the end of May, after $82 billion were sold in all of 2013, according to Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its annual forecast to as much as $100 billion, which means 2014 may end up as the biggest year on record, while Onex Corp. said yesterday it will expand its CLO business. Issuance of CLOs, which helped finance some of the biggest leveraged buyouts in history during the last credit boom, has picked up following an early 2014 slump brought on by the publication of the Volcker Rule designed to limit risk-taking by banks -- major buyers of the funds. CLOs are investors in speculative-grade loans, an asset class in which U.S. banking regulators have said underwriting standards have become too lax.





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