Wednesday June 22 2016 Housing and Economic stories

TOP STORIES:

Share-Buyback Announcements Plunge, Stocks Risk Getting Clocked - (www.wolfstreet.com) In 2015, S&P 500 companies bought back $569 billion of their own shares, down just a smidgen from $572 billion in 2014, according to FactSet. That’s a combined $1.14 trillion in stock repurchases. With the S&P 500 market capitalization at $18.8 trillion currently, corporate buybacks over the past two years have mopped up about 6% of the total float in dollar terms. And this has been happening year after year with increasing vehemence since 2010. While some sectors already cut back in 2015, buybacks soared 44% in the Industrial sector and 26% in the Consumer Discretionary sector. Companies buying back their own shares act purposefully as the relentless bid, with the sole goal of driving up share prices. They want to buy high! And it works.

China’s ‘Land Kings’ Return as Housing Prices Rise - (www.wsj.com) The “land kings” are back. That had been a nickname for Chinese developers paying sky-high prices for land parcels during China’s property boom earlier this decade, which left so-called ghost cities of unsold housing across China. Now, with housing prices in China’s larger cities again rising rapidly, frothy bids for land parcels are back. On June 8, Logan Property Holdings Co. agreed to pay 14.1 billion yuan ($2.14 billion) for a piece of land in Shenzhen’s Guangming district, the largest-ever price tag in the southern Chinese city. Logan says it didn’t overpay, calling the price “relatively favorable” in a hot market.

Italy's mayoral elections deal defeat to Renzi; 5-Star breakthrough - (www.reuters.com) The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement trounced Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in local elections this weekend, clouding his chances of completing his term of office and winning a referendum he has called on constitutional reform. Five-Star, which feeds off popular anger over widespread graft, won in 19 of the 20 towns or cities where it had advanced to the run-offs, including Turin and Rome, where Virginia Raggi, a 37-year-old lawyer, became the first woman mayor. The party has so far controlled just a handful of medium-sized towns. Success in Rome and Turin could prove a springboard to victory in national elections due in 2018.

Caterpillar Retail Sales Decline For Unprecedented 42nd Consecutive Month – (www.zerohedge.com) There was some glimmers of hope that after a modest rebound in North American and Chinese retail sales of industrial bellwether Caterpillar in the early part of the year, that the manufacturing landscape may be finally changing as demand for CAT heavy manufacturing and construction equipment re-emerges. Alas, those hopes were doused following the latest, May, retail sales reported by Caterpillar earlier today. These showed that after sliding "only" 8% in March, US retail sales have once again started to deteriorate, sliding -11% in April and -12% in May. Perhaps more notably, after declining just 10% in April, retail sales in the Asia/Pacific region - read China - are once again accelerating their drop, and were down 13% in May.

Southern California May See Summer Blackouts as Gas Leak's Effects Linger - (www.nasdaq.com) California regulators and utility executives are staring down a natural-gas shortage in the Los Angeles area that could trigger up to two weeks of electrical blackouts this summer. The state's electric grid operator warned Friday that it may call for emergency reductions in electricity use on Monday and Tuesday, when a heat wave in Southern California is expected to push up demand for air conditioning. Without conservation, officials fear power plants could run out of fuel and trigger rolling blackouts. Southern California is vulnerable to energy disruptions because it relies on a complex web of electric transmission lines, gas pipelines and gas storage facilities -- all running like clockwork -- to get enough electricity. If any piece is disabled, it can mean electricity shortages. Gas is the state's chief fuel for power generation, not coal.

OTHER STORIES:

Tracing the global market thread that could be unraveled by Brexit - (www.reuters.com)
After Brexit: Roadmap for a leap in the dark - (www.reuters.com)
Indian central bank chief felt undermined in weeks before quitting: sources - (www.reuters.com)
Spain Braces for Coalition Jostling as Hung Parliament Predicted - (www.bloomberg.com)

First Brexit Poll Since Jo Cox Killing Shows Remain in Lead - (www.bloomberg.com)
Poll gives UK's 'Out' camp 2-point lead ahead of EU vote: Mirror - (www.reuters.com)
U.K. Brexit Campaigns Suspended for Third Day After MP’s Killing - (www.bloomberg.com)
Central Banks Ready to Intervene if U.K. Votes to Leave EU, Says ECB Official - (www.nasdaq.com)
Rajan Surprises India With Decision to Leave Central Bank - (www.bloomberg.com)