Monday, September 29, 2014

Tuesday September 30 Housing and Economic stories


Faber's Doomsday money strategy: 'Only lose 50%'  - (finance.yahoo.com) Marc Faber famously predicts that U.S. stocks will lose 30 percent of their value-a prognostication, needless to say, that has not proven particularly prescient over the years. Still, the author of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report continues to see bubbles everywhere he looks, especially in U.S. equities. Given his near-apocalyptic outlook, it's unsurprising that Faber's greatest focus is on avoiding losses. But what's incredible is the degree of portfolio destruction he's willing to tolerate. "I hope that when the collapse happens, I'm only going to lose 50 percent of my money," Faber said Thursday on CNBC's " Futures Now ."

China Lender Faces $650 Million of Defaults From Shadow Banking  - (www.bloomberg.com) A Chinese bank was saddled with $650 million of defaults from an off-balance-sheet lending arrangement that channeled money to one of its shareholders and an affiliate, according to a state media report. Evergrowing Bank Co. in Shandong province repaid 3.7 billion yuan ($600 million) of principal and 300 million yuan of interest on Aug. 29 as guarantor for the borrowing, the People’s Daily said on its website today. Three calls to the lender for comment went unanswered. Intricate structures for some off-balance-sheet lending by China’s banks make it harder for investors to assess risks to the financial system after an explosion in shadow banking. In some cases, banks have channeled money to companies through trusts or brokerages to bypass government limits on lending and requirements relating to provisions and capital.

Elon Musk is building batteries in a desert when no one is buying - (finance.yahoo.com)  Tesla's planned 5-million-square-foot ‘gigafactory' wouldn't just be the biggest battery factory in the world. It would be one of the biggest factories in the world, period. But hours before CEO Elon Musk took the podium last week to tout the $5 billion facility came August sales numbers for electric vehicles and a spate of news stories about how U.S. interest for electric cars has stalled. So what gives? Why would Tesla build capacity for half a million car batteries a year if no one is buying? Four charts below tell the story. First the bad news. August brought another month of electric-car sales that came up short of previous highs. Interest isn't falling, but at four percent market share for combined sales of hybrids and plug-ins, people aren't exactly clamoring for them. The dark blue shows hybrids, the light blue shows anything with a plug; stack them together and you've got what's known as the electrified-vehicles market.

Venezuela Threatens Harvard Professor for Default Comment - (www.bloomberg.com) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro instructed the attorney general and public prosecutor to take “actions” against Harvard Professor Ricardo Hausmann, saying the economist sought to destabilize the country by suggesting the government default on its debt. Maduro lashed out at Hausmann during a televised address last night, calling him a “financial hitman” and “outlaw” who forms part of a campaign “that has been initiated around the world against Venezuela.” He didn’t specify what actions he had asked the attorney general and prosecutor to take.

Obama losing the confidence of key parts of the coalition that elected him - (www.washingtonpost.com) Kimberly Cole was part of the coalition that voted in 2008 to make Barack Obama the 44th president and gave him another four years in 2012 to deliver on his promises of hope and change. Now, the 36-year-old mother of three young children in Valencia, Calif., is among the majority of Americans who have lost confidence in Obama’s leadership and the job he is doing as president. “He’s been faced with a lot of challenges, and he’s lost his way,” Cole said in an interview. She worries that Obama lacks the resolve needed at a time when things at home and abroad are looking scarier. On the other side of the country, Karlene Richardson, 44, once counted herself a “very strong supporter” of the president. But now she feels much the same as Cole does.




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