Tuesday September 22 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

“Gentleman's” Barber Shop Fined For Refusing To Cut ... - (www.consumerist.com)  It’s perfectly legal to advertise your establishment as a place where “gentlemen” might like to go, but one Pennsylvania barber shop found itself in hot shaving water when a woman claimed she was turned away for a haircut. The business, which is described as a “high end Gentleman’s Barber Shop” on its website, will have to pay a $750 fine after a woman said she was turned away upon arriving for an appointment she’d booked online in March for herself and her boyfriend, reports the Washington Observer-Reporter. She reportedly wanted to get a fade, a short style often sported by men. But a female barber who works at the shop said she explained to the woman that the staff sticks exclusively to men’s haircuts. “I’m a barber, that is what I specialize in,” she told the newspaper. “That’s why I work here. I don’t cut women’s hair.” The state’s Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs and the state’s Bureau of Enforcement and Investigation researched the complaint, ultimately fining the shop $750 for gender discrimination.

Brazil's Cut to Junk Sends Bonds Sliding as Petrobras Tumbles - (www.bloomberg.com) Brazil’s real led global declines and bonds slumped after Latin America’s largest economy returned to junk status as it struggles to overcome a crippling recession. Stocks swung between gains and losses. The real fell 1.5 percent to 3.8373 per dollar at 1:13 p.m. in New York, the most in the world, after the nation lost its investment-grade rating at Standard & Poor’s. The Ibovespa stock index dropped 0.3 percent, following an earlier slump of as much as 2.3 percent. Oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA extended this year’s plunge, while miner Vale SA climbed with exporters. Yields on Brazil’s $4.3 billion of bonds due in 2025 rose to the highest since they were issued in 2013. The iShares MSCI Brazil Capped ETFexchange-traded fund sank to a decade low.

Brazil Returns to Junk as Bonanza Ends and Crisis Traps Levy  - (www.bloomberg.com) Brazil is junk -- again. Seven years after Standard & Poor’s lifted the nation’s credit rating to investment grade, reflecting the rising influence of emerging markets, Latin America’s largest economy has lost its vaunted designation. S&P’s decision late Wednesday to cut Brazil’s rating one step, to BB+ with a negative outlook, underscores its worsening economic and political prospects, as well as the troubles plaguing other developing nations, including China and Russia. Both Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service still rate Brazil investment grade. The rating company’s move was a response to the failure of President Dilma Rousseff’s administration to maintain the economic bonanza Brazilians enjoyed for most of the past decade. Now, the country faces the deepest recession in a quarter century, a growing budget deficit, a wide corruption probe and a fractured ruling coalition.

Paul Krugman Is "Really, Really Worried" That He Might Have Screwed Up Japan - (www.zerohedge.com) Late last year, Paul Krugman took a field trip to Japan to observe Keynesian insanity prowling around in its natural habitat. While he was there, he gave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe some sage advice which can be roughly summarized as follows: "Abenomics is working so why would you screw it up by getting fiscally responsible all of the sudden?" Nine months later, Japan is still a deflationary deathtrap and Krugman is "really, really worried"...

Credit card debt nearly reaches 2008 levels - (www.cnbc.com) Credit card balances are growing again after years of decline. America's outstanding credit card debt is projected to total $900 billion by the end of the year, bringing the average indebted household's balance to $7,813—the highest amount since 2008, when the average was $8,428, according to a new analysis by credit card comparison website Card Hub. "With seven of the past 10 quarters reflecting year-over-year regression in consumer performance, evidence is mounting to support the notion that credit card users are reverting to pre-downturn bad habits," wrote CardHub CEO Odysseas Papadimitriou in the report. Rising debt levels come at a time when Americans have more access to their credit reports and better credit scores. The national average FICO score is now 695—the highest it's been for at least a decade, according to the latest analysis from Fair Isaac Corp., which created the score. A separate analysis by Experian put the average VantageScore, which was developed by Experian and the other national credit reporting companies Equifax and TransUnion, at 667, which is still considered good. (Both scores range from 301 to 850.)

OTHER STORIES:

Europe Stocks Snap Three Days of Gains Amid Rate Rise Concern - (www.bloomberg.com)
China's Stocks Decline as Producer Prices Sink Most Since 2009 - (www.bloomberg.com)
China's Yuan Jumps Offshore in Suspected Intervention - (www.reuters.com)
China Opens Onshore Currency Market to Foreign Central Banks - (www.bloomberg.com)
Japanese Stocks Tumble After Nikkei 225 Posts Historic Rally - (www.bloomberg.com)

China deflation fears grow as producer prices sink most in six years - (www.reuters.com)
Brazil Returns to Junk as Bonanza Ends and Crisis Traps Levy - (www.bloomberg.com)
Fed Wavers on September Rate Rise - (online.wsj.com)
Praet Says ECB Vigilant in Preventing Unwarranted Tightening - (www.bloomberg.com)
Hedge-Fund Bets Against Emerging Currencies Get Crowded - (www.bloomberg.com)