id
stringlengths 30
34
| text
stringlengths 0
69.1k
| industry_type
stringclasses 1
value |
|---|---|---|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/5598
|
The Quiet Coup
Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:49:02 -0400 (CLT)
A long article by someone from the IMF (ex chief economist Simon Johnson).
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice
It starts with some interesting insight into problems with emerging
markets. While I can't help wonder if it's a bit too dismissive of the
differences between different crises, a lot of what is said about
oligarchs rings very true. I suspect that most political unrest comes not
from "the roots", but from controlling interests.
Then it moves on to the USA. Some is kind-of obvious, but it's a good
point anyway. When he says
"the American financial industry gained political power by
amassing a kind of cultural capital�a belief system. Once,
perhaps, what was good for General Motors was good for the
country. Over the past decade, the attitude took hold that
what was good for Wall Street was good for the country."
I don't think he takes it far enough. It's not just the government. It's
the populace mindset. People *believe* with real conviction in stuff that
harms them. Of course, this is easier to see in places like Chile which
have strange alliances between the very wealthy and the very poor. But
it's not so clear when the very wealthy are behind a "system".
Anyway, that's just a hobby-horse of mine. The article continues and
offers two possible outcomes. I think it's pretty clear which one will
happen; I just don't see how to advantage from that knowledge.
PS I wonder if we'll see increasing alliances between the financial sector
and the mass media. In a sense that is one prediction of this article.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/5606
|
Living in the Post-Bubble World, Part Two: Something New or Business as Usual?
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 | 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Wohlstetter Conference Center, Twelfth Floor, AEI, 1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 About This Event
Online registration for this event is closed. Walk-in registrations will be accepted.If you cannot attend, we welcome you to watch the event live on this page.The dominant factor in today's politics of finance is that we are living in the aftermath of the twenty-first-century bubble. In both the United States and Europe, debt was built on asset prices that no longer exist. Write-offs of the resulting losses are far from complete; the involved parties are now vigorously disputing who gets to take the inevitable losses. How big are these losses? What kinds of financial systems, banking, mortgage securitization, central banking, and related economic effects can we expect in the post-bubble world? Will we find something new or just business as usual? Our panel of experts will address these and related questions.
DESMOND LACHMAN, AEI
ALLAN MENDELOWITZ, Federal Housing Finance Board
VINCENT R. REINHART, AEI
MARK TENHUNDFELD, American Bankers Association
THOMAS ZIMMERMAN, UBS Investment Bank
ALEX J. POLLOCK, AEI
Adjournment Event Contact Information
Steffanie Hawkins 1150 Seventeenth St., NW Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202-862-5212 E-mail: [email protected] Media Contact Information
Veronique Rodman American Enterprise Institute 1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202-862-4870 E-mail: [email protected] Desmond Lachman joined AEI as a resident fellow after serving as a managing director and chief emerging-market economic strategist at Salomon Smith Barney. He previously was deputy director in the International Monetary Fund’s Policy and Review Department and was active in staff formulation of the organization’s policies toward emerging markets. Mr. Lachman has written on topics such as economic policy, fund arrangements, monetary reform, import restrictions, and exchange rates. At AEI, he studies major emerging-market economies and the role of multilateral lending institutions. Vincent R. Reinhart, a former director of the Federal Reserve Board’s Division of Monetary Affairs, joined AEI in 2008 after working on domestic and international aspects of US monetary policy at the Fed for more than two decades. He held a number of senior positions in the Monetary Affairs and International Finance Divisions and served for the last six years of his Federal Reserve career as secretary and economist of the Federal Open Market Committee. Mr. Reinhart worked on topics as varied as economic bubbles and the conduct of monetary policy, auctions of US Treasury securities, alternative strategies for monetary policy, and the efficient communication of monetary policy decisions. At AEI, he has continued his work on all the above in addition to research on key economic variables before and after adverse global and country-specific shocks, policy mistakes leading to the 2007–2009 financial meltdown, and the implementation and impact of quantitative easing.Allan Mendelowitz is a founding member of the Committee to Establish the National Institute of Finance. Previously, he served on the board of directors of the Federal Housing Finance Board from 2000 to 2009 (and as the board’s chairman from 2000 to 2001), and he was the executive director of the US Trade Deficit Review Commission, a congressionally appointed bipartisan panel. Mr. Mendelowitz has also been vice president of the Economic Strategy Institute and an executive vice president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. From 1981 to 1995, he was managing director for international trade, finance, and economic competitiveness at the US Government Accountability Office. Mr. Mendelowitz was formerly an economic policy fellow at the Brookings Institution and on the faculty of Rutgers University. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Business, National Tax Journal, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, the Financial Times, and American Banker.
Mark Tenhundfeld is senior vice president at the American Bankers Association (ABA), where he manages the Office of Regulatory Policy, the Center for Risk Management Policy, and the Center for Securities, Trust, and Investments. He came to the ABA in 2006 from Promontory Interfinancial Network, where he served as general counsel. Before his time at Promontory, Mr. Tenhundfeld was general counsel to the Federal Housing Finance Board and worked in the legal divisions of the Federal Reserve Board and the Comptroller of the Currency. He has also represented financial institutions in transactional and compliance matters as a partner in the law firm Miller, Hamilton, Snider and Odom LLC (now Jones, Walker). Thomas Zimmerman is a managing director at UBS AG. He has been involved in managing the firm’s research efforts on asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities for the past eleven years. Before joining UBS, Mr. Zimmerman managed the research groups on asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities at Prudential Securities and Chemical Bank. He started his research career as a vice president in the mortgage-research department at Salomon Brothers. His research has appeared in numerous fixed-income publications and industry reference works. Mr. Zimmerman was a member of the UBS research team that consistently ranked first in the annual Institutional Investor survey of fixed-income analysts.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/5881
|
A suburban Cleveland couple reflect nation's willingness to spend
Blog entry: April 30, 2013, 9:06 am | Author: SCOTT SUTTELL
U.S. economic data so far this year offer a mix of good and bad, but Scott Loehrke and his wife, Jackie, who live in suburban Cleveland, remain on the optimistic side.The Loehrkes are featured in this Associated Press story that examines why workers/consumers, despite plenty of evidence that the economy remains soft, are in a mood to spend these days.Last Friday, the government reported that consumers spent 3.2% more on an annual basis in the January-March quarter than in the previous quarter — the biggest jump in two years, according to the AP. The numbers “highlighted a broader improvement in Americans' financial health that is blunting the impact of the (payroll) tax increase and raising hopes for more sustainable growth.”Mr. Loehrke, 25, in March went ahead with some car repairs that could have been delayed, the story notes, and he and his wife plan to vacation in May in Mexico.Both “feel secure in their jobs,” the AP says; Mr. Loehrke is a salesman for a company that makes T-shirts, cups, key chains and other promotional products, while Mrs. Loehrke is a pharmacist."Everything that we've planned to do we're still doing," Mr. Loehrke says.The Loehrkes seem to do most everything right, financially. They have student debt “and so are focused on keeping their expenses in check,” the AP notes. For instance, they both drive used cars, which has “enabled them to build up some savings and made it easier to absorb the payroll tax increase.”Lower consumer debt levels are helping support new spending throughout the economy, the AP notes, and consumers are benefiting from cheaper gas prices and rising home values and stock prices.“No one should write off the consumer simply because of the 2 percentage-point increase in payroll taxes," Bernard Baumohl, chief economist at the Economic Outlook Group, tells the AP. "Overall household finances are in the best shape in more than five years." This and that
Good work: Cleveland law firm Thompson Hine LLP said Robyn Minter Smyers, chairwoman of the firm's Diversity & Inclusion Initiative and a partner in its real estate practice, won the Leadership Excellence Award from the Ohio Diversity Council.The award “recognizes senior leaders making a significant impact through leadership of diversity and multicultural initiatives,” Thompson Hine said.“Robyn has moved the needle on our Diversity & Inclusion Initiative,” said Deborah Z. Read, Thompson Hine's managing partner, in a statement. “She brings energy and ideas, and she pushes our firm forward on our internal goals and objectives. Robyn walks the walk and talks the talk. She is a particularly effective leader because she believes in what she supports.”For instance, Ms. Smyers guides Thompson Hine's collaboration with Forest City Enterprises and the Greater Cleveland Partnership's Commission on Economic Inclusion to present diversity training for C-level executives in Northeast Ohio.Ms. Smyers said, “I am proud to work at a law firm that embraces diversity and inclusion as much as I do.”She is the second Thompson Hine partner to be honored by the Ohio Diversity Council. Last year, Anthony C. White received the organization's Multicultural Leadership Award.Time for a raise: Hospitals are about to get a pay raise from the U.S. government for treating patients in the nation's Medicare program.The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to raise payments 0.8% beginning Oct. 1 for services that elderly and disabled patients receive after they're admitted to hospitals, Businessweek.com reports. Long-term care hospitals that treat patients after they're discharged from acute-care centers would see a 1.1% increase.The proposed payment changes “would raise government spending for hospital care by about $53 million next year, including programs that aim to discourage hospitals from readmitting patients soon after they are discharged and to punish hospitals that too frequently spread infections to patients,” according to the website. A final rule on the fiscal 2014 payments is scheduled to be issued by Aug. 1.Medicare pays more than $100 billion a year to hospitals. Feeling restless: Forbes.com reports that Americans are moving from city to city “more than ever before,” as more than 10% of citizens moved from 2011 to 2012.“As more and more Americans engage in nontraditional jobs, such as freelancing, working flexible hours or pursuing startup ventures, job-hopping has become the new norm among the American work force,” according to the website.The tenure of employees has decreased; the median number of years an American worker has been at his or her current job is 4.6 “and there has been an increase in the proportion of workers in jobs with less than one year of tenure,” Forbes.com says.You also can follow me on Twitter for more news about business and Northeast Ohio. Reader Comments
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/6043
|
They're Back: J. C. Penney Adds Sales
NEW YORK (AP) -- J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP ) is bringing back sales.
The struggling department store chain this week is rolling out some of the hundreds of sales it ditched last year in hopes of luring back shoppers who were turned off when the discounts disappeared.
Penney also plans to add new price tags or signs for more than half of its merchandise to show customers how much they're saving by shopping at the mid-priced chain -- a strategy that a few other retailers such as home decor chain Crate and Barrel and TJX (NYSE: TJX ) , the company that owns TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, and Marshalls. For store-branded items such as Arizona, Penney will be show on store signs a comparison of prices from competitors.
The moves are a departure for Penney on the eve of the one-year anniversary when it vowed to almost completely get rid of the sales that Americans covet but that cut into a store's profits. The idea was to offer everyday low prices that customers could consistently count on rather than the nearly 600 fleeting discounts, coupons, and sales it once offered.
The bold plan has been closely watched by others in the retail industry, which is notorious for offering deep discounts to draw shoppers. But so far the experiment has served as a cautionary tale of how difficult it is to change shopper' habits: Penney next month is expected to report its fourth consecutive quarter of big sales drops and profit losses. After losing more than half of its value, Penney stock is trading at around $18. And the company's credit ratings are in junk status.
CEO Ron Johnson, who rolled out the pricing plan shortly after taking the top job in November 2011, told The Associated Press last week that the latest moves are not a "deviation" from his strategy but rather an "evolution." He also vowed he would not be bringing back coupons.
"Our sales have gone backward a little more than we expected, but that doesn't change the vision or the strategy," said Johnson, who previously masterminded Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL ) retail stores and Target's (NYSE: TGT ) cheap chic fashion strategy. "We made changes and we learned an incredible amount. That is what's informing our tactics as we go forward."
But critics say that Johnson is backpedaling. Walter Loeb, a New York-based retail consultant, said Johnson "is now realizing that he has to be more promotional to attract shoppers."
This pricing strategy has been a key part of Johnson's plan to reinvent Penney from the ground up that also included adding hip new brands such as Joe Fresh and replacing racks of clothing with small shops-within-stores by 2015. But this isn't the first time the plan has been tweaked it.
The pricing plan, which was rolled out in February 2012, entailed permanently slashing prices on everything in the store by 40 percent. Instead of the 600 or so sales and coupons it used to offer, Penney would hold just 12 monthlong sales events on some merchandise. And there would be periodic clearance events throughout the year.
But the plan wasn't well received on Wall Street or Main Street, so six months after launching it, Johnson ditched the monthlong sales, saying that they were too confusing to shoppers. Johnson said Penney since has learned that people don't shop on a monthly basis, but rather they buy when they need something for say, back-to-school or during the winter holidays. And during those times, he says, they're looking for even more value.
"I still believe that the customer knows the right price, but they want help," he says.
Penney declined to say how many sales events it will offer going forward, citing competitive reasons. But the company said the figure will be well below the nearly 600 that it used to offer. The company said the discounts will vary depending on the sale. From Feb. 1 through Feb. 14, for instance, shoppers will get 20 percent off some jewelry for Valentine's Day. One example: Half-carat diamond heart pendants will have a sale price of $96. Penney's everyday price was $120.
Penney said the decision to add tags on much of its merchandise that shows the "manufacturer's suggested retail price" along with Penney's "everyday" price came about because he realized that shoppers wanted a reference price. National brands were also asking Penney to show the suggested price to shoppers, he said. Penney started to test showing the suggested price on Izod men's merchandise last fall, and was encouraged by the sales.
Burt Flickinger, a retail consultant, said the move could help Penney because manufacturers' suggested retail prices can be as much as 40 percent higher than what retailers would end up selling it for. That practice of marketing suggested prices with their own price is common in the home appliance industry because shoppers like a reference price for items they don't buy often. But it's spotty with the department industry because stores generally hike prices up even more to give shoppers an illusion of a big discount, says Flickinger.
"The strategy will be helpful for shoppers to understand lower prices. At the same time, it will be tough to get consumers back in the store from competitors," said Flickinger.
But Craig Johnson, another retail consultant, said adding the suggested manufacturer's price is just a gimmick. "The objective of this exercise is to maximize the perceived value for the purchase," he said.
Johnson says Penney will submit supporting data to its legal team for approval before it advertises its prices, using certain criteria. For example, they'll make sure the fabric used is of the same quality as its rivals. For jewelry, Penney is using the International Gemological Institute, a third-party appraiser.
Penney says it will not show comparison prices for merchandise that is part of exclusive partnerships with brands such as Nicole Miller and Mango. Penney said it's difficult to offer such references.
"There are no makeup prices here," he added. "It's all about trying to communicate what it's worth to the customer."
To promote the strategy, Penney will start airing TV, print, and digital ads. One TV ad compares a $9 polo shirt under its store brand Arizona with $19 "elsewhere." ''Two polos, same color, same vibrant, same details, same swing, same swagger, different prices," the ad says.
Going forward, Johnson reiterated that he expects Penney to return to growth sometime in 2013. That would be a welcome change for Penney, whose business has suffered under the new strategy.
For the first nine months of its current fiscal year, Penney lost $433 million, or $1.98 per share compared with a loss of $65 million, or 30 cents per share in the year-ago period. Total sales dropped 23.1 percent to $9.1 billion.
Johnson declined to comment on holiday sales. But analysts expect a loss of 17 cents on sales of $4.22 billion for the fourth quarter. That would mean the company's annual sales shrunk by 23 percent, or nearly $4 billion, to $13.3 billion for the latest year. Revenue at stores opened at least a year are expected to drop 25 percent, in line with the third quarter, according to analyst polled by research firm FactSet (NYSE: FDS ) .
"A year ago, we were launching a major transformation and didn't know what to expect," he said. "Today, I know what happened. Our team has a year's worth of history. This is going to be a great year because the new JCP is coming to life for customers."
The Motley Fool recommends Apple and FactSet Research Systems. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
J.C. Penney Compan…
CAPS Rating: AAPL
CAPS Rating: FDS
FactSet Research S…
CAPS Rating: TGT
CAPS Rating: TJX
The TJX Companies,…
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/6045
|
Apple Stock: A Year in Review
Daniel Sparks |
In 2013, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) stock underperformed the S&P 500, gaining just 5% compared to the S&P 500's gain of 29% to all-time highs. Although a few major concerns worrying Apple investors were addressed during the year, several other factors continue to leave the market uncertain of whether or not Apple can continue to grow its bottom line over the long haul. Looking back, here's a look at major developments investors had an eye on for Apple stock in 2013 and updates on their current situations.
A growing cash hoardWhen 2012 began, Apple had too much cash on its balance sheet. Although Apple had initiated a dividend and a small repurchase program in 2012, it wasn't significant enough to please investors. Apple faced immense pressure to take action. Hedge fund manager David Einhorn even made headlines early in the year proposing Apple pay out more of its cash. Apple followed up to Einhorn's proposal by admitting that it was "in the fortunate position of continuing to generate large amounts of cash, including $23 billion in cash flow from operations in the last quarter alone."
Fortunately, Apple did boost the amount of cash it is returning to shareholders. In April, Apple more than doubled the amount of cash it was returning. Most importantly, it boosted its share repurchase program from $10 billion to $60 billion.
New categories Since Steve Jobs passed, Apple still hasn't entered any new product categories. In fact, the last category Apple entered was tablets in January 2010. While Apple has arguably continued to innovate in its existing product categories, in the past Apple has relied on periodically entering new product categories in order to grow over the long haul -- an undertaking that Apple CEO Tim Cook hasn't managed to accomplish yet.
The pressure is on. Even Apple's board has reportedly expressed concern over Apple's pace of innovation, according to Fox Business. This leads us to a key question: Can Cook live up to Jobs' high standards?
2014 may be the year Apple launches a product in a new category. In fact, Apple may be planning to launch products in two new categories in 2014, according to DisplaySearch: an iWatch and an Apple television.
MarginsAfter Apple reported its first-quarter earnings in 2012, the company's gross profit margins were a real concern. Year-over-year, they were down more than 600 basis points. Could Apple stabilize its gross profit margin? An end of the year update on Apple's gross profit margin story suggests it has.
Cheap iPhone Given Apple's paltry market share in China, investors had hoped that Apple's rumored lower-cost iPhone would be cheap enough to combat low-cost alternatives to the iPhone in China. When Apple's iPhone 5c finally launched, the pricing was only marginally lower than its flagship 5s pricing.
Initially, this spooked the Street. But as time goes on, criticism of the not-so-cheap iPhone 5c seems to be subsiding. There are several signs that Apple made the right move with the iPhone 5c. Particularly, the 5c appears to be attracting first-time iPhone buyers in the U.S. and the iPhone 5s is doing considerably well in China. In fact, without having to compete with the aggressively priced iPhone the market had anticipated Apple would launch, the iPhone 5s may actually soon become the top selling smartphone in China, according to recent data from Counterpoint research.
China Mobile Possibly one of the biggest hopes Apple investors had going into 2013 was that Apple would finally announce a deal with the world's largest carrier, China Mobile. It may have taken all year for Apple to do so, but it finally did in December. Unfortunately, we won't get so see the fruits of this arrangement until 2014.
Just how big of an opportunity is China Mobile for Apple? It's tough to tell. But it certainly will have a positive impact on Apple's bottom line.
What's next? Reviewing 2013, Apple's business looks solid. Though margins have slightly contracted, an aggressive share repurchase program and an arrangement with the world's largest wireless carrier should serve as nice catalysts during 2014. Even better, the stock is priced conservatively after significantly underperforming the S&P 500 -- an uncommon scenario for market leaders in this pricey market. So, it's not too late for investors take a stake in Apple at a reasonable price.
Don't underestimate dividend stocksWhile they don't garner the notoriety of high-flying growth stocks, they're also less likely to crash and burn. And over the long term, the compounding effect of the quarterly payouts, as well as their growth, adds up faster than most investors imagine. With this in mind, our analysts sat down to identify the absolute best of the best when it comes to rock-solid dividend stocks, drawing up a list in this free report of nine that fit the bill. To discover the identities of these companies before the rest of the market catches on, you can download this valuable free report by simply clicking here now.
Fool contributor Daniel Sparks owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple and China Mobile. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
CAPS Rating: CHL
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/6102
|
The Winner Is--Goldman Sachs!
It is time to sum up the world-wide coups d'état that Goldman Sachs has successfully pulled off over the years. From selling swaps to Greece to bailing out Wall Street, to governing the Bank of England, to supplying technocrats for Greece, Germany, Italy, Belgium and France, it is Goldman Sachs guys who are making the big plays. Goldman Sachs does not lose. What we have now is a World According to Goldman Sachs and it is not a kind world. The people pay for Goldman Sachs's infinite game of speculation on the wealth of other people.
Goldman Sachs' Global Coup D-etat By Thom Hartmann and Sam Sacks - truthout (The Daily Take)
Why are the working people of Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy suffering under austerity and being asked to sacrifice their pensions, their wages, and their jobs when, after five years, it’s clear
these policies are only making these nations’ debts even harder to pay off? It’s because Goldman Sachs is sucking the last remaining wealth out of those nations to recoup whatever failed investments they made before the Crash.
Why have thousands of homeowners in the United States turned to suicide, domestic violence, and even mass murder when faced with home
foreclosure, when a simple solution like re-writing mortgages, which FDR did successfully during the Great Depression, could put an end to the bloodshed and misery?
It’s because re-writing mortgages would force banks like Goldman Sachs to take a hit. And thanks to the game they’ve created, they actually make more money when a home they own is foreclosed on.
Why, despite mountains of evidence, have banksters at Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street institutions not been thrown in jail for defrauding customers, manipulating LIBOR interest rates, and throwing thousands of Americans out of their homes illegally in a massive robo-signing scandal?
Read the whole article here Posted by
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/6188
|
India-Pakistan Trade: The Most Favored Nation Breakthrough
by Mohsin S. Khan, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Reprinted with permission of Foreign Policy
© Foreign Affairs
On November 2, 2011, the Pakistan government announced that it was ready to grant most favored nation (MFN) status to India. This means that Pakistan's tariffs on Indian imports will have to be the same as the tariffs it imposes on imports from its other trading partners. Why is MFN important? To answer this question one has to ask why India and Pakistan trade so little with each other despite the existence of common history, language, culture, and long borders. Economic theory predicts that trade between the two largest economies in South Asia would be at least five to ten times greater than its current level of around $2 billion. While both sides are fully aware of the advantages of trade, a variety of political, infrastructural, legal, and regulatory impediments have essentially paralyzed bilateral trade relations between the two neighbors.
One of the main constraints to trade has been that Pakistan did not reciprocate India's granting of MFN in 1996 to Pakistan. Thus, the approval to grant MFN to India by the Pakistan cabinet is clearly a major breakthrough in trade relations between the two countries, and finally fulfills Pakistan's obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It is interesting to note that Pakistan and India were among the original 23 signatories to the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) in 1947, which articulated the MFN principle. It has taken Pakistan some 64 years to finally start implementing what it signed on to do.
Not discounting the importance of the announcement, there is still an enormous amount of work to be done to implement the cabinet decision. Pakistan will have to abandon the positive list of some 2000 items that it maintains on goods that can be imported from India. To be consistent with the MFN principle this positive list is to be replaced by a negative or "sensitive" items list of goods that will still be restricted. The Pakistan Ministry of Commerce has prepared this negative list
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/6208
|
Playing The West African Gold Rush By Aaron Levitt
Filed Under: Commodities, Gold, International Markets, Equity Tickers in this Article: RY, GDX, IAG, GOLD, AU, GFI, KGC, NEM When it comes to commodities, especially those that aren't grown, finding new sources of supply is paramount if your company wants to stay in business. To that end, a variety of natural resource firms have gone to the ends of the earth to find new supplies. In the gold mining industry, that means heading towards Western Africa. Featuring dense reserves and high-grade gold ore, the region is quickly becoming a hotbed of activity. While it isn't without its risks, fortune does favor the bold. For investors, the West African gold rush could be a great way to play gold's demand, as well as its rising price. Investopedia broker Guides: Enhance your trading with tools from today's top online brokers.Key Engine of Supply GrowthThe gold belt of northern Burkina Faso and other regions of West Africa, including Mali and Ghana, are quickly emerging as new favorite haunts for a variety of gold miners. As output in traditional mining regions like South Africa continues to fall, miners on the continent are on the move. Mining production in South Africa fell by 13% over the last year. In order to counteract this dwindling output, miners have moved towards the west.
The key for the region lies within its geology and topography. Stretching from Sierra Leone to Ghana, Western Africa sits atop the Paleoproterozoic Birmian formation. This sedimentary rock features an abundance of high-grade gold veins. The Birmian greenstone has yielded the majority of gold in West Africa. The average grade for West African gold deposits is around two grams per ton, and some newer discoveries in Burkina Faso are closer to three grams per ton. Analysts estimate that average land holdings in the region could hold as much as two million ounces of gold per mine. While that's still not as high of a grade as South Africa, West Africa does offer other big advantages. Government relations tend to be better, with lower taxes and royalties. Both Ghana and Mali are now among the top producers on the continent and Burkina Faso has seen its production skyrocket by 32% in 2011. However, West Africa isn't without risks. Most recently, soldiers in Mali recently staged a military coup and overthrew President Amadou Toure's government. Likewise, the Ivory Coast has seen similar disruptions within its government. Niger features the constant threat of an al-Qaida offshoot insurgency, and Senegal recently saw deadly protests leading up to elections this year. However, the need to attract foreign capital to the region has produced a "calming effect," and things are beginning to become more peaceful. SEE: How Much Disaster Can Gold Hedge?Betting on the Gold Rush With analysts at the Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) proclaiming that "West Africa, is the key engine of potential supply growth for the gold-mining industry," investors should consider adding exposure to the region. Broad-based measures like the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (ARCA:GDX) could be used, but some of the best opportunities lie within individual firms. SEE: 5 Best Performing Gold ETFs.
Making a big bet on Burkina Faso is Canada's IAMGOLD (NYSE:IAG). The miner plans to invest a further $600 million over the next three years to expand its mine and double its processing capacity in the country. Already, the firm is earning a 16% rate of return on its operations in the area and produced about 340,000 ounces of gold last year.
Receiving nearly two-thirds of its production from Mali, Randgold Resources (Nasdaq:GOLD) saw its shares dip about 20% on the coup news. However, since that time, shares have rebounded, as military leaders have transferred power back to elected government. Randgold produced 445,600 ounces of gold in Mali in 2011 and could see that number climb, as the political situation has stabilized. In addition, a joint venture with AngloGold (NYSE:AU) is set to begin production.
Finally, Ghana's 15 years of political stability and vast mineral wealth is attracting a variety of miners. Majors like Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) and Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC), as well as a steady influx of juniors have all taken a shine to the nation's rich gold deposits. The nation is now Africa's second-largest producer of gold.The Bottom LineWith gold supplies in traditional African regions beginning to dwindle, the West African gold rush is now on. The region features some very promising geology and is home to vast reserves for those companies willing to take on the political risks. For investors following suit, the rewards can be equally as great. The previous firms, along with Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM), make ideal picks to play the rush. Use the Investopedia Stock Simulator to trade the stocks mentioned in this stock analysis, risk free!
At the time of writing, Aaron Levitt did not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article. Follow @AaronLevitt by Aaron Levitt Aaron Levitt is a SABEW investment journalist and analyst living in State College, Pennsylvania. His work appears in several high profile publications in both print and on the web. Aaron is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University where he studied Economics and International Business and he is an advocate for long-term investing with a global framework.
More From Aaron Levitt..
A Much Needed Gift For Retailers These International Dividend ETFs Are Cheap Cheap Cheap The Time To Focus On Value ETFs Is Now Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
Oil and Some Oil Stocks Starting to Run These International Dividend ETFs Are Cheap Cheap Cheap The Weakest Financial Links Trading the Channel Bounce Time to Think About Utility Stocks? Trading Center
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/6486
|
JPMorgan, Credit Suisse paying $417M in SEC case
WASHINGTON (AP) — JPMorgan Chase and Credit Suisse have agreed to pay a combined $417 million to settle federal civil charges that they sold risky mortgage bonds to investors ahead of the 2008 financial crisis that the banks knew could fail.
JP Morgan did not warn investors that homeowners were behind on their payments for the mortgages tied to the bonds, The Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday. And both banks failed to properly disclose their practices that allowed them to profit while investors lost millions, the SEC said.
When the real estate bubble burst, home values plunged and millions of people defaulted on their mortgages and lost their homes. Investors who bought the securities backed by mortgages lost billions.
Under the settlement announced Friday, New York-based JPMorgan is paying $296.9 million. Credit Suisse, which is based in Zurich, will pay $120 million. The banks agreed to settle the charges without admitting or denying wrongdoing. The money will go to the investors burned by the risky mortgage bonds.
Inaccurate statements by banks in packaging and selling mortgage bonds "contributed greatly to the tremendous losses suffered by investors once the U.S. housing market collapsed," Robert Khuzami, the agency's enforcement director, said in a statement.
Regulators have been targeting major financial firms for their conduct in the years preceding the 2008 crisis.
JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank by assets, settled similar charges over mortgage securities with the SEC in June 2011 and agreed to pay $153.6 million.
Goldman Sachs & Co. agreed in July 2010 to pay $550 million to settle charges of misleading buyers of complex mortgage investment.
JPMorgan noted in a statement that the SEC accused the bank of negligence but not intentional misconduct.
"J.P. Morgan is pleased to have reached agreement with the SEC to put these matters ... behind it," the statement said.
The SEC's allegations against JPMorgan Chase & Co. included risky mortgage bonds sold by Bear Stearns. JPMorgan bought Bear Stearns when it was on the verge of collapsing in March 2008, six months before the peak of the crisis.
Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland's second-largest bank, also noted the SEC's allegation of negligence rather than intentional misconduct.
"Credit Suisse is pleased that it was able to resolve these investigations with the SEC," the bank said in a statement.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/6488
|
Older entrepreneurs call shots after long careers
Caption(AP photo)Tony Uzzi, Owner and General Manager of Nurse Next Door, Mission Viejo, poses for a picture in his car in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. After 30 years in traditional jobs, Uzzi, 52, accepted a buyout from a pharmaceutical company and went into business for himself. Now, instead of having a fairly predictable schedule as a pharmaceutical salesman, work can interrupt just about anything , even dinners out. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)By JOYCE M. ROSENBERG - AP Business Writer NEW YORK – Calling the shots isn't always all it's cracked up to be. But for people above 50, it's become a more popular choice.Tony Uzzi knows all about that. After 30 years in traditional jobs, at age 52, he accepted a buyout from a pharmaceutical company and went into business for himself. Now, instead of having a fairly predictable schedule as a pharmaceutical salesman, work can interrupt just about anything — even dinners out.On one occasion, Uzzi was sitting in a restaurant with his wife and their bottle of wine was being uncorked. The next minute, he was dashing off to make sure an elderly client of his Nurse Next Door senior care franchise was OK."It's 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Uzzi says. "It's a challenge."For most Americans, exiting the rat race to start their own business is a passing thought. And then, as people get older, building a pension or a 401(k) plan with an employer match is too comfortable to let go. During the Great Recession and its aftermath, however, the number of people over 50 who started their own companies grew. Often it was because of the stiff job market. Sometimes family or personal circumstances necessitated a change to something more flexible. Almost always, running a business after decades of working for someone else, is turning out to be an adjustment.Uzzi's Nurse Next Door franchise is the second business he started after taking the buyout in 2010. Uzzi first launched an executive coaching business that drew on his experience as a manager. But he was bored and not making the money he wanted. He began looking for a franchise and settled on Nurse Next Door because of his background in health care.Interruptions aren't the only challenge he encounters. Running the franchise comes with a myriad of duties: Drumming up sales and hiring among them."The constant drive to get clients, the constant sales calls. It's finding good caregivers," says, Uzzi who runs the franchise in Orange County, Calif. He is continually looking for new contacts — local attorneys and churches, for example — who can refer clients to him. He has 15 clients, and is hoping for more.Many people over 50 are making the same adjustments as Uzzi. Research by the Kauffman Foundation, which studies trends in entrepreneurship, shows that more people ages 55 to 64 turned to business ownership during and after the Great Recession. The foundation's index of entrepreneurial activity among people in that age group rose from 2007 to 2009 and logged a scant decline in 2010.Some older entrepreneurs keep working in the industry where they've spent their entire careers. That was a big confidence booster for Lori Ames, who started her public relations company, The PR Freelancer, in 2010."Being 53 and having enough work and life experience made me go into this in a smart way," says Ames, who launched her business after her 22-year-old son was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. She decided that running her own company would give her the flexibility to care for her son and allow her to work near her Babylon, N.Y. home.
She wasn't worried about getting clients after having done book publicity and other public relations in Manhattan for more than 20 years. What was daunting was the prospect of becoming an employer for the first time. Ames' business grew so much that nine months after she started the company she was able to hire the first of her two staffers. That was great news, but the responsibility that comes with being responsible for someone else's salary was stressful."That was more nerve wracking than starting a business," she says.A lot of older entrepreneurs turn to franchises. They appeal to them because they can start making money sooner than they would by building a company from the ground up. Another benefit: franchises come with a ready-made business and marketing plan — and often a well-known name like Subway— the popular sandwich shops— or Lawn Doctor lawn-care businesses. Uzzi, the Nurse Next Door franchisee spent $100,000 to buy and set up his franchise, a far cry he says from what it would take to establish a new business. "I didn't have $20 million to dump into establishing a brand," Uzzi says.The Nurse Next Door company notes that it is attracting older franchisees. In the last six to nine months, the average age of new Nurse Next Door franchisees is 56, up from 45. CEO John DeHart says the company is getting more inquiries from older prospective franchisees than in the past.When Mark Whitworth lost his job two years ago at the age of 50, he didn't plan to become a business owner. But the job market for accountants was dicey and looked like it would stay that way.So Whitworth opened a carpet and upholstery cleaning franchise last September. He works six days a week and isn't turning a profit yet, but he's enjoying the autonomy that comes with running a company."It really does feel good to be the one to make the decisions and deciding the direction your business goes in," says Whitworth, who owns a Neighborhood Chem-Dry franchise in Dallas.He's optimistic the business will start making money as he gets more customers."You have to be patient and build up a reputation," he says.Starting a company while still working for someone else is another route. William Ryan has a job as a salesman for a consumer products company in the Boston area. But last month, at the age of 52, he also opened a franchise — a Lapels dry cleaning business. His goal is to help pay for college for his two children. He's also concerned about the job market."I have a friend who's worked for a company for 30 years and just got a layoff notice," he says. "I'm doing this as a safety net and as a financial security blanket."Ryan works on the business before and after his regular job. He's in the store on weekends. During the week, it's staffed by two part-time workers.Owning a company for the first time has a learning curve. Ryan is dealing with payroll, insurance and other aspects of running a business. The process of opening the store required a lot of paperwork.
"I bet I've gone through 300 pieces of paper just setting things up," he says.But the work that goes into running his own business is worth it, he says."I've got that fire in me," Ryan says. "This is something I always wanted to do."
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/6761
|
Published: April 6, 2012 Print
A Big Payoff from Online Company CommunitiesMembership engages customers, who spend more across the board.
Title: Social Dollars: The Economic Impact of Customer Participation in a Firm-Sponsored Online Community
Authors: Puneet Manchanda, Grant Packard, and Adithya Pattabhiramaiah (all University of Michigan)
Publisher: Ross School of Business Working Paper
Date Published: January 2012
Studies show that consumers are spending more of their leisure time online, and U.S. marketers are flocking to third-party social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to reach them. But companies as diverse as Amazon, Buy.com, Disney, IKEA, Kraft Foods, Lego, and Procter & Gamble are also making major investments to build their own consumer-centered online communities. According to a 2011 survey, nearly half of the top 100 global brands host some kind of network.
Are these company networks earning their keep? The short answer is yes. This paper, among the first to tackle the question empirically, tracked the effect of consumer membership in one company-sponsored online network on the amount of money members spent on the firm’s products. Although based only on a single case study, the results appear to be a significant affirmation of the economic value of these networks: The authors found that revenue from members increased by an average of 19 percent after they joined, a result of closer ties with other customers and more engagement with the company.
The revenue increase, called “social dollars” in the paper, represents spending that is over and above the members’ purchase history with the firm — and it similarly exceeds the spending of a control group of comparable consumers who did not join the network.
This increase in income is “economically significant for the firm as it more than covers the fixed cost of setting up the community as well as the variable cost of operating it,” the authors write. The increase is neither a novelty nor a cannibalizing threat to a company’s retail stores, they add. Rather, they say, the jump in social dollars “persist[s] over time, arise[s] in both online and offline channels, and affect[s] all product categories sold by the firm.”
The authors based their analysis on data obtained from a large North American retailer of entertainment and information-related media, such as books, movies, and music. The firm is the largest retailer in its market in terms of sales and operates in both retail store and online environments; about 10 percent of its total revenues came from Internet purchases in 2009.
The company’s online community is similar to Facebook’s — members can manage a profile page that allows them to post personal and product-related messages, convey a sense of their personality and interests, and display their status in the community. There are private and public discussion boards so users can establish friendly ties, start up special interest groups (for example, the “Vampire Movie Lovers Club”), and publish Top 10 lists or product reviews.
The authors analyzed a random sample of more than 26,000 community members, about 10 percent of the total network of 260,000. They examined purchases made by members both online and in stores. They also analyzed community information, such as the date members joined, the friendships they established, and their overall social behavior, including the volume and tenor of public and private discussions, recommendations, and product reviews.
The firm also provided data from before the forum’s launch in September 2007, allowing the authors to create a “pre” period for comparison. A control group was established from customers who purchased at least once from the firm in the 30-month period being studied; some of these customers were loyalty card holders, so their transactions could be tracked both online and in stores.
After controlling for several factors, the authors found that the quantity and quality of friendly relationships with other customers was key. Customers who had many friendly relationships, or who befriended more important or prominent customers, were likely to spend more on the firm’s products. Those who displayed more products on their profile page also tended to rack up purchases.
Page 1 2 | All | Next Last> E-Mail
(Tacit) Knowledge Is PowerIs Apple’s Meteoric Rise Leading to a Devastating Drop?Unleashing CreativityMeeting Employees HalfwayBuilding a Megaproject Without the Mega ProblemsCustomers Behaving BadlyAre Corporate Sponsorships Worth It? Investors Say NoThe Vicious Cycle of CEO Pet ProjectsThe Power of Positive AdvertisingTaking Advantage of the Kinder, Gentler Takeover
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/6825
|
Fund Lookup
ETF rule: Keep it simple
DAN HALLETT
From Monday's Globe and Mail
Monday, Mar. 23 2009, 12:00 AM EDT
Thursday, Aug. 23 2012, 10:51 AM EDT
Indexing is a simple low-cost way to obtain a diversified investment portfolio which tracks the markets. At least that's the theory. Problem is, many investors get led astray. Before they know it their portfolios become jam-packed with the new breed of expensive and risky exchange-traded funds. What was once a solid investment portfolio becomes a speculative one.
At its core, index investing is simple, with a goal of investing with the broadest diversification possible.
On this point, though, the investment industry tends to focus on pleasing speculators while doing a disservice to individual investors.
There are relatively few index mutual funds and most of them are pricey. The number of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), on the other hand, has exploded in recent years. Morningstar.com tracks 842 ETFs, nearly 30 per cent of which are less than three years old.
On the TSX, there are 81 ETFs trading and most are under three years old. Like mutual funds, ETFs began life as simple products. The first ETFs offered broad exposure to important asset classes and came with rock bottom fees. But popularity attracted competition and many new ETFs embodied bad habits from their mainstream mutual fund counterparts.
New ETFs have become focused on increasingly small slices of financial markets, allowing investors to make bets on specific countries, regions, industries, commodities, and investment themes.
But the theory supporting indexing argues against making such focused bets. What it does support is obtaining the broadest exposure possible to mirror the market, as opposed to engaging in all manner of speculation.
If you buy into the theory that skilled investment managers can't be reliably identified in advance, it seems a stretch to believe that you can pick and choose the sectors that will fare the best in the future. For the index investor, the first lesson is to keep it simple. Use a single index fund, or ETF, to gain exposure to each asset class. An entire indexed portfolio should stick to a total of 10 funds or fewer.
Cost is indexing's primary advantage over active management. It's easy to build a broadly diversified ETF portfolio with a management expense ratio (or annual fee) of 0.3 per cent annually. Yet many ETFs cost more. For every six ETFs in Morningstar.com's universe, one boasts an expense ratio 0.3 per cent or less, one has annual fees north of 0.75 per cent, while the other four lie in between. Fourteen per cent of Canadian ETFs cost 0.3 per cent or less and 30 per cent charge more than 0.75 per cent per annum. This is where investors may be lured into biting the high-fee ETF carrot.
I like the variety of ETFs available. But investors faced with too many choices either feel overwhelmed and sit on their hands, or buy too much of what they should avoid. Many people make poor decisions when it comes to specialty ETFs. For instance, many investors overdosed on commodity ETFs in recent years after being wooed by the China growth story.
There is nothing wrong with commodities; hard assets are a valid portfolio
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/7344
|
DollarDaze
Where is the dollar heading? Why are the prices of everything going up while my wages are stagnating? Do deficits matter? Is the price of gold indicative of a market mania? Why is there so much fuss over the Fed?
“U.S. dollars have value only to the extent that they are strictly limited in supply. But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.”
- Ben Bernanke
Home | News Headlines | Article Index | Bullion Dealers | Economic Data | Market Data Feeds | Advertisers | About | Support Us | XHTML
If laid end to end in US$1 dollar bills this amount of money would reach what planet from the Sun?Click here for the answer
Global Money Supply
Daily Metal Prices
See more metal prices...
Bullion Dealers
Protect your wealth todayVisit our bullion dealers page to purchase gold and other precious metal products.
20 Latest Posts
Quantitative Easing is Nothing New
Inflation In History
Can Paper Bring Prosperity?
Confiscation Through Inflation
The Diamond-Water Paradox
How The Banking Industry Works
Quantitative Easing - Office Discussion
Is Money The Root Of All Evil?
Inflation: A Word Of Caution
Larry Gets A Lesson On Gold
The Trap of Large Currency Reserves
LME Base Metal Charts (Jan '06 - Present)
Growth of Global Currency in Circulation
Ratio of U.S. Gold Reserves to Various Money Supply Metrics
Central Banks Increasing Gold Reserves
What Has Government Done to the Dollar?
Vietnam Lifts Gold Import Ban
What's Wrong With Declining Prices?
Expansion of Global Currencies
See more posts (691)...
Topic Categories
Monetary Commentary (353)
Metals & Mining (21)
Guest Commentary (563)
Housing Bust (39)
Government Policy (98)
Sub-Prime Implosion (41)
The History of Money (2)
We entrusted the experts with our financial security and now we're reeling from the economic crisis. How do we get back on our feet...and invest wisely?
In The Wealth Code: How the Rich Stay Rich in Good Times and Bad, financial planner and investment strategist Jason Vanclef delivers straight answers...and solutions.
Visit the book website at www.thewealthcode.com.
Empire of Debt
Bonner and Wiggin enumerate a long list of chronic ailments that imperil the American financial system--a massive trade deficit, soaring personal and government debt, a housing bubble, runaway military expenditures.
The Intelligent Investor
The classic bestseller by Benjamin Graham, perhaps the greatest investment advisor of the 20th century, The Intelligent Investor has taught and inspired hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
Methods of a Wall Street Master
This book covers all the important aspects of making money and integrates them into a unifying philosophy that includes economics, Federal Reserve policy, trading methods, risk, psychology, and more.
What Has Government Done to Our Money
If you ever wondered about why prices keep going up, if you ever wondered why cars don't cost $2,000 anymore, if you asked questions like this and never thought you were getting a full answer, this is the book you need to read.
Economics for Real People
Economics for Real People is a clearly-written overview of "Austrian" economics, a libertarian school of economic thought founded by thinkers from Central Europe in the early 20th century.
Economics in One Lesson
"Economics in One Lesson", Henry Hazlet's, book makes a powerful and persuasive argument in favor of a free market economy.
The Road to Serfdom
This classic by one of the 20th century's leading libertarian thinkers has established itself beside the works of Orwell and others as a timeless meditation on the relationship between human freedom and government authority.
Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse
For those accustomed to America's economic dominance, Crash Proof is a frighteningly forthright wake-up call.
RSS Info
RSS Config
Prev/Next Posts (General, 188 of 691)
« Sovereign Wealth Funds - A Controversial New Power in Global Markets | Index | Why a Weak Dollar Hurts U.S. Manufacturers »
The New Deal and Roosevelt's Seizure of Gold: A Legacy of Theft and Inflation
By William Anderson (1 comment)
Understanding the New Deal
Most articles, books, and papers that cover the New Deal concentrate on the myriad of programs and policies of the Roosevelt administration, such as the National Industrial Recovery Act, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, and the Wagner Act, and the battles between Roosevelt and the U.S. Supreme Court, which had struck down some key elements of the New Deal in 1935. For the most part - and especially in those writings that are favorable to Roosevelt - authors tend to emphasize the vast unemployment and helplessness that gripped the United States (and much of the world) in 1933.
Certainly the horrifying numbers are there. In February 1933, a month before Roosevelt took office, the nation's overall rate of unemployment stood at 28.3 percent. Nearly half the banks in the United States had failed, millions of people were homeless, and the country's manufacturing facilities operated at perhaps two-thirds or less of their capacity. Farming communities were devastated, as commodity prices fell drastically, making it impossible for farmers to pay their debts and crippling the small rural banks that held the mortgages.
To right the economic ship, the Roosevelt administration proposed a set of programs that came to be known as the New Deal. The problem, however, was not with Roosevelt's desire to halt the Depression but rather in the misjudging of its causes and with implementing policies that ultimately would prolong it. It is not surprising, then, that Roosevelt and his "brain trust" of intellectual advisors (mostly from Columbia University) blamed free-market capitalism for the economic free fall and set about to ensure that government would set the agenda for the economy.
Progressives who dominated the Roosevelt administration held that the principal cause of the economic downturn was falling prices, along with falling wages. Furthermore, they believed that the cause of falling prices was "overproduction," so the "cure" was to find ways to limit the production of goods. Thus, in the minds of the New Dealers, the government needed to restrict production and force up prices. As prices rose, so would wages, and high wages would bring the country out of the Depression. For inspiration and direction, they used the economic programs of Italy's fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, as their model.
If one applies even simple logic to such a plan, it is obvious that restricting output also would mean that less labor would be required, which would translate into more unemployment. Yet that is exactly opposite from what Roosevelt and his "brain trust" claimed: that restricting production somehow would mean that fewer businesses would fail, thus eliminating unemployment.
For example, his vaunted National Industrial Recovery Act attempted to organize the entire U.S. economy into a series of cartels that would restrict production, force up prices, and keep wages high. Ironically, the NIRA was a comprehensive plan of what Herbert Hoover's administration had tried to do in a piecemeal fashion - with disastrous results.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act, while aimed at keeping crop prices high, did so by ordering the mass destruction of crops, as well as animals such as pigs and chickens. In order to pay for the destruction of crops, the Roosevelt administration had Congress enact a tax on agricultural products. Thus, the economic ethos of the New Deal was that production was bad and nonproduction was good.
While many economists and astute journalists such as H.L. Mencken immediately pointed out the folly of such policies, the New Dealers believed that they had an ace in the hole: inflation. Yes, they reasoned, these are restrictive policies, but if the government could find a way to massively inflate the currency, then somehow people would start buying more goods as their dollars depreciated, and the ensuing spending spree would wipe out unemployment.
The monetary system of the United States at the time of the Depression could not sustain inflation very long because the country was on a gold standard. If people sensed that the government was printing too many paper dollars, by law they could redeem those dollars from the government's store of gold. Moreover, gold coins circulated along with silver dollars, half-dollars, quarters, and dimes.
If people were exchanging their dollars for gold, then the government's own gold supply would be diminished. Since the gold standard included requirements that the country's money supply have at least a 40 percent gold backing, a drain on gold reserves would have forced the government to stop printing so many dollars. Therefore, the plans of the New Dealers ran headlong into the reality of the gold standard and its check on inflation.
Thus, early in his presidency, on April 5, 1933, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102, which ordered people to turn in their gold to the government at payment of $20.67 per ounce. While there were some exceptions for dental use, jewelry, and artists and others who used gold in their jobs, most people were not covered. (Individuals could hold up to $100 in gold coins, but the government confiscated the rest.) Furthermore, the president's order nullified all private contracts that called for payment in gold, something that led Sen. Carter Glass of Virginia to declare that the whole thing was "dishonor."
Roosevelt based his order on the 1917 Trading with the Enemy Act, which gave the president the power to prevent people from "hoarding gold" during a time of war. Of course, the United States was not at war in 1933, but Roosevelt claimed that it was a "national emergency" and Congress and the courts meekly bowed to the executive.
In earlier times, such an order would have been met with outrage, as freedom-loving Americans would have rebelled against such a confiscatory order from Washington. Certainly, no president before the Progressive Era would have ordered such action for fear of impeachment or being voted out of office at the next election. However, by the time Roosevelt took office in 1933, the courts already had upheld government restrictions on freedom of speech (especially during World War I) and Congress had begun the unconstitutional delegation of some of its lawmaking powers to the executive branch.
Furthermore, given the economic calamity that prevailed when Roosevelt issued EO 6102, many Americans had become convinced that economic and political freedom meant freedom to starve and were willing to give the president whatever he wanted.
Roosevelt attempted to put "teeth" in his order by means of Section 9 of the order, which said that anyone who refused to comply could be fined as much as $10,000 or be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison. (Most Americans did not resist, although some simply hid their gold until the order was repealed 41 years later.) To understand the magnitude of Roosevelt's actions against individuals, he was threatening serious fines and prison terms against anyone who held on to what historically had been the money of the American people.
Although Roosevelt made it illegal for Americans to redeem their dollars for gold, he also realized that he could not make the same threats against people from other countries. Therefore, representatives of foreign governments still could trade in their dollars for gold, although shortly after issuing his order, Roosevelt increased the price to $35 an ounce. However, given the state of international trade at the time, foreign holdings of dollars were relatively small, something that would not be the case a half century later.
The small burst of inflation generated by Roosevelt's move did create a bit of an economic boom, as usually occurs in the early stages of inflation, although unemployment remained at about 15 percent. However, Roosevelt's twin pillars of what historians call the First New Deal were causing havoc among some producers and entrepreneurs, who realized that the NIRA and AAA were stifling entrepreneurship and productivity. In 1935, the U.S. Supreme Court declared both the NIRA and AAA unconstitutional, but by then the New Dealers had shifted from endorsing business cartels to promoting labor cartels through the unionization of workers.
When the U.S. Supreme Court in 1937 upheld the 1935 Fair Labor Standards Act (or Wagner Act), the inflation-induced "boom" ended soon afterward and the economy tumbled into a recession within a depression, a first for the U.S. economy, as unemployment climbed to nearly 20 percent. But while Roosevelt's seizure of privately held American gold failed to regenerate the economy, it did lay the foundation for further economic deterioration.
The 1971 collapse of the dollar
Following the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944, currencies were fixed against each other and the dollar still could be redeemed by foreign governments at $35 an ounce. For about 20 years after World War II ended, the arrangement seemed to work. However, in order to pay for the vast expansion of government welfare programs associated with Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and the escalating Vietnam War, the Federal Reserve System aggressively expanded the supply of money, which not only depreciated the currency at home but also flooded the rest of the world with dollars.
France's government, under Charles de Gaulle, recognized the situation at hand and began to redeem its dollars in U.S. gold, which was stuck at its 1933 price. While U.S. representatives at first denied there was a problem, by mid-1971 U.S. gold reserves were disappearing quickly, leading Richard Nixon to close the gold window and impose wage and price controls. While some price controls were lifted within the year, oil and gasoline controls remained through the decade, causing untold havoc in the economy.
The presidency of Franklin Roosevelt was characterized by arrogance and outright fraud. Unfortunately, much of the Roosevelt legacy stands. Many historians and economists continue to insist that his economic programs "saved capitalism" when, in fact, they were based on confiscation of property and on the false notion that inflation is the source of prosperity.
Today, the U.S. monetary system is adrift in inflated dollars. Gold prices at this writing are nearly $650 an ounce and the dollar has been falling against other international currencies. The only constraints on the Federal Reserve System's determination to continue this inflation are political, and the vast majority of politicians and Americans have come to believe that the Fed creates prosperity when it creates new dollars.
Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 campaigned on a platform of restrained government spending and sound money. His legacy, however, is one of runaway spending, government intrusion into peaceful economic exchange, and the utter debasement of U.S. money. To this day, his successors in the executive branch have only extended the worst aspects of the New Deal presidency. Historians might regard his 1933 seizure of gold as a minor point in history, but in many ways it was every bit as significant as all the other New Deal measures put together.
© 2006 Future of Freedom Foundation
William L. Anderson, Ph.D., teaches economics at Frostburg State University in Maryland, and is an adjunct scholar of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Disclaimer:
The opinions expressed above are not intended to be taken as investment advice. It is to be taken as opinion only and I encourage you to complete your own due diligence when making an investment decision. add to technorati
| reddit
| add to furl
| stumble it!
This article has been favorited 1 time on DollarDaze.org | Make this your favorite article
Posted in Guest Commentary, Government Policy, History, Gold, William Anderson
Search DollarDaze
Your Purchasing Power
Crisis was made in China
Depression Lurks Unless There's More Stimulus
Observations on Negative Interest Rates
It May Be Time for the Fed to Go Negative
Monetary Policy in the Financial Crisis
Economists clash on shifting sands
London Metal Exchange
Gold backwardation - what does it mean?
Federal Reserve Vice Chair Donald Kohn explains why we can't know who has our money
Ron Paul on the Federal Reserve
Fiat Empire - Why the Federal Reserve Violates the US Constitution
Fred Thompson on the US Economy
Americans protest against US Fed policy
Ron Paul 0wnz the Federal Reserve
Vintage Keynesian propaganda
Peter Schiff on Bloomberg 28 Oct 2008 Part 1
Jim Rogers on CNBC: Abolish the Federal Reserve!
Time-Bomb: America's Debt Crises, Complete Version
Hugo Salinas Price at GATA Gold Conference (Part 1/3)
Gold vs. Dollar
What is the Federal Reserve System?
Why the Meltdown Should Have Surprised No One
Peter Schiff gives a talk at Google
Donations Accepted
Help support the development of DollarDaze.org by donating today.Click here to learn about other ways you can help us.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/7519
|
hide EU leaders look to end Apple-style tax avoidance schemes
Fencing used for construction of the Central Subway obscures Apple's flagship retail store in San Francisco, California May 15, 2013. REUTER By Luke Baker and Mark John
BRUSSELS/PARIS (Reuters) - Growing concern in European capitals about aggressive tax avoidance by high-profile corporations such as Amazon, Google and Apple looks set to steal the agenda of a European Union summit in Brussels on Wednesday.
The summit was originally called to discuss energy policy and tax coordination, but press reports in Britain, France and the United States exposing how little tax major international companies have been paying by carefully structuring their European operations has forced the issue up the agenda.
France and Britain in particular have grown concerned by the sheer scale of the legal tax schemes, with a U.S. investigation revealing on Monday that Apple Inc had paid just 2 percent tax on $74 billion in overseas income, largely by exploiting a loophole in Ireland's tax code.
That followed reports that the British unit of Amazon paid just $3.7 million tax on 2012 sales of $6.5 billion, and similar revelations concerning Google's and Starbucks's UK operations.
In all, officials have said that tax avoidance and evasion costs the EU around 1 trillion euros a year.
"A lot of these revenues (from the digital economy) are not getting taxed," said a French diplomat briefing reporters in Paris ahead of the EU summit. "We need to find a way of bringing home the tax on these activities."
Officials said French President Francois Hollande could raise the issue with the EU's 27 leaders, although it was unclear what agreement could be reached with little advanced preparation and just four hours of talks scheduled.
A draft of the summit's declaration, which is agreed in advance but can be changed, set out nine specific proposals for strengthening tax policy and coordination, including fighting tax avoidance schemes and the process of routing profits abroad.
"Work will be carried forward as regards the Commission's recommendations on aggressive tax planning and profit shifting," a draft seen by Reuters read.
"The Commission intends to present a proposal before the end of the year for the revision of the 'parent/subsidiary' directive, and is reviewing the anti-abuse provisions in relevant EU legislation."
NAME NO NAMES
But officials played down the possibility of immediate steps to close tax loopholes or any 'naming and shaming' of companies in the final summit declaration, saying it was primarily up to EU member states to craft the necessary legislation.
"We agree that companies shouldn't be able to avoid tax by pursuing aggressive tax avoidance schemes," said an EU official involved in handling preparations for the summit.
"But while companies may be using loopholes to pay as little tax as possible, the truth is it's a national issue. It's up to the relevant member states to change their tax codes and tighten the net."
The official said the most likely outcome from the talks was tougher language on strengthening bilateral tax treaties and bolstering so-called "anti-abuse" rules in national legislation.
"I can see the issue hijacking this summit, but the fact is there are recommendations out there already and it's up to countries to explore them," he said, referring to recommendations the Commission made last December on tackling aggressive tax planning and the erosion of the tax base.
France has already shown its willingness to take on major U.S. companies. In 2011, French authorities raided Google in an investigation of whether its Paris office does sales work. The company was asked to pay 1.7 billion euros in back taxes.
A similar issue has arisen with how Google operates in Britain, with questions raised about whether its sales staff are based abroad or actually in the country.
Google has said it follows tax rules everywhere it operates and that references to selling in job ads reflect the fact Google likes to hire people with a sales background.
In a briefing ahead of the Wednesday's gathering, a senior EU diplomat sidestepped suggestions that EU leaders were looking to take on specific companies, but said the issue was serious.
(Writing by Luke Baker; additional reporting by Adrian Croft in Brussels and Mark John in Paris)
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/7817
|
You are here News Economy Fed missed warning signs in 2007 as crisis gained steam
Fed missed warning signs in 2007 as crisis gained steam Friday, 18 January 2013 21:57 Top policymakers at the Federal Reserve felt for most of 2007 that problems in housing and banking were isolated and unlikely to tear down the U.S. economy as they ultimately did.Even as crisis signals started flashing red with the freezing of credit markets during the summer, Fed officials believed the troubles would be moderate and short-lived, according to transcripts of the 2007 meetings released on Friday after the customary five-year lag.U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, then president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, said during an emergency telephone call on August 10 of that year that most of Wall Street was still doing fine.
"We have no indication that the major, more diversified institutions are facing any funding pressure," Geithner said according to the transcripts, which total 1,370 pages. "In fact, some of them report what we classically see in a context like this, which is that money is flowing to them."Similarly, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke underestimated the risks of a looming financial blow-up.
"I do not expect insolvency or near insolvency among major financial institutions," he said in December 2007.
Judge says will accept SAC Capital guilty pleaA federal judge agreed to accept SAC Capital Advisors' guilty plea to fraud charges in the... SEC Goldman Lawyer Says Agency Too Timid on Wall Street Misdeeds A trial attorney from the Securities and Exchange Commission said his bosses were too “tentative and... U.S. Obama signs executive order on equal pay for womenKeeping with his promise to champion women’s rights in the workplace, President Barack Obama signed an... U.S. stock markets are rigged, says author Michael LewisThe U.S. stock market is rigged in favor of high-speed electronic trading firms, which use their... News Categories
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/7832
|
GamesBeat Slot machine giant IGT confirms two founders of its DoubleDown division have left two years after $500M deal (exclusive)
Above: IGT paid $500M for DoubleDown InteractiveImage Credit: IGT January 23, 2014 11:28 PM
0 IGT, the world’s largest slot machine maker, confirmed that the founders of its DoubleDown Interactive division have left the company, GamesBeat has learned. That’s a big shake-up because IGT triggered the social casino gaming boom in January 2012 when it acquired DoubleDown for $500 million.
The founders, Greg Enell and Cooper DuBois, have left the company and it isn’t clear what they will do next. But they certainly will be remembered for triggering one of the biggest investment and acquisition booms in the history of gaming.
Two years ago, the acquisition was astounding because DoubleDown had just 70 employees and a promising game in DoubleDown Casino. That game has been tremendously successful and it transformed IGT from a physical slot machine company into a digital gaming firm. It also triggered an investment craze in social casino games, as wags predicted the convergence of physical gambling, online gambling, and social casino games.
The latter category of games on mobile and social networks are not gambling, as players can put money in but can’t cash it out. But analysts believes that social casino games are a good way for casinos to recruit real-money gamblers in the long run. And those gamblers tend to spend a lot of money and are loyal to their casinos.
In response to a query from GamesBeat, IGT confirmed that DoubleDown founders left.
A spokeswoman said in a statement, “Since the first game launched in April of 2010, DoubleDown has continued to grow tremendously: we’re the third top grossing app on Facebook; the No. 1 top grossing social casino on iPad for 2013; we’ve launched more than 50 games across desktop and mobile in 2013 and we’re available in French, German, Italian, and Spanish. We wish both Greg and Cooper all the best in the future, and thank them for working with us to ensure that a strong senior leadership team is in place to continue the success of IGT’s DoubleDown Casino.”
Market research firm Eilers Research estimates that the social casino game business was worth $1.98 billion in 2013, up 52 percent from a year ago. IGT is No. 2 in the social casino games market with a 12 percent market share. It is behind Caesars Interactive Entertainment, which has 14.7 percent market share. Zynga, which was once the dominant firm, is now third with 10.1 percent market share.
Topics > DoubleDown Casino DoubleDown Interactive game news Greg Enell top-stories blog comments powered by Disqus
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/7940
|
World business leaders express concern over status of WTO negotiations;
By: AJOT | Sep 11 2005 at 08:00 PM | Channel(s): International Trade Urge stronger political leadership to advance economic growthSix of the world’s leading business organizations have called on member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to intensify their efforts to achieve a successful conclusion to the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). In a policy statement titled “Advancing the Promise of Doha,” chief executive officers and their equivalents from around the world stressed the importance of the DDA and urged stronger political leadership to put the DDA on the road to a successful conclusion.
The statement is the first in a series of coordinated activities by the six business organizations in the run-up to the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December, 2005. The next major step in the initiative will be a CEO Summit in Washington, DC, on September 21, 2005.
“As international business leaders we know first-hand how important trade and investment liberalization is to sustained economic growth for developed and developing countries alike,” the six organizations say in the statement. “We are committed to working with the WTO leadership, our own governments, other WTO members and other international business groups to make the Doha Development Agenda a success.”
“Since its founding in 1995, the WTO has been an engine of market liberalization and has helped provide the security and reliability needed for worldwide economic growth and prosperity.” The business organizations that signed the statement are:
Business Council of Australia (Australia)
Roundtable (United States)
Canadian Council of Chief Executives (Canada)
Consejo Mexicano de Hombres de Negocios (Mexico)
The European Round Table of Industrialists (Europe)
Nippon Keidanren (Japan)
The paper outlines four keys to negotiating a successful DDA:
Agriculture: All WTO members, particularly the major players, urgently need to demonstrate the political will to make substantial progress in the agricultural negotiations and, where necessary, to take politically difficult decisions on agricultural reform. Elimination of export subsidies, sharp limits on the use of trade-distorting domestic support, and significant reductions in tariff rates and other barriers in the end will significantly benefit both exporters and consumers.
Industrial Goods: WTO members should commit to substantially reducing or eliminating tariffs on all industrial goods. Agreement on the means to achieve these objectives is long overdue.
Services: Services are central to the evolution of the global economy. It is inconceivable that the negotiations would conclude without a significant, and commercially valid, agreement to liberalize trade in services.
Trade Facilitation: Bringing down the transaction cost of trade would lead to significant and immediate gains for exporters, domestic producers and consumers around the world.
“The world’s business leaders recognize what is at stake with these negotiations and are very concerned with the status of the DDA, which is currently more than two years behind schedule,” said Harold McGraw III, Chairman, President and CEO, The McGraw-Hill Companies and Chairman, Business Roundtable International Trade and Investment Task Force. “It is vital that WTO members not lower expectations, but instead intensify their efforts and show real progress during the months leading up to the conference in Hong Kong.” The policy statement details the benefits that would flow from a successful conclusion to the DDA negotiations and the adverse consequences that would result from its failure. For example, the World Bank estimates that the income gain for developing countries from significant services liberalization could be as high as $900 billion (US) by 2015. “We congratulate Pascal Lamy on his ascension to the position of WTO Director-General and pledge our full support for his efforts to ensure a successful completion of the DDA,” McGraw concluded. Busine
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/8016
|
Channels API: Entry Point to the New 'Open' World of Banking By CeCe Morken, Intuit Financial Services@banktech The greater flexibility provided by API technology means banks can quickly provide the kind of product customization and experience customers expect. This depends on open infrastructures and data feeds.
Tags: API, Application programming interface, Intuit Financial Services, mobile, app development
If you want to get a glimpse into the future of banking, consider a simple acronym: API. An API, or application programming interface, is a technology protocol that allows diverse software components to communicate. More to the point, it allows even non-geeks to develop applications that make use of whatever software components a given API taps into. APIs have been around for a long time, but now we're well into an era in which great technology doesn't only come from innovative startups in Silicon Valley. There's a huge community of empowered users who look at technology not as an end in itself but as a means to get the job done. For them, an API is the mother lode. They're not just using new applications, they're creating them. Why should that be important to bankers? Because it's important to banking customers. No two people have the exact same needs and interests. Everyone is unique. APIs enable a mass world to be customized for the individual, complete with all of a person's favorite applications and the ability to feed his or her data into those applications as he or she chooses. People today are already used to that type of experience. Just pick up your smartphone and compare it to a friend's. Bet you don't have the exact same content or applications. And if an app doesn't meet your needs, you simply delete it, right?
[Read: How to Create a Superior Tablet Banking App]
That's a tough and expensive mandate for a sole financial institution or technology provider to accommodate, but the greater flexibility provided by API technologies means you can... and at speed. The time to market for incorporating the next killer "app" can be weeks versus months and years. And the best part is your financial institution or vendor didn't even have to invent the app your customer wants.
But before financial institutions can deliver such an experience, bankers have to get used to, or rather embrace, another concept: open technology and open platforms. A well-crafted API strategy is dependent both on more open infrastructures and data feeds to enable the development of new applications, while being done in a safe and secure environment. That can be a highly sensitive issue in the world of financial services.
No one is calling for the Wild West here -- we all know the regulatory requirements and customer expectations governing our industry; privacy and security are top priorities to retain customer trust, and uncontrolled data and platform access can undo all kinds of competitive advantages. But the ability to open platforms to API development is a perfect illustration of how the world and how we need to compete in it has changed. It's a critical imperative to make data and platforms more open than ever before.
Innovation in our field is now driven by the ease with which vast amounts of data can be accessed, collated and packaged. This freedom, which comes with new expectations for privacy and security, takes developers and users alike many steps forward in harnessing new capabilities, and that, in turn, benefits banks. A few years ago killer apps were a big deal. Sure, every technology invariably got better-faster-cheaper, but the killer app was something else altogether. Enhancements and upgrades made the existing room bigger; killer apps opened new doors, even built new houses. For example, the first spreadsheet helped transform the PC from a fun toy into a critical business tool, while some video games, by requiring more power from existing hardware, made them more capable of handling high-bandwidth business applications. Today, with mobile devices becoming ever more important and new applications emerging from a broad base of sophisticated users far beyond the development community, the environment is even riper for such advances. We might not see only one killer app, but many. Moving forward, financial institutions can make the customer experience more relevant to each user by including their own favorite apps in the solutions they offer. In fact, let's go even further. We need to do more than just open up our data to speed the development of new apps and make them look and feel unified for the user -- we have to make services available to help the innovators out there actually power those apps. So let's be clear: We have to let customers share their data with the solutions they choose, welcome non-developers into the technology mix, and become service providers to those using our resources to create their own apps? Exactly. It's a whole new world out there, and playing by a completely new set of rules is the only way to survive and thrive. Anyone else will get left behind. CeCe Morken is senior vice president and general manager, Intuit Financial Services.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/8036
|
Sandra Baublitz
BellaOnline's Investing Editor
What Is An Exchange Traded Fund?
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is an investment that is composed like a mutual fund but trades like a stock. It offers the advantage of owning a diverse group of individual stocks or bonds. But it allows an investor to trade the ETF anytime of day as long as the markets are open. ETFs are low-cost. The average exchange-traded fund keeps its fees to less than .50% compared to the average mutual fund which charges 1.33%. This provides a huge cost advantage to its investors. Some ETFs charge fees lower than .10% which is a real benefit to investors.
Most exchange-traded funds are index-based. This means they track an industry index such as the S&P 500. The main indexes are established benchmarks of stocks or bonds. They were developed to offer a benchmark with which mutual funds could compare their performance. You can get a lot of diversification by tracking a benchmark. This is opposed to owning stocks. An ETF has the advantage over stocks by being so diversified. This diversification translates into less volatility and less risk than owning only a few stocks. An ETF is structured so that it can be traded whenever the markets are open. Therefore, you can buy at the current price the ETF is trading for at that moment. You can place a buy or sell order for a mutual fund during the day but the trade takes place after the market closes. This means you may pay more or less for the mutual fund than the exact time you placed your order.
However, an exchange-traded fund often comes with a commission to buy and sell it. Some fund companies will waive this fee if you are purchasing their own ETFs. Otherwise, you want to purchase ETFs through low-cost online brokerages.
Frequent trading of an ETF is not recommended. The commission paid can quickly add up. A lump sum purchase may be the best bet with an ETF.
ETFs do offer a lot of tax efficiency. Portfolio turnover is low with an exchange-traded fund. Portfolio turnover is when the fund buys and sells the underlying investments such as stocks. Most ETFs track an index which requires very little buying and selling so less capital gains are created. Capital gains are the profits from selling an investment. Capital gains are subject to tax so less capital gains mean less taxes to be paid.
Another nice feature of ETFs is their transparency. ETFs list their holdings online daily. Therefore, you can know each day in what you are investing. This doesn't occur with mutual funds. An ETF's prospectus or the company's website will list the holdings for an investor to see.
Be aware many new ETFs being offered are tracking newly created indexes. These indexes have been created by the fund companies who are selling the ETF. It is questionable whether these new indexes will be as beneficial as the traditional indexes. So you may want to stick to an ETF that tracks a traditional index.
Also, some new exchange-traded funds are actively managed funds. These can charge very high fees that are counter to the original idea behind ETFs. Again, it is wise to give these ETFs a pass.
Many options are available with ETFs. You have available ETFs to track stocks or bonds. You can invest in commodities through an exchange-traded fund. You can invest in a specific sector of stocks. So ETFs are like the middle child. You get a product that offers diversification like a mutual fund but trades like a stock. ETFs offer a low-cost and tax efficient way to invest. Do a little research and you may find one or a couple in which you really want to invest.
May I recommend my ebook, Investing $10K in 2013
Investing Site @ BellaOnline
Content copyright © 2013 by Sandra Baublitz. All rights reserved.
This content was written by Sandra Baublitz. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact Sandra Baublitz for details.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/8048
|
Forest Laboratories, Inc. (FRX) To Trim Jobs In $500 Million Restructuring 12/2/2013 8:36:02 AM
Forest is axing jobs but others are hiring too! Check it out! (Isn't it tempting?)
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Forest Laboratories, Inc. (FRX) (“Forest Laboratories”) today announced a proposed offering of $1 billion aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured fixed rate notes due 2021 (the “notes”). The precise timing, size and terms of the offering are subject to market conditions and other factors. Forest Laboratories intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the notes to fund its proposed accelerated share repurchase initiative and the remainder for general corporate purposes, including potential acquisitions and additional share buybacks.
Forest Laboratories also announced the entry into an amendment to its existing undrawn $750,000,000 revolving credit facility (the “Credit Agreement”) with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. as administrative agent, and the other lenders, to amend the definition of Consolidated EBITDA to adjust for certain cost savings for the purposes of calculating Forest Laboratories’ leverage ratio and interest coverage ratio. The restrictive agreements covenant was also amended to allow Forest Laboratories to incur additional indebtedness with lien restrictions that are customary for similarly rated U.S. companies and that are not materially more restrictive, taken as a whole, than the restrictions in the Credit Agreement.
The notes will be initially sold in the United States to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and to non-U.S. persons in accordance with Regulation S under the Securities Act. The notes have not been registered under the Securities Act or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the notes, nor shall it constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which, or to any person to whom, such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful. Any offers of the notes will be made only by means of a private offering memorandum.
Forest Laboratories (FRX) is a leading, fully integrated, specialty pharmaceutical company largely focused on the United States market. The Company markets a portfolio of branded drug products and develops new medicines to treat patients suffering from diseases principally in five therapeutic areas: central nervous system, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, respiratory, and anti-infective. Our strategy of acquiring product rights for development and commercialization through licensing, collaborative partnerships and targeted mergers and acquisitions allows us to take advantage of attractive late-stage development and commercial opportunities, thereby managing the risks inherent in drug development. The Company is headquartered in New York, NY.
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the difficulty of predicting FDA approvals, the acceptance and demand for new pharmaceutical products, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the timely development and launch of new products, and the risk factors listed from time to time in Forest Laboratories’ Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and any subsequent SEC filings. Forest assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in this release to reflect new information or future events or developments.
Vice President – Investor Relations
[email protected]
Don't forget, hundreds of biopharma companies are hiring! (We know you can't resist.)
• BioPharm Executive - Career Track
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/8251
|
Acxiom Cuts Work Force 7% After Earnings Warning
Database marketing company Acxiom Corp. yesterday cut about 400 jobs, or 7 percent of its workforce, after reporting that it expects revenue and earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2002 to be below expectations. The action follows a 5 percent pay cut imposed in April on employees earning more than $25,000 annually and a $140,000 pay cut for the company leader. Acxiom, Little Rock, AR, said it expects revenue for the quarter ending June 30 to be about $205 million, resulting in an operating loss of $3 million to $6 million. The company also expects to take $80 million to $90 million in primarily noncash write-offs for a restructuring of operations. The cash portion of the write-off is expected to be about $9 million. "Despite strong competitive viability of our products and services in the marketplace, good company fundamentals and previous cost-reduction programs, Acxiom's business performance continues to be significantly impacted by the severe economic downturn," company leader Charles D. Morgan said in a statement. "Although our customer base represents some of the leading companies in the world, these same companies are aggressively managing their costs and deferring projects and large purchases." Morgan said the action is expected to reduce expenses by an additional $17 million to $20 million per quarter beginning in the second quarter. In April, Acxiom told employees that the pay cuts were implemented in an effort to trim costs and prevent massive job cuts. "We wanted to maintain the motivation and excitement about our business at the same time we were cutting expenses," Morgan said in April, when he took a 20 percent pay reduction. The company tried to offset the pay cuts with a stock option plan, under which the company gave affected workers the chance to buy shares that the company would match one-for-one.
Acxiom Gives Consumers Access to Data
Acxiom Stock Plunges After Reduced Earnings Projections
Yahoo profits down 78%, cuts 5% of work force
New Alliance, Acxiom execs will work toward '09 growth
Acxiom Rejects Suitor, Releases Earnings
Next Article in Database Marketing SparkLIST.com Offers Pay-Per-Subscriber Service Sponsored Links
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/8326
|
Justice Dept official admonishes nation's bankers Tuesday - 11/19/2013, 3:40am EST
PETE YOST
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Admonishing the nation's bankers, the Justice Department's No. 2 official says too many financial institutions have failed in their duty to ensure that their businesses are run cleanly."Despite years of admonitions by government officials that compliance must be an important part of a corporation's culture, we continue to see significant violations of law at banks, inadequate compliance programs, and missed opportunities to prevent and detect crimes," said Deputy Attorney General James Cole.Cole said that "too many bank employees and supervisors value coming as close to the line as possible, or even crossing the line" as signs of being competitive or aggressive. "And we are troubled that many employees believe that their supervisors, including in some cases corporate management, actually want them to behave this way."Cole's remarks come amid an international probe by the Justice Department and other law enforcement agencies here and abroad into possible manipulation of foreign exchange rates at a number of financial institutions."You will be hearing more about these investigations in the future," Cole promised in regard to the investigation of banks both in the U.S. and abroad.Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays PLC, UBS AG and Deutsche Bank AG have revealed they are the subjects of an investigation into possible manipulation of currency trades. In the same probe, HSBC PLC, Europe's biggest bank by market value, disclosed that the Financial Conduct Authority, the British regulator, is investigating its trading on the foreign exchange market.Cole received a polite reception from members of the American Bankers Association and the American Bar Association at the conference, which dealt with enforcement of laws against money laundering.Now in his fifth year in the job, Cole's boss, Attorney General Eric Holder, has come in for strong criticism because the government has failed to bring criminal cases against major Wall Street bankers in the wake of the financial crisis. In a tentative civil settlement with the government, JPMorgan has agreed to pay $13 billion -- $6 billion to compensate investors, $4 billion to help struggling homeowners and the remainder as a fine. A criminal probe of JPMorgan is pending.In a blunt reference to conduct by some of the nation's biggest banks, Cole said "too many supervisors seem to incentivize excessive risk-taking -- knowing that risky products can be unloaded down the road, or anticipating that they will have left for another bank by the time such risks are played out, leaving someone else to deal with the consequences." In the run-up to the financial crisis of 2008, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan and others were all involved in sales of low-quality, high-risk securities linked to mortgages that later collapsed in value.The currency-trading probe echoes in complexity the ongoing investigation into manipulation of the London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR. LIBOR underpins trillions of dollars in transactions around the world. The financial world was shaken when it emerged that banks -- including Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and UBS -- were submitting false data to gain market advantages.Over $3.7 billion in penalties have been paid in LIBOR settlements with Rabobank, Barclays, UBS, RBS, and the brokerage firm ICAP. So far, the Justice Department has filed criminal charges against five people -- two former senior traders at UBS, and three former brokers at ICAP."Our investigation of LIBOR is far from over," Cole said.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/8338
|
Why Take-Two Shares Just Lost the Game
Alex Planes |
What: Shares of Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO ) are hovering around a 6% loss this afternoon after plunging as much as 11% in morning trading. The game developer most known for Grand Theft Auto has decided to delay the release of the next edition of its flagship franchise.
So what: The market freaked out over the prospect of waiting until September to get another chance to drive around in a sprawling virtual city while murdering civilians and evading the police. Grand Theft Auto V, originally slated for a spring release, seems to have been pushed back by as much as six months in order to fine-tune it for a rabid fan base.
Now what: The game is still coming out, and Take-Two has been taking its time -- the game was originally announced at the end of October in 2011. Since that time, Take-Two's shares have been on a roller-coaster ride until today, where it sits at a 14% loss since the announcement. A number of games have been blockbuster hits in the past year while simultaneously tarnishing the reputation of their studios -- Activision Blizzard's Diablo III and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed III come to mind.
Game developers can't focus exclusively on quick sales while neglecting game design and balance. This is the right decision for Take-Two's long-term future, but as we approach release date, it's likely that most of the expected gains from the game will already be baked into the stock. GTA IV also endured a six-month delay, but its release shot Take-Two's shares up to all-time highs. If you expect a repeat performance of that 2008 megapop, you might as well buy in now.
Want more news and updates? Add Take-Two to your watchlist now.
2013 and beyondThe Motley Fool's chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for the next year. Find out which stock it is in our brand-new free report: "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2013." I invite you to take a copy, free for a limited time. Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.
Fool contributor Alex Planes holds no financial position in any company mentioned here. Add him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter @TMFBiggles for more news and insights.
The Motley Fool recommends Activision Blizzard and Take-Two Interactive. The Motley Fool owns shares of Activision Blizzard. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
TTWO
Take-Two Interacti…
CAPS Rating: ATVI
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/8370
|
US economy may be stuck in slow lane for long run
Associated Press February 10, 2014
In this Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014, photo, Rosi Pozzi, 73, of Davie, Fla., right, listens during a job search workshop at WorkForce One, in Davie, Fla. Two straight weak job reports have raised doubts about economists� predictions of breakout growth in 2014. The global economy is showing signs of slowing again. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
WASHINGTON — In the 4� years since the Great Recession ended, millions of Americans who have gone without jobs or raises have found themselves wondering something about the economic recovery:
Is this as good as it gets?
It increasingly looks that way.�
Two straight weak job reports have raised doubts about economists’ predictions of breakout growth in 2014. The global economy is showing signs of slowing — again. Manufacturing has slumped. Fewer people are signing contracts to buy homes. Global stock markets have sunk as anxiety has gripped developing nations.�
Some long-term trends are equally dispiriting.�
The Congressional Budget Office foresees growth picking up through 2016, only to weaken starting in 2017. By the CBO’s reckoning, the economy will soon slam into a demographic wall: The vast baby boom generation will retire. Their exodus will shrink the share of Americans who are working, which will hamper the economy’s ability to accelerate.�
At the same time, the government may have to borrow more, raise taxes or cut spending to support Social Security and Medicare for those retirees.
Only a few weeks ago, at least the short-term view looked brighter. Entering 2014, many economists predicted growth would top 3 percent for the first time since 2005. That pace would bring the U.S. economy near its average post-World War II annual growth rate. Some of the expected improvement would come from the government exerting less drag on the economy this year after having slashed spending and raised taxes in 2013.�
In addition, steady job gains dating back to 2010 should unleash more consumer spending. Each of the 7.8 million jobs that have been added provided income to someone who previously had little or none. It amounts to “adrenaline” for the economy, said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist for Northern Trust.�
And since 70 percent of the economy flows from consumers, their increased spending would be expected to drive stronger hiring and growth.�
“There is a dividing line between a slow-growth economy that is not satisfactory and above-trend growth with a tide strong enough to lift all the boats and put people back to work,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. “That number is 3 percent.”
The recovery had appeared to achieve a breakthrough in the final quarter of 2013. The economy grew at an annual pace of 3.2 percent last quarter. Leading the upswing was a 3.3 percent surge in the rate of consumer spending, which had been slack for much of the recovery partly because of high debt loads and stagnant pay.
Yet for now, winter storms and freezing temperatures, along with struggles in Europe and Asia, have slowed manufacturing and the pace of hiring.�
Just 113,000 jobs were added in January, the government said Friday. In December, employers had added a puny 75,000. Job creation for the past two months is roughly half its average for the past two years. A third sluggish jobs report in February would further dim hopes for a breakout year.
“Three months in a row would mean the job market is taking a turn for the worst,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for PNC Financial Services.�
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman have suggested that the economy might be in a semi-permanent funk. In November, Summers warned in a speech that the economy is trapped by “secular stagnation.” By that, he meant a prolonged period of weak demand and slow growth.
If the United States hasn’t already slipped into that period, the CBO predicts it could over the next four years. That’s when the retirements of baby boomers would start to restrain growth.
The economy will expand 2.7 percent in 2017 before declining to an average of 2.2 percent through 2024, the CBO estimates. That’s about as sluggish as the current recovery has been, on average, so far.�
There are no documented examples of an economy that had to emerge from a financial crisis while simultaneously absorbing the effects of an aging population, noted Harvard University economist Carmen Reinhart, who has researched eight centuries of crises with her colleague Ken Rogoff.
“These things are new,” she said.�
Many Americans who endured the worst of the downturn remain wary, sensing that the recession caused an enduring downshift. Some businesses are still reluctant to hire despite higher revenue.
Consider Linda Tool & Die in Brooklyn. The company slashed its average workweek to 32 hours after the recession struck. Those cuts helped preserve employees’ health care benefits. It also enabled the 61-year old company to invest in technology to try to stay competitive in a tough environment.
But as business has improved with more orders from aerospace companies, CEO Mike Dimarino has chosen overtime over hiring.�
“I’d rather give the people who stuck with me during the dark days a few extra bucks,” he said.�
Likewise, some people have downshifted to careers they view as better safeguards against a downturn. One is Phillip Romine, 28, who said he now prizes job security over the allure of overtime pay.�
Before being laid off by General Motors in 2009, Romine had been building Chevy and Pontiac sedans in Michigan.
Many months after his layoff, GM offered to rehire Romine. His answer? No thanks. Romine chose to stay in school and complete his associate’s degree.
Now a physical therapist, he finds fulfillment in serving people. Yet he feels his generation may never match his parents’ lifestyle. His father’s GM factory pay was enough to buy a home on several acres with a swimming pool — something Romine regards as a fantasy for him and his generation.�
“I feel like right now I’m maintaining,” he said.�
An economy that grew faster than 3 percent would likely make it easier for the 3.6 million other Americans who have gone without a job for more than six months to find work.
By his own count, Brian Perry has applied for nearly 1,500 jobs since being let go as a law clerk in 2008. The 56-year old Perry lives in Rhode Island, where the 9.1 percent unemployment rate is 2.5 percentage points above the national average.
Perry remains optimistic that a job is forthcoming. He thinks a more robust economy would create better opportunities for the long-term unemployed like him.�
“More growth equals more potential,” he said. “If you hire more people, there’s more money in their pockets.”
The weakness of the recovery stems in part from the usual lingering hangover from financial crises, according to research by Harvard’s Reinhart and Rogoff. Their research shows that it takes a decade to fully heal. Last month, they released a paper suggesting that the U.S. economy has actually fared well during this recovery compared with other economies that have suffered a financial crisis.�
And Reinhart noted that their records show no precedent for an economy that emerged from a financial crisis while facing a profound demographic shift.
She does offer a smidgen of optimism: History suggests that economies that seem doomed can sometimes enjoy sudden turnarounds and unexpected bursts of energy. American consumers were walloped by high gasoline prices and low growth in the 1970s. Yet the feared downward spiral never happened as the economy roared through the 1980s.
“Financial crises do not last forever,” Reinhart said. “A decade is a long time. But a long time is not the same as forever.”
Whitewater police seek suspect in car entry thefts Death Notices for April 16, 2014 Emigail's Roadhouse brings bayou to little Newville Michael Gerson: Republican Party seems nostalgic for disaster Bucks owner Herb Kohl reaches deal to sell team, keep it in Wisconsin Richard William Singkofer, Milton, WI (1965-2014) Most read
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/8407
|
Tim Geithner Is Not Selling Out
Secretary Geithner drops by the Treasury press room on his final day in office.
US Treasury Department Photostream
Unemployed Treasury secretaries generally don't stay unemployed for long, but unlike some of his predecessors, newly private citizen Tim Geithner won't be going for the big bucks right away. Geithner announced today that his first job out of Washington will be at the Council on Foreign Relations as a distinguished fellow. It's a role he's held before and one with a high enough profile and fancy enough connections that he should continue to a play role in economic debates of the future.
Geithner also announced some news that will make economic wonks very happy. He's writing a book about the global financial crisis and the role he played shaping the response of the Federal Reserve and later the Treasury Department. It promises to be a very inside account of the very dramatic days of the 2008 crisis and the first term of the Obama administration, including insight on how some of the most important government decisions of the last decade came to pass. At the very least it spawned a Twitter hashtag to keep economic nerds busy for a couple of hours.
What Geithner won't be doing, though he easily could, is take a cushy corner-office job at a Wall Street bank or a board-member seat for some massive Fortune 500 company. That's the route a few of his predecessor have taken — and it can be very, very lucrative.
Get the Excellence in Government newsletter
Previous Post | If You’re Good at What You Do, You Need Negative Feedback
Next Post | The Secret to Restoring Trust in Government
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/8500
|
Development & Aid, Economy & Trade, Editors' Choice, Education, Featured, Financial Crisis, Global Governance, Headlines, Human Rights, Poverty & MDGs, TerraViva Europe, TerraViva United Nations, Trade & Investment, United Nations, World Poverty Declines as Inequality Deepens
Women ragpickers in Delhi scavenging through a pile of refuse for recyclable material. Credit: Dharmendra Yadav/IPSUNITED NATIONS, Sep 25 2013 (IPS) - As world leaders from 193 countries evaluate the successes and failures of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) during high-level meetings and special events here, the United Nations claims that extreme poverty worldwide has been cut in half.
The number of people living on less than 1.25 dollars a day fell from 47 percent in 1990 to 22 percent in 2010, five years ahead of the targeted 2015 deadline, according to the latest figures released Wednesday by the world body."The roots of global crisis are the incredible concentrations of wealth and the failure of that money to trickle down." -- Sameer Dossani of ActionAid
But much of the reduction in poverty – amounting to about 700 million people leaving the ranks of the indigent – has taken place in countries such as India, China and Brazil, which have huge populations. There are still 1.2 billion people still living in extreme poverty in most of the world’s poorer nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean.
But poverty alleviation has also resulted in the rise of a new middle class.
On the negative side, this has triggered mass social protests in Brazil, China, India, Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia. And this may be an unintended consequence of poverty eradication.
Perhaps more importantly, poverty alleviation even in these countries may hit a dead end soon because of the widespread financial crisis worldwide – as currencies collapse and exports shrink.
Martin Khor, executive director of the Geneva-based South Centre, told IPS the analysis on poverty eradication is valid and makes good points.
“The reduction of poverty coincided with exceptional global factors in the first decade of this century that is coming to an end,” he noted.World Leaders Reaffirm Commitment to MDGs
In a formal declaration - called an "outcome document" - released Wednesday, world leaders meeting here said with less than 850 days remaining for the achievement of the MDGs, "We renew our commitment to the Goals and resolve to intensify all efforts for their achievement by 2015."
These goals include the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, the achievement of universal primary education, the promotion of gender equality, the reduction of child mortality, the improvement of maternal health, the elimination of HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases and the protection of the global environment.
The heads of state and heads of government said they are concerned at the unevenness and gaps in achievement and at the immense challenges that remain.
"We are resolved that the post-2015 development agenda should reinforce the international community's commitment to poverty eradication and sustainable development," the document stated.
The world leaders also decided to launch a process of intergovernmental negotiations at the beginning of the 69th session of the General Assembly next September "which will lead to the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda." The credit boom in developed countries fuelled trade and economic growth – a rise in Gross National Product (GNP) – in developing countries, including commodity exports, he said. These countries also recovered from the financial crisis of 2008 to 2009 because of the reflationary policies of rich countries.
“But the Northern economies are in trouble, as they have changed to austerity policies and the U.S. easy money policy will have to taper down sooner or later,” said Khor, a former director of the Penang-based Third World Network.
Developing countries are now vulnerable to lower exports, reduced commodity prices and revenues and capital outflows, he warned.
In the next few years, Khor said, the slowdown of growth and possible recession in some countries and lower commodity prices are likely to impact on jobs and income, while poverty could rise again.
“It’s happening in Greece already and could happen in some developing countries,” he said.
Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, told IPS the MDGs have been an important force for development progress over the last 13 years.
“So many people lifted out of extreme poverty in such a short time is an achievement to celebrate,” she said.
Yet globally, more than a billion people still live on less than 1.25 dollar a day.
She said progress has been slow or non-existent where there has been protracted conflict, or where growth has been highly inequitable. “Global poverty is declining but in country after country, inequality is on the increase,” Byanyima said.
Billions of people are being left behind by economic growth, she noted.
There is an emerging consensus that high levels of inequality are not just morally objectionable, but they are damaging for social stability and to growth itself.
“These challenges must be met head-on,” she added.
Without targeted efforts to reduce gaps between rich and poor, the next set of global development goals will likely be unachievable.
“A focus on reducing inequality was a major omission in the original MDGs. Without it, the next set of global development goals is almost certain to fail,” she warned.
A stand-alone goal to tackle inequality must be included in a future framework for global development, she said.
Related IPS Articles
OP-ED: Sustainable Development Goals After 2015
Robin Hood Activists Take Aim at Wall Street
U.S. to Require Disclosure of Worker-to-CEO Pay Gap
Sameer Dossani, advocacy coordinator, Reshaping Global Power at ActionAid, told IPS the United Nations, first and foremost, needs to move beyond the 1.25 dollars-a-day definition of poverty.
“The roots of global crisis are the incredible concentrations of wealth and the failure of that money to trickle down,” he said.
One way to address the issue of global inequalities, he pointed out, is through reform of the international tax system. “At the moment we estimate that as much as 300 billion dollars in tax revenue is lost to development through a combination of corporate tax incentives and corporate tax dodging.”
At the country level, he said, countries can move away from the liberalisation policies that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other institutions promoted in order to seek some protection.
At the global level, leaders should reform the international monetary system to reduce dependency on the U.S. dollar and ensure stability in the international financial system, said Dossani.
The debate so far has skirted these fundamental issues. A genuine development framework would have tax and international monetary system reform at the top of the agenda, he said, adding that “these issues can’t be brushed under the carpet.”
ActionAidInequalityOxfamSDGsSouth Centre
Editor's choiceDeforestation in the Andes Triggers Amazon “Tsunami”Mario OsavaRussian Law Corners Drug UsersPavol Stracansky | EuropeCôte d’Ivoire’s Tech Solutions to Local ProblemsMarc-Andre Boisvert | Africa
Online fundraising for IPS Inter Press Service at Razoo
The Week with IPS
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/8657
|
Money Watch: Are bonds a smart investment?
Money Watch: Are bonds a smart investment? / Thinkstock by Christine Dugas, USA TODAYby Christine Dugas, USA TODAY Filed Under
Money Watch, a personal finance column that runs every Saturday, features a financial planner from the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors answering reader questions about saving, protecting and growing your money. To submit a question, e-mail USA TODAY personal finance reporter Christine Dugas at: [email protected].
Q: If interest rates are close to zero are bonds still a good investment?
A: Bonds in limited circumstances can still be a good investment.
Before you make any decisions, it's a good idea to review the basics of bond funds. Bond values move in the opposite direction of interest rates, so the value of a bond will drop when rates go up, and vice versa.
It's important to know a bond fund's duration and credit quality, because that information will tell you how risky the fund is, and if it's right for your situation. For example, if a fund's average duration, a measure of interest-rate sensitivity, recently stood at six years, that suggests that the fund's shares would lose about 6% if interest rates rose 1 percentage point.
If you buy individual bonds and hold them to maturity, you will not lose principal because interest rates rose. But inflation can take a major bite out of your portfolio returns over time. That's because there is a difference between the nominal return, which is the return that a bond provides on paper, and the "real" or inflation-adjusted return. If you invest $100 in a short-term bond with a 1% yield, your investment rises to $101 over the course of the year. But in real money, you may have lost purchasing power because inflation is running at about 1.50% a year.
Bond funds tend not to hold their bonds to maturity and as a result they will lose principal when interest rates rise. However, bond funds may attempt to protect their portfolio by shifting to shorter durations and cash when rates start to rise. If rates have peaked, they could end up buying long-term bonds at discounted prices.
Interest rates have been low for more than three years. During that time, investment-grade bonds have returned nearly 20% since then, vs. 0.20% for money-market funds. But no one knows how far they'll rise and when that will happen.
My recommendation is to use low-cost bond mutual funds with durations of roughly two to four years and whose managers say they are worried about the sudden return of inflation damaging the bond market.
Recently, many retail bond investors have shortened the term of their bond holdings to intermediate term or short term so as to reduce the risk of being hurt by a sudden upward movement in interest rates.
Bond investors tend to be cautious older people who remember the great inflation of the 1970s and the 1994 mortgage bond crash, so they are definitely positioning themselves to protect from a bond market blowup. Thus, it is unlikely there will be a mass panic out of bonds.
Even though bond prices are very high, there are reasons why these prices are legitimate. There have been periods in U.S. and Japanese history where interest rates stayed very low for more than 20 years. We have only had low rates for about seven of the last 10 years. However, long-term bonds are still risky, in case inflation was to return along with higher interest rates.
I view bonds as a parking lot for assets, like paying for parking to protect a car, while waiting for the right opportunity to buy stocks after a stock crash.
What I mean by saying "paying for parking" is that today's bond yields are so low that it feels like the low rate has an "opportunity cost" compared to what people were used to getting a decade ago from bond yields. I would rather endure the pain of this opportunity cost than risk losing money in what I feel is an overpriced stock market.
Don Martin, NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisor
Mayflower Capital, Los Altos, Calif.
Copyright 2014 USATODAY.comRead the original story: Money Watch: Are bonds a smart investment?
It's important to know a bond fund's duration and credit quality when investing. A link to this page will be included in your message.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/8796
|
Obituaries Classified Real Estate Autos Jobs Home Business
COMMENTS Investing in U.S. companies to achieve global aims
By MARGARET R. McDOWELL / 850-608-6121
Investors occasionally inquire about the efficacy of investing in foreign companies. Communications, disclosure and transparency often fall far short of acceptable standards. And corruption can be disconcerting.
U.S. investors who invest in Chinese owned companies, for instance, may do so at significant risk, as regulatory bodies there are weak and often corrupted.
“A crackdown on corruption in China has intensified in recent weeks,” according to an article in the New York Times. “Last week, four senior managers of C.N.P.C. (China National Petroleum Company) and its subsidiary, PetroChina, were removed from their positions and placed under investigation on suspicion of…corruption, bribe-taking or embezzlement…The investigation appeared to escalate…when Jiang Jiemin, director of the powerful commission that oversees the government’s stakes in the largest non-financial state companies in China, was also cited on suspicion of ‘grave violations of discipline,’ according to a statement on the Web site of the party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Mr. Jiang had been general manager, then chairman of C.N.P.C. until March.”
Investing in other countries can also prove problematic. “When it comes to corruption, Venezuela has long languished near the bottom,” wrote The Economist Magazine. “According to the latest index of perceptions of corruption compiled each year by Transparency International, a Berlin-based watchdog, only eight out of the list of 176 countries were seen as more graft-ridden.
“Last year Cadivi (government’s foreign exchange regulator) handled over $59 billion…But Jorge Girodani, the (Venezuelan) planning minister…say(s) up to a third of that could have been funneled to fake companies.”
And long awaited reforms and transparency in business in India are apparently moving at a snail’s pace, according to another Economist article entitled “Made Outside India.”
So how do investors take advantage of owning securities whose companies sell successfully to emerging market nations? Simple. They buy securities of U.S.-owned companies which successfully market their products and services in foreign countries. In so doing, investors completely sidestep ineffective or corrupt politics.
And they take advantage of important emerging market demographics. The median age in India is under 28. There are many more young adults there in their spending years than in, say, Germany, where the median age is more than 45, thanks to demographics and a much greater overall population. Also, a burgeoning middle class is developing daily in emerging market nations around the globe.
So, rather than try to discern which Indonesian-made deodorant sells best in Indonesia, for example, investors can determine which U.S.-made personal care product sells successfully there. You may want to keep in mind, also, that in countries with immense populations, a company doesn’t have to command No. 1 or No. 2 market share. With that many consumers, even being near the top can mean substantial profits for shareholders to enjoy.
Yahoo! FinanceQuote for ^IXIC
Ninth area restaurant shut down after inspection (REPORT)
Local HVAC supplier holds open house
Restaurant shutdowns: State reports its findings for last week
Work on island's first new hotel in 16 years nears completion (PHOTOS)
Ethnic food market opens in Destin; 30A gets new artists co-op
Stores, restaurants giving taxpayers a break on tax day
'You have to create your own American dream'
Pay me now or pay me later: Traditional vs. Roth IRAs
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/8924
|
REST Report Helps Save Single Mother’s Home From Foreclosure – LoanSafeMods.com A single mother who saved her home utilizing the REST Report shares her story in a recently posted video testimonial on LoanSafeMods.com. San Diego, CA (PRWEB) April 19, 2013 The REST Report (Real Estates Services and Technology Report) is a third party analytics tool that shows homeowners and loan servicers all the options homeowners have to avoid foreclosure. It does this by comparing the information on the homeowner’s mortgage loan with data from all available government and non-government loan work out programs and creating a report that clearly shows what programs are qualified for as well as why the mortgage qualifies for them.
This can help homeowners to make the best decision when it comes to the future of their homes and it can also help to convince banks and loan servicers that it would be in everyone’s best interest to approve a modification rather than to foreclose the property. The team of homeowner advocates at LoanSafeMods.com help to connect struggling homeowners with this powerful tool, as well as to offer advice and walk them through the modification process if the REST Report shows a qualifying result. So far, the REST report has helped to save thousands of homes from foreclosure and families who had lost hope are now able to afford to stay in their homes. One small family who was helped by this report is Linda and her young daughter who live in Oceanside, California. Linda, a single mother, attempted to apply for a modification when support from her ex-husband stopped and she started to struggle with the payments on her own. However, her bank was unable to make a decision on her request and continuously asked her to resubmit paperwork. Linda says in her REST Report testimonial video, "It was so perplexing to me because I had enough income, I had all the criteria and they kept telling me 'You have to resubmit, it's been three months. You have to send in a new application.' I think I applied at least 3, maybe 4, times!"
After two years of getting the run around and having no clue what the problem was, Linda was ready to throw in the towel. She says in her video that was recently posted on LoanSafeMods, "The scariest part was thinking that I was going to lose my home." "I have a little girl and she's been here all her life, born and raised, and this where we live! This is our garden! This is our little home! This is where we want to be! But we were in limbo the whole time. We had no idea what was going on and it was just scary to think we'd be out the door anytime."
Finally Linda found the REST Report. She says, “When I first heard about the REST I wasn't sure what it was going to be but knew I needed to understand the numbers better because no one at the bank was explaining it to me. So I had a REST Report done and I looked at it and it was the first time that the process made any sense to me.”
Linda resubmitted her request one last time. She says in her video, “The numbers made sense so it was just a matter of getting it to the right person at the bank and it was a done deal within a few weeks.” The new mortgage terms reduced Linda’s monthly payments by $900. Linda and her daughter are no longer fearful of losing their home.
For more information about how the REST Report can help struggling homeowners, click here.
LoanSafeMods.com 1-800-519-1887
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/9348
|
How the Volcker Rule would limit banks' risky bets
U.S. regulators have approved a rule that seeks to defuse the kind of risk-taking on Wall Street that helped trigger the 2008 financial crisis.
The Volcker Rule is expected to change the way the largest U.S. banks do business. It strives to limit banks' riskiest trading bets, ones that could implode at taxpayers' expense. Some think the rule goes too far; others, not far enough.
Here are questions and answers about the Volcker Rule:
Q: What is it?
A: The Volcker Rule is a key plank of a financial regulation law enacted in 2010 to try to reduce the likelihood of another crisis and a resulting government bailout. The rule, which took years to codify, is intended to bar banks from trading for their own profit. This activity is known as proprietary trading. It's become a huge money-making machine for mega Wall Street banks, like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. Under the rule, the banks will be required to trade mainly on their clients' behalf.
Besides curbing proprietary trading, the Volcker Rule limits banks' investments in hedge funds and private equity funds, which are high-risk, lightly regulated investment pools.
Q: Where are the complications?
A: The ban on proprietary trading isn't absolute. There are exemptions. One involves an important activity called market making. When big banks engage in market making, they use their own money to take the opposite side of a customer's trade: They buy or sell an investment to help execute the trade.
Q: Why does the Volcker Rule matter?
A: Because of the widely agreed-upon need to reduce the dangers that remain in the banking system. Proprietary trading has allowed big banks to tap depositors' money in federally insured bank accounts, essentially borrowing against that money and using it for investments, such as in mortgage-backed securities.
When those bets soured during the crisis, especially after a wave of mortgage defaults, the banks were at risk of failing. Most survived only because of taxpayer-funded bailouts.
Q: So would banks be barred from investing the money I deposit?
A: The short answer is no. When people deposit money in a bank, they may expect the bank to use it for conventional safe investments, such as bonds. Those would still be allowed.
But banks could no longer borrow against depositors' money to seek outsize returns on complex investments, like derivatives.
Derivatives are investments based on the value of an underlying commodity or security, such as oil, mortgages, interest rates or currencies.
Q: How did the rule become so complicated?
A: Regulators found it hard to isolate what precisely distinguishes proprietary trading from, say, market-making. The line can be blurry.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/9425
|
From the August 21, 2013 issue of Credit Union Times Magazine • Subscribe! SECU CUSO’s Durham Deal Helps Economic Development
August 21, 2013 • Reprints Two views of the same kitchen from one of the Hibiscus Drive properties, before and after the SECU*RE revitalization.
A CUSO created to help a credit union manage foreclosed property has begun to play a role in a city’s economic redevelopment.
The $26.7 billion State Employees’ Credit Union, headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., launched its real estate CUSO in February 2013 to help it handle roughly $49 million in foreclosed real estate. The for-profit SECU*RE remodels, restores and revitalizes property for sale on the open market, and does the same for property the credit union owns and rents, said Mark Twisdale, SECU’s senior vice president of human resources and executive director of the SECU Foundation.
Twisdale reported that the effort has been bearing fruit. In the roughly six months since it began, SECU*RE has helped remove approximately 200 units from the credit union’s books, reducing the number of foreclosed properties from about 500 to 200.
The CUSO’s work so far has been primarily with contractors and real estate professionals, but the firm entered a new phase last week when it signed a formal agreement with the city of Durham, N.C. to renovate and restore some property the credit union owns along Hibiscus Drive, an underdeveloped street on the city’s northeast side.
“The purpose of this agreement was really to put what we are doing on the public record in a way that we hope might encourage others to do the same thing,” Twisdale said. “We want to start a trend.”
He pointed to research which indicated property owners in marginal or economically depressed parts of an urban area will be more likely to maintain their property—or at least not abandon it—if other property in the area is being well maintained or restored. SECU*RE hopes its work along Hibiscus Drive will provide a spark to other property owners or potential property owners to do the same.
SECU Director David King echoed that sentiment in a release announcing the deal when he said, “There is a critical need to reinvest in our neighborhoods and be part of the solution for North Carolina communities. With the support of the City of Durham and other community groups, we will make a difference for the citizens of this area and use this partnership model to positively impact other neighborhoods across the state.”
Durham hopes that will be the case as well, Twisdale said.
Much of the work on the property needed to be done in any case, he said, to meet health and safety codes, But, he added that SECU*RE goes beyond those standard when it makes property improvements, not only bringing them up to code but also improving their energy efficiency to lower costs for future owners or renters.
SECU*RE also offers to help with public property in the area, Twisdale said.
For example, not far from the Hibiscus Drive propertiey is an open lot that a local public utility owns but does not maintain well. The lot is overgrown, trash-strewn and looks abandoned, he said. In the wake of the deal, SECU*RE approached Durham to propose that if the public utility could be encouraged to donate the property to the city, the firm would keep it up and even make a small park out of it. Like the improvement of foreclosed properties, the goal is to spur development in the area.
“The idea is to make it clear to people that we are committed to this area,” Twisdale said. “Once an area starts to see a down turn, it can be really difficult to turn it around, and there are a lot of people who might promise things but then never deliver. We want to make it clear that we are here to deliver.”
There are signs the strategy appears to be working. An investor has purchased some of the properties in the same area as SECU*RE, Twisdale said, and appears to be fixing them up.
“Of course we can’t know if they will meet our standard,” Twisdale said, “but we are hopeful and pleased to see the activity.”
Twisdale added that SECU*RE hoped the agreement sent a message to other North Carolina communities about possibly working with the firm to do similar things in their communities. He declined to give details, but said the firm had already heard from other North Carolina cities about situations they face that might interest the CUSO.
He also acknowledged that the step means that SECU*RE, and by extension SECU, expect to be in the property management business in North Carolina for some time.
“It seems likely we are going to be at this for a while,” he said. Show Comments
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/9465
|
Founded in 1958 by Bill Callaghan, WRL is based on the promise to protect its customers against life's uncertainties and has built a reputation on solid management, sound decisions and consumer confidence.
Measured growth became rapid expansion as WRL acquired other small insurance companies and their blocks of business. By the end of 1962, the company was able to conduct business in five states.
By the mid-70s, barely 16 years after its birth, the company achieved $1 billion of life insurance in force. The second billion came only two years thereafter. This phenomenal growth was a direct result of the success of the company's innovative products. Sales soared when WRL introduced its first variable universal life insurance product in 1986. This revolutionary product gave consumers all the features of life insurance, including the flexibility to choose among investment options and accumulating cash value on a tax-deferred basis.
In 1991, WRL was acquired by AEGON N.V. AEGON is an international life insurance, pensions and asset management company headquartered in The Hague. As a strong global presence, AEGON has businesses in over 20 markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia and its ambition is to be a leader in all its chosen markets by 2015. For information about AEGON's financial results and strategies, please visit AEGON.
WRL continues its tradition of protecting its customers against life's uncertainties by offering a full portfolio of life insurance products to help customers achieve their dreams of financial security.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/9728
|
Statement by the European Commission on the capital controls imposed by the Republic of Cyprus
Brussels, 28 March 2013
The Commission takes note of temporary restrictions on the free movement of capital, including capital controls, imposed by the Republic of Cyprus as part of a series of measures to prevent the significant risk of uncontrollable outflow of deposits which would lead to the collapse of the credit institutions and to the immediate risk of complete destabilisation of the financial system of Cyprus.
As guardian of the Treaties and to safeguard the integrity of the single market, the Commission made a preliminary assessment of the Cypriot law and relevant decree under the rules on the free movement of capital set out in Articles 63 et seq. of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Member States may introduce restrictions on capital movement, including capital controls, in certain circumstances and under strict conditions on grounds of public policy or public security. In accordance with the case law of the European Court of Justice, measures may also be introduced for overriding reasons of general public interest. Such exception to the principle of the free movement of capital must be interpreted very strictly and be non-discriminatory, suitable, proportionate and applied for the shortest possible period. In current circumstances, the stability of financial markets and the banking system in Cyprus constitutes a matter of overriding public interest and public policy justifying the imposition of temporary restrictions on capital movements.
Such restrictions may include bank holidays, limits on withdrawals, freezing of assets, prohibition of terminating fixed term deposits, prohibition on certain payment orders, restrictions in using credit/ debit/prepaid cards, restrictions on other banking operations as well as execution of certain transactions subject to the approval of the Central Bank and other measures.
The Commission will monitor closely with the Cypriot authorities, other Member States, the ECB and the EBA the implementation of the imposed restrictive measures on capital movements. These restrictive measures will remain in force for 7 days. The Commission will continue monitoring the need to extend the validity of or revise the measures. The Commission will insist at all times that any restrictive measures are strictly proportionate to the legitimate objectives of preventing the immediate risk to the financial stability of Cyprus and strictly limited in duration to the time necessary for that purpose. While the imposed restrictive measures appear to be necessary in the current circumstances, the free movement of capital should be reinstated as soon as possible in the interests of the Cypriot economy and the European Union's single market as a whole.
Chantal Hughes (+32 498 964 450)
Sebastien Brabant (+32 460 750 998)
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/10496
|
Critical Reads
The Funnies
GSD Archives
Casey Research
inthisissue
Hong Kong 2012 Net Gold Flow to China Hit Record High
Yesterday in Gold and Silver
"As Bill Buckler said in his quote above...it's getting more blatant by the month...and so it is."
¤ Yesterday In Gold & Silver
The gold price was comatose through all of Far East trading...and then for an hour or so after the London open. The smallish rally going into the London silver fix at noon local time, got sold off going into the Comex open in New York.Twenty minutes after the open, gold rallied strongly, but got stopped in its tracks by the time it had rallied a bit over ten bucks. The high of the day at that point was $1,687.40 spot. Then it got sold down in the usual manner...with the New York low [$1,665.80 spot] coming around 11:15 a.m. Eastern time...and well below the Comex opening price. From that low, gold recovered a bit until 1:00 p.m...and then traded sideways into the 5:15 p.m. electronic close.Gold finished the Tuesday session at $1,673.20 spot...down $1.20 on the day. Volume was very impressive...around 153,000 contracts...so it was obvious that "da boyz" used a fair amount of shorting to get the price to behave again yesterday.Silver's price action in Far East trading was pretty quiet...and the low price tick [just under $31.60 spot] appeared to occur at the 8:00 a.m. GMT London open. Then it rallied until the London silver fix was in...and that was its high of the day...somewhere over $32.10 spot. Then, like gold, the price got sold down into the Comex open...and the subsequent rally ran into the same not-for-profit sellers that gold did. However, silver's New York low...$31.54 spot...came at 10:45 a.m. Eastern time...and the subsequent rally followed the same price path as gold for the rest of the New York session.Silver finished the day at $31.82 spot...up 6 cents. Net volume was nothing special...around 34,500 contracts.Obviously both gold and silver would have finished materially higher if JPMorgan et al hadn't shown up. Both platinum and palladium outperformed both gold and silver yesterday.The dollar index began trading on Tuesday morning at 79.56...and although it rallied as high as 79.78 around 3:00 p.m. in Hong Kong, it chopped lower for the rest of the day, closing at 79.54...virtually unchanged from the open. Once again, the precious metal price action was totally unrelated to what the currencies were doing.The gold stocks opened in positive territory, but couldn't hang onto those gains after gold ran into the not-for-profit seller that took gold from it's high tick to its low tick [a $22 range] in just over two hours. The stocks hit their nadir at 12:45 p.m. Eastern...and then rallied a bit, before trading sideways into the close. The HUI finished down at tiny 0.16%.Most of the silver stocks I track finished in slightly positive territory...and Nick Laird's Intraday Silver Sentiment Index closed up a smallish 0.09%.(Click on image to enlarge)The CME's Daily Delivery Report showed that 11 gold and zero silver contracts were posted for delivery within the Comex-approved depositories on Thursday.There were no reported change in GLD yesterday...but there was a small withdrawal...139,049 troy ounces...of silver from SLV. This was probably a fee payment of some kind.Over at Switzerland's Zürcher Kantonalbank, they reported that their gold ETF declined by 13,914 troy ounces...and their silver ETF rose by 47,905 troy ounces...as of the close of business on February 4th.The U.S. Mint had their first sales report for February. They didn't sell any gold eagles or 1-ounce 24K gold buffaloes...but they did sell 675,500 silver eagles.Monday was a very busy day over at the Comex-approved depositories. They reported receiving 1,850,118 troy ounces of silver...and shipped 703,895 troy ounces of the stuff out the door. This activity is worth checking out...and the link is here.As the headline to today's column stated, there were record inflows into China through Hong Kong in December...and for all of 2012. Normally Nick Laird would have the charts of this all done by now, but the website that contains all the data he needs has been down all of Wednesday on that side of Planet Earth, so he can't get at it. Hopefully I'll have those charts for you in this space tomorrow.I have somewhat fewer stories today than I did in yesterday's column...and I'll leave the final edit up to you.
¤ Critical Reads
Justice Department memo reveals legal case for drone strikes on Americans
A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” -- even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration’s most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects abroad, including those aimed at American citizens, such as the September 2011 strike in Yemen that killed alleged al-Qaida operatives Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. Both were U.S. citizens who had never been indicted by the U.S. government nor charged with any crimes.The secrecy surrounding such strikes is fast emerging as a central issue in this week’s hearing of White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, a key architect of the drone campaign, to be CIA director. Brennan was the first administration official to publicly acknowledge drone strikes in a speech last year, calling them “consistent with the inherent right of self-defense.” In a separate talk at the Northwestern University Law School in March, Attorney General Eric Holder specifically endorsed the constitutionality of targeted killings of Americans, saying they could be justified if government officials determine the target poses “an imminent threat of violent attack.”Wow! If I were an American citizen I'd be screaming at my congressman right now...and as soon as I got off the phone I'd be checking my own personal arsenal of weapons and ammunition. The Amerika I used to know and love is now truly dead. The people of Amerika need to wake up...and rise up...and take their country back. This NBC News story was posted on their website yesterday...and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for being the first reader through the door with this story. The link is here.
To Kill an American: a New York Times Editorial
On one level, there were not too many surprises in the newly disclosed “white paper” offering a legal reasoning behind the claim that President Obama has the power to order the killing of American citizens who are believed to be part of Al Qaeda. We knew Mr. Obama and his lawyers believed he has that power under the Constitution and federal law. We also knew that he utterly rejects the idea that Congress or the courts have any right to review such a decision in advance, or even after the fact.Still, it was disturbing to see the twisted logic of the administration’s lawyers laid out in black and white. It had the air of a legal justification written after the fact for a policy decision that had already been made, and it brought back unwelcome memories of memos written for President George W. Bush to justify illegal wiretapping, indefinite detention, kidnapping, abuse and torture.The American Civil Liberties Union is suing to have the operational memo on those killings released, arguing that an American citizen has constitutional rights that a judge must make sure are being respected. We agree.Going forward, he should submit decisions like this one to review by Congress and the courts. If necessary, Congress could create a special court to handle this sort of sensitive discussion, like the one it created to review wiretapping. This dispute goes to the fundamental nature of our democracy, to the relationship among the branches of government and to their responsibility to the public.This editorial was posted on The New York Times website yesterday...and appears in print on page A24 of today's paper. It's a must read...and I thank Phil Barlett for sending it along in the wee hours of this morning. The link is here.
Congratulations Charlottesville, Virginia! The First City To Pass Anti-Drone Legislation
Charlottesville, Va., has become the first city in the United States to formally pass an anti-drone resolution.The resolution passed by a 3-2 vote and was brought to the city council by activist David Swanson and the Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties group based in the city. The measure also endorses a proposed two-year moratorium on drones in Virginia.Council member Dede Smith, who voted in favor of the bill, says that drones are "pretty clearly a threat to our constitutional right to privacy."“If we don’t get out ahead of it to establish some guidelines for how drones are used, they will be used in a very invasive way and we’ll be left to try and pick up the pieces,” she says.This Zero Hedge posting was from last night...and is courtesy of Swiss reader B.G. The link is here.
Wall Street Journal notices currency market manipulation
"Devaluing a currency," one senior Federal Reserve official once told me, "is like peeing in bed. It feels good at first, but pretty soon it becomes a real mess."In recent times foreign-exchange incontinence appears to have been the policy of choice in capitals from Beijing to Washington, via Tokyo. The resulting mess has led to warnings of a global "currency war" that could spiral into protectionism.The roll call of forex Cassandras reads like a who's who of global finance and politics: German leader Angela Merkel, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann and Mervyn King, the outgoing governor of the Bank of England. And the list goes on.The luminaries are wrong on a couple of points. The world isn't "on the verge" of a currency war, as they seem to think, but right in the middle of one. But -- and here's the good news -- there is a chance this confrontation might not end as badly as, say, the destructive devaluations that followed the Great Depression or even the turmoil of the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998.Maybe in a few years the newspaper will notice gold market manipulation as well. This WSJ story from Monday was posted in the clear in this GATA release yesterday...and the link is here.
Obama’s Tax Crackdown to Target Foreigners' Accounts in U.S. Banks
The Obama administration may soon ask Congress for the power to require more disclosure by U.S. banks of information about foreign clients' accounts to those clients' home governments, as part of a crackdown on tax evasion, sources said.
In a move facing resistance from some in the U.S. banking industry, two tax industry sources said the administration was considering asking Congress in an upcoming White House budget proposal for the authority to require more disclosure from U.S. banks.
The information-sharing effort stems from a fight by the Treasury Department against offshore tax evasion under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, adopted in 2010 and set to begin taking effect at the end of 2013.Well, dear reader, capital controls can't be too far away...so I hope you have some money outside your own country. This article showed up on the moneynews.com Internet site yesterday...and I thank West Virginia reader Elliot Simon for sharing it with us. The link is here.
No Inflation? Commodities highest ever for this time of year
While every central banker and policy-leech spews forth the government-supplied statistics on inflation - noting that all is well, carry on - we recently pointed out that Gas Prices are their highest ever for this time of year. Of course, the standard supply constraints (or technical) reasoning was applied to dismiss this as transitory (even though it has continued to rise since); but what is perhaps more worrisome is the broad-based nature of the real inflation that is leaking into our global supply chain.The 24-commodity heavy S&P GSCI index (widely recognized as a leading measure of general price movements and inflation in the world economy) has never been as high in early February as it is currently - ever. And with global growth stagnating at best, it seems a tough call to blame 'recovery' for this inflating (fastest pace in 8 years) raw material price leaking cost-push inflation (and margin-compression) into the real economy.This short Zero Hedge commentary comes complete with two excellent graphs...and I thank Matthew Nel for sharing it with us. The link is here.
Many welcome departure of Canada's pesky penny
The penny is on the way out, and that's good news for people tired of dealing with the nuisance coin.The Royal Canadian Mint stopped distributing pennies Monday after more than 150 years of production. But it was Finance Minister Jim Flaherty who announced the penny's demise about a year ago, saying the cost of manufacturing a coin was actually 1.6 cents.Across the country now big and small merchants are beginning to round cash transactions to the nearest five-cent increment. For example, a $1.02 transaction would round down to $1, but a purchase of $1.03 would round up to $1.05.This story was posted in the Ottawa Citizen yesterday...and I found it hiding in a GATA release. The link is here.
RBS investment chief John Hourican to resign and waive £4m bonus over LIBOR scandal
John Hourican, chief executive of markets and international banking at the Royal Bank of Scotland, will leave the bank with the minimum pay-off to which he is entitled – a year’s basic salary of £700,000 – as he becomes the most senior executive at the taxpayer-backed lender to leave his job in the wake of the rate-rigging scandal.Mr Hourican’s departure is expected to be announced to RBS staff as the bank publishes details of a settlement of around £400m over accusations it manipulated key global borrowing rates between 2005 and 2010. It is not known whether the bank will admit any liability.The Irish banker is expected to forgo share awards worth £4m as part of a series of moves by the bank intended to defuse public anger, that will also see about £250m deducted from RBS’s bonus pool.It's only money...and he's not going to jail. This story appeared on the telegraph.co.uk Internet site early this morning GMT...and the link is here.
Hollande warns on euro strength, denounces markets for currencies
Francois Hollande has issued a clear warning that the current strength of the euro could damage the fragile economic recovery in Europe, calling for international action to stem currency distortions."The euro should not fluctuate according to the mood of the markets," the French president told the European parliament in Strasbourg. "A monetary zone must have an exchange rate policy. If not, it will be subjected to an exchange rate that does not reflect the real state of the economy."He said he was not calling for the European Central Bank to set an exchange rate target, but he demanded "an indispensable reform" of the "international monetary system."He added: "If not, we are insisting on countries making efforts to be competitive which are destroyed by the rising value of the euro."This story was posted in the Financial Times yesterday...and is posted in the clear in this GATA release. It's worth reading...and the link is here.
Young and Stuck: Spain's Well-Educated Move Back Home
"This year will shape my future," says García. Just as the real estate bubble was bursting, he and a former fellow student, Manuel Vivar, 35, decided to start a business under the promising name Dinamo. Now, says García, they either have to make enough money with renovations, "or I'll have to give up and try something completely different, like design or photography."These are times of "total uncertainty" in Spain, says García. Hundreds of thousands of other young Spaniards are in the same position. Nationwide, more than half of people under 25 can't find jobs, while in Andalusia the figure is higher than 62 percent. Those who are a little older -- around 30 and well educated -- are seeing their lifelong dreams turn into failures.Many are forced to do what García and Vivar have done. The two grown men gave up their apartments and moved back into their parents' homes, because they were no longer making enough money. According to figures by the European Union statistics agency Eurostat, 37.8 percent of Spaniards under 35 are now living with their parents.This story was posted on the spiegel.de Internet site early yesterday afternoon Europe time...and I thank Roy Stephens for sending it. The link is here.
Farm Wars: EU Grapples with Costs of Subsidizing Agriculture
European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos wants to reform Europe's agricultural policy, but resistance from the farming lobby threatens to derail his plans. It will be to the detriment of citizens, who are expected to pay for a highly subsidized industry that is harmful to the environment.The European Union plans to spend about €60 billion, or about 40 percent of the entire EU budget, on agriculture this year alone. It's a lot of money for an economic sector that generates less than 2 percent of the bloc's gross domestic product and employs less than 6 percent of its workforce."Subsidies are not a birthright," the commissioner says. "Those who expect billions in taxpayer money should also have to do something in return."Farm subsidies are a real sacred cow in Europe...and if you know nothing about it...it's a must read. Not that this doesn't go on in other countries as well, because it does...the USA included. The article was posted on the spiegel.de Internet site yesterday...and is the second offering in a row from Roy Stephens. The link is here.
Greek Finance Minister Gets Bullet in the Mail
Greece's finance minister was sent a bullet and a death threat from a group protesting home foreclosures, police officials said on Monday, in the latest incident to raise fears of growing political violence.The package was sent by a little-known group called "Cretan Revolution", which warned the minister against any efforts to seize homes and evict homeowners, police sources said. The group sent similar letters to tax offices in Crete last week.Yannis Stournaras, a respected economist who became finance minister in June, has angered many Greeks by championing austerity policies demanded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund as the price for bailout aid.This Reuters story was embedded in this article posted over at Zero Hedge yesterday...and it's courtesy of reader "David in California". The link is here.
Bus Station Erupts With Heckling at Argentine Finance Minister and His Family
Things are looking bad for Argentina's economy — central bank reserves are at 2007 lows due to capital flight, inflation is heading up, and the IMF is ready to punish the country for manipulating economic statistics.This is not the time when, as a Minister of the Economy, you want to get caught coming back from vacation in Uruguay with your family.But that's just what happened to Vice Finance Minister Axel Kicillof, a young father, and his wife as they were taking the Buquebus shuttle home from beach spot Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay, La Nacion reports.You can check the video courtesy of infobae.com. It's only about 6 minutes long but La Nacion reports that the heckling lasted for about a half an hour.The rest of this short story...along with the link to the video clip...was posted over on the businessinsider.com Internet site just before lunch Eastern time yesterday...and it's the second offering in a row from reader "David in California". The link is here.
People's Bank of China Injects Record Cash into Money Market
China's central bank on Tuesday injected CNY 450 billion into the money markets through open market operations, reports said. This was the largest ever single-day injection.
The People's Bank of China conducts repurchase agreements and offers bills to maintain short-term liquidity.
The bank has introduced more funds as liquidity tightened ahead of the Chinese Spring Festival holiday.
Those three short paragraphs were all there was to this RTTNews story that was posted on the ino.com Internet site yesterday...and the link to the hard copy is here.
Asia Loses Top Two Central Bankers as Shirakawa Quits, Zhou Prepares to Retire
The two most influential men in Asia's financial markets will step down next month leaving investors guessing as to how new central bank chiefs in China and Japan will steer two of the world's most important economies.China's official financial news publication, the China Securities Journal, reported earlier this week that People's Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan will leave his post in March after ten years at the helm of the nation's central bank. The news was followed by the early resignation announcement earlier Tuesday by Bank of Japan governor Masaaki Shirakawa, who steps down a month before his five-year term was due to expire.Each departure has been largely telegraphed to financial markets - the 64-year old Zhou's name was omitted from the influential Communist Party Central Committee at the last major regime change in November, and Japan's new Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has made no secret of his desire to see the 63-year old Shirakawa out the door - but the leadership gap is likely to cause some concern as each economy navigates a new path to growth.This news item was posted on the ibtimes.co.uk Internet site early yesterday afternoon GMT...and I thank Manitoba reader Ulrike Marx for her first offering in today's column. The link is here.
Three King World News Blogs
The first is with Nigel Farage...and it's headlined "The West is Headed into Orwellian Nightmare and Bankruptcy". The second blog is with Ron Rosen. It's entitled "Danger For Stocks, Gold & Silver Ready For a Big Move". Lastly is this Rick Rule Interview...and it bears the title "His Surprising and Remarkable Predictions for 2013".
Doug Casey Interviews Peter Schiff on Gold, Inflation, and Interest Rates
Two highly successful libertarian iconoclasts – Peter Schiff and Doug Casey – in a wide-ranging, thought-provoking conversation covering precious metals, the status of Peter's father, Irwin Schiff, the near future of the US dollar, and much more. This interview was posted on the Casey Research website on Monday...and in case you didn't notice it, I thought I'd post it in today's column. The video interview runs for just under 27 minutes...and the link is here.
New York Sun: Virginia in the Vanguard
Yesterday, the New York Sun lauded Virginia for its legislature's considering establishing a metallic standard for money.The Sun says: "'Our nations most fundamental principles -- equal rights, rule of law, private property rights, individual liberty -- still require a dependable dollar to be meaningfully preserved,' the Washington Post quotes the Virginia bill as saying. This is precisely why the study that Virginia is considering could prove to be so important. By our lights this is another area -- like public service unions, spending and tax reduction, entitlement reform, eminent domain protection, and vouchsafing the right to keep and bear arms -- where the states are leading the reform effort in the country."I borrowed 'all of the above' from a GATA release yesterday. The Sun's editorial is headlined "Virginia in the Vanguard"...and the link is here.
Sprott Precious Metals Round Table - Get the Real Story
Join with Eric Sprott, Rick Rule and John Embry, widely-recognized experts in precious metals investing, and learn why precious metals offer such a compelling investment opportunity.This event is occurring on line on February 12, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time...and you can register for this free round-table discussion by clicking here.
"We Buy Gold" - Dennis Miller: Casey Research
Florida Avenue is the main drag in our little town in central Florida. In less than a mile, you're likely to see three or four folks standing on the sidewalk wearing headphones, bopping to music, and waving big glittery signs or arrows with "We Buy Gold" written across them. It's a common sight across many cities today.During my annual trip to Arizona, my friend Phil asked me about gold. He owns some gold with no emotional value tied to it, and I convinced him of two things. First, he should not sell his gold; and second, he should hold it in a portable form with an easily recognizable value, like Gold Eagles. If things really get tough, he wouldn't want to have to barter jewelry with no easily agreed-upon value.There are many places where he could probably sell his jewelry, but how would he know if he was getting a fair price? I didn't know either, but I knew I had a friend who would.This wonderful essay was for subscribers only at one point...and that was about six months ago. Now it's been posted in the clear...and it's a wonderfully informative read. The link is here.
Up to 25% of India’s gold may be smuggled in: Klapwijk
An estimated quarter of the gold flowing into India is coming through irregular channels given the “anti-gold” stance adopted by the government of one of the world's leading gold markets‚ Philip Klapwijk‚ global head of metal analytics at GFMS Thompson Reuters.You have a government that is clearly anti-gold in India and it is using the duty system to try hold back demand‚” he said. In January the government raised the duty on gold imports to 6% from 4%.“What this is doing is stimulating the smuggling of gold into the country. It may be that at least a quarter of the gold coming into India is coming through unofficial channels‚” he said.The source of scrap metal‚ which comes primarily from jewellery recycling‚ generally slowed around the world compared to 2011. “The big exception was India‚ where much higher rupee prices for gold teasing out a much higher levels of scrap‚” he said.When Jon Nadler resurfaces, it will probably be within the confines of the World Gold Council, GFMS, or some such anti-gold organization...where he will be buddies with the likes of Mr. Kalpwijk, or Jeff Christian at CPM Group. Phillip is strong with the dark side of The Force as well...and it's never a good time to guy gold in his opinion, either. This story appeared on the businessnews.howzit.msn.com Internet site yesterday...and I thank Ulrike Marx for bringing it to my attention...and now to yours. The link is here.
Hong Kong’s net gold flow to mainland China jumped 47 percent in 2012 to a record high of 557.478 tonnes, indicating robust demand in China, which vies with India to be the world's top gold consumer.Hong Kong shipped 114.372 tonnes of gold to China in December, also a record high for monthly exports. The former British colony received 19.644 tonnes of gold from the mainland in that month.Its total gold shipments to China in 2012 jumped 94 percent from the 2011 total to over 832 tonnes, but imports also were six times higher at 274.684 tonnes, data from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department showed on Tuesday.This Reuters story, filed from Singapore yesterday, was posted on the mineweb.com Internet site...and I thank Ulrike Marx for her final offering in today's column. It's a must read...and the link is here.
¤ The Funnies
Sponsor Advertisement
Bayfield Ventures Corp. (TSX.V: BYV) is exploring for gold and silver in the Rainy River District of NW Ontario. The Company’s 100% owned “Burns” Block property adjoins the immediate east of Rainy River Resources’ (TSX.V: RR) world-class gold deposit which includes an indicated resource of 5.72 million ounces of gold, averaging 1.18 g/t, in addition to an inferred resource of 2.25 million ounces of gold, averaging 0.79 g/t. Drilling to date on Bayfield’s Burns Block demonstrates that the ODM17gold zone extends from Rainy River Resources' ground onto the Burns Block. Bayfield is currently carrying out 100,000 metres of diamond drilling on its Rainy River properties. Drill results thus far have been very encouraging. Notable drill results include 60.05 grams per tonne gold and 362.96 grams per tonne silver over 11.2 metres within 26.70 grams per tonne gold and 170.69 grams per tonne silver over 25.5 metres, as well as 35.93 grams per tonne gold and 359.65 grams per tonne silver over 10.0 metres. Bayfield also holds a 100% interest in two other properties in the Rainy River District. Claim blocks “B” and “C” are well located to the immediate east and west (respectively) of Rainy River Resources’ #433 and ODM17 gold zones. Please visit our website to learn more about the company and request information.
¤ The Wrap
The blatant manipulation of paper to "control" the price of the physical metal is ongoing and getting more blatant by the month. The more debt that the central banks monetise, the more vital it is that there are no distractions in this process. It is crucial to keep everybody INSIDE the paper money and sovereign debt system. It is equally crucial, therefore, to discourage any temptation to venture outside it. - Bill Buckler...Gold This Week...02 February 2013Another day...and another obvious intervention in the gold and silver markets. As Bill Buckler said in his quote above...it's getting more blatant by the month...and so it is. It's hard to believe that not everyone sees it...or will acknowledge it even if they do. The forces of Mordor must be delighted that the precious metals world is still full of such Benedict Arnold-types...especially the miners...who will never lift a finger to help their stockholders.At the moment, we appear to be in a 'holding pattern'...but holding for what? If you're a TA person, the chart screams of an imminent break out...but in a managed market it's hard to take TA seriously. And as I've pointed out on numerous occasions over the years, JPMorgan Chase et al can paint any chart pattern they want...and this might be what they're painting now. How it ultimately resolves itself is still unknown...but we're all hoping for up...and up big. Time will tell.Here's the 3-year gold chart...and as you can tell, this 'consolidation pattern' is getting very long in the tooth.(Click on image to enlarge)Yesterday, at the close of Comex trading, was the cut-off for Friday's Commitment of Traders Report...and the February Bank Participation Report. Just eye-balling the price action during the reporting week, I'd guess that there won't be a lot of change in this week's COT Report in either metal. But, after last week's big surprise in silver, I'll refrain from carving that prediction in stone.In Wednesday trading in the Far East, not much of anything happened price wise...and that's still the case now that London has been open for about forty-five minutes as I write this paragraph. Volumes are light...and I would guess that most of it is of the high-frequency trading variety. The dollar index began to rally in early afternoon trading in Hong Kong...and appeared to hit its zenith just a few minutes after the London open...a pattern very similar to yesterday's dollar index action at that time of day.And as I hit the 'send' button at 5:10 a.m. Eastern time, there's still not much happening in early London trading. Volumes are still light...and both gold and silver are down a bit. I'd guess that has something to do with what the dollar index is doing, as it's up about 25 basis points at the moment.But, as is almost always the case, the real price shenanigans start when the Comex opens at 8:20 a.m. Eastern...or once the noon silver fix is in, in London...which is 7:00 a.m. in New York. I'd guess that today's trading action will follow a similar pattern.That's all I have for today...and I'll see you here tomorrow.
Email: enter your email
Register to get Gold & Silver Daily delivered to your inbox everyday for free.
Spot Gold
$ -4.13 (-0.32%)
Spot Silver
Top Articles at Casey Research
Doug Casey’s Coming Super-Bubble
Listening to the Canary
Daily Pfennig: The Ghost of John Connally
Daily Pfennig: Oops Did We Say That Out Loud?
Daily Pfennig: Calls For Dollar Rally in 2014, Fade
This Week in GSD
Zero Hedge: Gold Futures Halted Again on Latest Furious Slam Down
Grant Williams: All Markets Are Rigged, Maybe Gold Most of All
Pressure on India to Cut Gold Duty Mounts
U.S. Mined Silver Output Continues to Fall—USGS
Jay Taylor: Prepare For a Bull Market to Shock Even the Most Ardent Goldbugs
China Gold Demand Fell in the Last Week of March, But Remains High
Lawrence Williams: Gold Manipulation—ex U.S. Treasury Top Gun Tells Us How and Why
GSD Feeds
GSD Editions
Follow GSD
Promote, Share, or Save This Article
If you like this article, please consider bookmarking or helping us promote it!
Subscribe! Get the Gold & Silver DailyDelivered to Your Inbox for FREE
Want to be the first to know when Ed's new post is out? Sign up today to receive the Gold & Silver Daily straight to your inbox. It's Free!
Email: We will never sell, distribute or reveal your email address. Your privacy is safe with us!
Go to All Publications
Visit GSD Archives
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/10599
|
CUs Avoid New Restrictions in Defense Bill
January 02, 2013 • Reprints Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act on Dec. 21 without including a provision that would have expanded Military Lending Act rules and made it more difficult for credit unions to provide certain products to military families.
The Military Lending Act, passed in 2006, capped interest rates on payday, auto title and tax refund anticipation loans made by predatory lenders to military families at 36% APR.
NAFCU, whose members include many credit unions that serve the military, said a House-Senate conference panel approved a compromise Dec. 18 that prevented a broadening in scope of MLA rules.
While the expanded rules would have made some products more difficult for credit unions to provide, the conferees did retain language that adds civil liability to the list of MLA penalties. Congress also included language in the bill that gives MLA enforcement authority to the CFPB and NCUA.
The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 81-14. Because it has already passed the House, the bill now sits on President Barack Obama’s desk, waiting to be signed into law.
NAFCU, which lobbied on the bill, said it will work closely with the Department of Defense on any changes enacted that affect credit unions. Show Comments
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/10729
|
Home > About FDIC > Forum on Mortgage Lending to Low and Moderate Income Households
FDIC's Forum on Mortgage Lending to Low and Moderate Income Households Robert Mooney , Deputy Director
Consumer Protection and Community Affairs
Mr. Mooney is Deputy Director of the FDIC's Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection. He directs the Consumer Protection and Community Affairs Branch, which includes the community affairs, consumer affairs, and deposit insurance outreach programs.
Robert W. Mooney, who joined the FDIC in 1989, most recently served as Senior Advisor to the Chairman for Consumer Protection. Previous positions included Associate Director in 2005, Chief of the CRA and Fair Lending Section in 2002, and Assistant Director in 1999. Other positions with the FDIC included appointment as Senior Fair Lending Specialist in the Washington Office in 1995; Community Affairs Officer for the Chicago Region in 1992; and Managing Agent, in 1989, as chief executive of several FDIC/RTC-supervised thrifts. He has represented the FDIC on several interagency CRA and Compliance initiatives and authored Side by Side, a Guide to Fair Lending.
Before joining the FDIC, Mr. Mooney had more 10 years of senior management experience in banking, including Regional Vice President, and Director for Retail Banking of a multi-state financial institution; Director of Mergers and Acquisitions, and Vice President for Employee Relations. Mr. Mooney was active in civic affairs, serving on the board of directors, and as President or Treasurer, of several community development corporations and numerous other civic organizations or committees. The Massachusetts State Senate awarded him its Commendation for his work in community development and equal opportunity. Last Updated
[email protected]
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/10761
|
Help | Connect | Sign up|Log in DividendChannel
I analyze dividend stocks.
Ocwen Financial Moves Up In Market Cap Rank, Passing Harris Corp.
In the latest look at stocks ordered by largest market capitalization, Russell 3000 component Ocwen Financial Corp. (NYSE: OCN) was identified as having a larger market cap than the smaller end of the S&P 500, for example Harris Corp. (NYSE: HRS), according to The Online Investor. Click here to find out the top S&P 500 components ordered by average analyst rating » Market capitalization is an important data point for investors to keep an eye on, for various reasons. The most basic reason is that it gives a true comparison of the value attributed by the stock market to a given company’s stock. Many beginning investors look at one stock trading at $10 and another trading at $20 and mistakenly think the latter company is worth twice as much — that of course is a completely meaningless comparison without knowing how many shares of each company exist. But comparing market capitalization (factoring in those share counts) creates a true “apples-to-apples” comparison of the value of two stocks. In the case of Ocwen Financial Corp. (NYSE: OCN), the market cap is now $5.26B, versus Harris Corp. (NYSE: HRS) at $5.25B. Click here to find out The 20 Largest U.S. Companies By Market Capitalization » Below is a three month price history chart comparing the stock performance of OCN vs. HRS: Special Offer: Try OLI Premium and get reports on Splits, Buybacks, and M&A daily Another reason market capitalization is important is where it places a company in terms of its size tier in relation to peers — much like the way a mid-size sedan is typically compared to other mid-size sedans (and not SUV’s). This can have a direct impact on which indices will include the stock, and which mutual funds and ETFs are willing to own the stock. For instance, a mutual fund that is focused solely on Large Cap stocks may for example only be interested in those companies sized $10 billion or larger. Another illustrative example is the S&P MidCap index which essentially takes the S&P 500 index and “tosses out” the biggest 100 companies so as to focus solely on the 400 smaller “up-and-comers” (which in the right environment can outperform their larger rivals). And ETFs that directly follow an index like the S&P 500 will only own the underlying component of that index, selling companies that lose their status as an S&P 500 company, and buying companies when they are added to the index. So a company’s market cap, especially in relation to other companies, carries great importance, and for this reason we at The Online Investor find value to putting together these looks at comparative market capitalization daily. At the closing bell, OCN is up about 3.4%, while HRS is off about 1.5% on the day Thursday.
DividendChannel
Contributor Group
DividendChannel is aimed at retail investors and financial advisors trying to maximize the opportunities in yield and income. DividendChannel is a one-stop source for aggregated data on dividend stocks, including features such as a dividend stock screener, a live dividend feed, an ex-div calendar, and a dividend calculator.
A stock look-up on the site will provide investors with information about a company’s dividend history.
More from DividendChannel
DividendChannel’s RSS Feed
DividendChannel’s Profile
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/10806
|
Home Archives October 2010 Shifting Sands
Shifting Sands | Global Finance
Shifting Sands
EM REGIONAL BANKING FOCUS: MIDDLE EAST
By Jonathan Gregson
Many banks in the Middle East are still suffering the after-effects of the global financial crisis. Over the past decade the Middle East's banking sector has become one of the fastest-growing in the world. Previously it had been under-banked, and in many countries state-owned banks remained the dominant players. Some regional banks did well, but it was not high on the big league banks' agenda. But with the opening up of key markets to newly licensed international banking groups, the development of shariah-compliant financial products and such funding instruments as sukuk bonds, and the meteoric rise of Dubai as a major financial center, the Middle East appeared to have become a banking bonanza. International headhunters offered mouthwatering packages to lure skilled personnel into the shiny new financial towers rising out of the desert.
The first wave of the global credit crisis did nothing to dent the region's confidence and ambition. Middle Eastern banks had virtually no exposure to US subprime or associated securitizations and derivatives. And with energy prices climbing to record highs during the summer of 2008, the economies of the region's resource-rich countries continued to expand. IMF figures for the whole of Middle East and North Africa put average GDP growth at 5.3%, though the Gulf hot spots far exceeded this. Much of the surplus oil revenue was channeled into government-led infrastructure projects, usually with local bank participation, while excessive liquidity among private sector banks was mainly directed into real estate construction and consumer loans.
Cracks did appear, though. Competition in such over-banked countries as the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—where there are 52 banks (split evenly between local and foreign-owned) for a population of just 4 million—became intense, the consequences being either eroded margins, excessive risk-taking or a combination of the two. "Banks had overstretched themselves during the run-up to the point when the real estate bubble burst," says Domluke Da Silva, the Dubai-based chief operating officer of Arabia-Asia Capital Alliance. Their real estate and consumer lending ballooned in the low-interest environment of the early 2000s, with loan growth in the UAE reaching 24% during early 2008. More worrying is the fact that some banks became over-dependent on wholesale funding. The resulting mismatch between lending to long-term borrowers and funding through short-term bonds and inter-bank lending put serious strains on both liquidity and balance sheets. The sharp downturn in real estate values triggered a wave of nonperforming loans and pushed some smaller banks close to insolvency.
Governments and central banks intervened. "In Qatar the authorities decided up front to remove some of the risks from banks' balance sheets, purchasing nearly $2 billion worth of local equity portfolios and $4.1 billion of real estate assets held by the country's nine local banks," says Sofia El Boury, banking analyst at UAE-based investment bank Shuaa Capital. The UAE's central bank responded with a blanket guarantee of local banks' deposits and an emergency inter-bank facility to alleviate short-term liquidity needs, while Abu Dhabi pumped in billions of Tier 1 capital into its five local banks and then parted with even more billions to shore up its neighboring emirate Dubai when majority state-owned Dubai World and associated companies unilaterally ceased paying interest on $25 billion of debt.
A full-blown crisis in Dubai, which for a time threatened to be a re-run of the Lehman Brothers collapse, was eventually averted and practically all creditors have now accepted the proposed restructuring and amended terms. "Hard lessons have hopefully been learned," says Da Silva, "and there is a lot more focus on risk management and higher-quality lending practices." However, some observers are concerned that another potential problem most banks have apparently yet to tackle adequately is the retail credit explosion, in terms of credit card debt and personal loans. At the retail level banks have been very aggressive in pushing these products on people without proper credit screening, they believe.
Banks Rebuild Foundations
"Banks have continued their balance sheet repair," says Da Silva, though it will be a gradual process. It helps, he suggests, that "client deposits have been increasing as investors in the region continue to be averse to anything riskier than a cash deposit." However, with banks competing for such business by offering customers higher interest rates, he believes they still face margin erosion from escalating funding costs.
While the global downturn has hit banks right across the Middle East, there are stark differences between its very different sub-regions. Even among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, whereas the UAE is looking at no growth this year, gas-rich Qatar's economy continues to grow, and bank lending expanded by roughly 10% in the year to July, according to El Boury.
Saudi Arabia is buoyed up not only by its oil production but by its large and youthful population, a $375 billion government infrastructure program to be completed over five years and the planned building of new "economic cities." That is not to say that its banks did not run into problems. The struggles of two large and heavily indebted private Saudi companies, Saad Group and Algosaibi, forced Saudi banks to nearly double their loan loss provisions last year, for example.
Egypt, with its more diversified economy and huge population, presents a very different story, as does Lebanon with its large diaspora and concentration of outward-looking banking expertise. However, the greatest opportunities are probably in Saudi Arabia, which with only 12 licensed banks remains an under-penetrated banking market, according to El Boury, with great scope for new products and opening more branches.
Da Silva sees the main drivers of banking in the GCC being the massive infrastructure build-out the countries have earmarked, and their efforts to diversify from hydrocarbon-based economies. Moreover, practically all governments in the region are now keen to engage in public-private partnerships.
Cross-border activity and M&A activity has been muted recently—apart from when it has been necessary to step in and save smaller, overstretched banks—though that could soon change. "We are seeing some Middle Eastern banks looking to expand outside their bases, particularly into nearby countries," observes Da Silva. However, in terms of growing their businesses, he believes that foreign-owned banks, with their lower-cost funding, might be better positioned to take advantage of demand for capital and funding for large infrastructure projects from both public and private sectors. In this they are well placed to outbid local banks, which face being priced out of the market and have already overstretched their loan books, Da Silva argues.
El Boury foresees only a slow recovery for lending and profitability. "Although the worst of the recession appears to be behind us, banks remain risk-averse and reluctant to extend credit to the private sector," she observes. "Apart from the obvious risks in deteriorating asset quality, there is also the opportunity risk some banks will face in missing out on the recovery due to funding constraints," she adds. On a more positive note, she believes banks in the region will continue to mend their funding gap by growing their deposit base, which will allow for a commensurate build-up in the loan book.
"Provided the local economies pick up, there is light at the end of the tunnel for Middle Eastern banks," she asserts.
Tags: Emerging Markets
Middle East Investment Banking (9 matches) Archives
Cover Story: Rising Oil Prices Boost Confidence (9 matches) Archives
Middle East Transaction Banking (8 matches) Archives
Features : Best Laid Plans (8 matches) Archives
Features : Shariah-Compliant Corporate Finance Forges Ahead (8 matches) Archives
Features : Regional Report: Middle East (8 matches) Archives
Editor's Letter: Nascent Optimism (7 matches) Archives
Banking On Stability (7 matches) Archives
Slow Recovery (7 matches) Archives
Awards: Islamic Financial Institutions (7 matches) Archives
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/11187
|
Share: 3 Ways to Value a Business for Sale
Date: September 23, 2013 Entrepreneurs ready to sell must decide whether an asset, income or market-valuation approach makes the most sense for their business.
Although there are all sorts of reasons you might need to estimate the value of your small business—such as a divorce or a dispute over estate or gift taxation—the most typical one is when you're considering selling your company.
Here are the three most common ways professionals calculate how much a business is worth:
1. Asset Approach:
This method basically determines a business’ value by adding up the sum of its many parts. This is “the most predictable” of the three main valuation models, explains Marty Zwilling, founder and CEO of Fountain Hills, Arizona-based Startup Professionals Inc., "since any good accountant can add up all the assets, depreciate them, and come up with a number.”
2. Income Approach(es):
Generally, these methods determine value by calculating the net present value of the benefit stream generated by a business. They’re “more technical in discounting future cash flows, applying multipliers to EBIDA [Earnings Before Interest, Depreciation, and Amortization], and trying to use all the techniques that stock analysts use to value public companies,” explains Zwilling.
3. Market Approach(es):
These methods tend to determine value by comparing the soon-to-be-for-sale business to others in the same industry, of the same size, and within the same area. “The market approach is perhaps the most subjective,” Zwilling says, “trying to factor the size of the opportunity, market conditions that control comparables, and goodwill associated with customer connections, team experience,” and more.
RELATED: How to Sell Your Company to a Family Member Without Losing Your Shirt
Find the Best Fit to Get the Sale Price of Your Small Business
Which method should you put to use if and when you need to estimate the value of your company? “I always recommend that every business owner try every method described, and move forward with the one showing the best results for them,” Zwilling shares. “Obviously, the three approaches are not additive, but it’s certainly fair to pick the high points of each as they apply to your case, and weave the best justification you can for the number you pick.”
On the other hand, Curtis Kroeker, president of marketplace verticals for Washington, D.C.’s CoStar Group Inc., which operates sites such as BizBuySell.com and BizQuest.com, suggests a particular market approach—the multiple-valuation method—is likely to be the most useful one for small business owners.
After all, he says, “even in a more sophisticated valuation, an appraiser or business broker will take multiples into account—although that’s just one of the things they’ll consider, as they’ll base their final estimate on more specific details [after] working with the seller to determine what is the real cash flow of the business.”
As for why he doesn’t recommend going with, say, the asset approach, Kroeker says that it’s used “more for businesses that aren’t going to be on-going concerns. If the business is going to be an on-going concern, this approach will give you a very conservative value.”
RELATED: Professionals You Should Hire When Selling Your Business
Advice from the Experts
Kroeker and Zwilling share a few other tips worth considering:
Valuing a Business Is More Art than Science.
When it comes to valuation, the approaches used by smaller businesses aren’t all that different from the ones used by their larger counterparts. That said, “there’s a lot more ‘art’ involved in a small business sale,” according to Kroeker. “The techniques used and the overall process really are no different, but the details are different because a lot of the things that drive the value of a small business are more difficult to define and are subject to more discretion.”
“For large businesses, valuation is more a technical task,” Zwilling adds, “using the averages and formulas and experts associated with specific industries and public companies. For small companies, there is much more focus on ‘goodwill,’ comparables, and the experience and expertise of the management team.”
You Can “Do It Yourself,” to a Point.
Asked if small business owners should attempt to estimate the value of their companies on their own, Kroeker replies that it’s not a bad first step. In fact, he says, “it’s a great way to get the valuation process started, although I would stress that it’s just that—a way to get things started.”
When it actually comes time to sell, “that’s when you’re going to want to work with an appraiser or a business broker,” he adds. “It won’t be cheap, but you’re going to want to have that professional valuation done, [as it] can take into account a lot of nuances that your initial valuation isn’t going to give you.”
Adds Zwilling: “Most businesses really need a credible outside broker to set the valuation and negotiate the best deal, just like professional real estate agents will likely get your house sold more quickly and for more money.”
Walk through the Valuation Process with the Pros.
Once you’ve brought in an appraiser or broker, Kroeker says “it’s important as a first step in that more formal process for you to actually sit down with them and walk through your financials with them and figure out the real cash flow of the business.”
It’s also important for small business owners to “walk through everything with their appraiser or broker at the end of the process,” according to Kroeker, “to make sure you agree with everything they did and to make sure they had an accurate understanding of everything you told them.” Plus, it will help ensure you understand and feel comfortable with the valuation they’ve produced.
READ NEXT: 3 Ways to Increase the Value of Your Company—Before You Sell It
Watch now: Seven Myths About Selling Your Business | Webinar
There’s a lot more ‘art’ involved in a small business sale.
Other Top Articles of the Year
8 Expenses You Can Stop Paying TodayNever Say These Horrible Things in a Performance Review5 Things Reporters Don't Want to Hear From You What to Do If You Get a Cease and Desist Letter 5 Bad Habits Entrepreneurs Must Drop 3 Ways to Value a Business for Sale Unusual Employee Perks To Keep Your Small Business Staff Engaged How to Start a Landscaping Business Why It Pays to Be Likeable--And 7 Ways to Get There 4 Alternatives to PowerPoint7 Things You May Not Know About Payroll Taxes, But Should 5 Hot Work-From-Home Business Ideas 5 Networking Tips for Introverts...and Those who Aren't!
Top 3 Reasons to Join NFIB
Save money on insurance and more.
Network with other business owners.
Keep up with tax and healthcare regulations
Join NFIB NowWant to know more?
Find out what NFIB can do for your business.
About Nfib
© 2001 - 2014 National Federation of Independent Business. All Rights Reserved
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/11307
|
Settling MF Global claims: Who gets what and why?
Paul E. Peterson, University of Illinois | Updated: 02/14/2013 Resize text On January 31, the bankruptcy court overseeing the MF Global liquidation approved a plan that will bring this case much closer to resolution.
Following its collapse in October 2011, over 27,000 commodity customer claims totaling $10 billion and more than 1,000 securities customer claims totaling $1.4 billion were filed against MF Global Inc. These claims consisted of cash and other assets held in margin accounts, physical commodities held for delivery against futures positions, and investments held in brokerage accounts, all of which became unavailable when the company closed its doors.
Further complicating matters was the fact that there was not just one, but several different MF Global bankruptcies.
The one of most interest to farmdoc Daily readers is MF Global Inc. (MFGI), which included the US commodity and securities brokerage operations. The responsibility of the MFGI bankruptcy trustee has been to recover as much as possible for the commodity and securities customers, because these assets belonged to the customers, not MF Global. For this reason the bankruptcy laws give special treatment to these customer-owned assets, and a number of legal experts claim that no one else - including general creditors - should receive anything until these customer claims are satisfied.
However, there also was a bankruptcy filing by MF Global Holdings (Holdings). The responsibility of the Holdings bankruptcy trustee has been to recover as much as possible for the general creditors, who range from office supply vendors to holders of MF Global corporate debt.
Many of these general creditors viewed the assets held in commodity and securities accounts as belonging to the parent company, not the individual account holders, and saw no reason why MGGI account holders should be allowed to go to the front of the line.
A third bankruptcy filing was made by MF Global UK Ltd. (MFGUK), which included MF Global's London-based operations. In MF Global's final days, money was shuttled back and forth between the U.S. and London in a failed attempt to prevent the company's collapse.
Some of these funds were stranded in London when MF Global folded, at which point they became subject to the bankruptcy laws of England, not the US.
For the past 15 months these three groups have been engaged in a tug-of-war over who is entitled to what, including a number of lawsuits and counter-suits. One unfortunate result of these legal battles was that each side needed to hold back a reserve of funds, rather than distribute those funds to claimants.
In December the two US trustees finally settled their differences, largely in favor of the customers, and together reached an agreement with the MFGUK administrators in January. A distribution plan was filed with the court on February 4, and the following details are drawn from court documents filed by the MFGI trustee.
Claims for the commodities and securities customers were divided into several classes, with each customer within a particular class expected to receive a percentage of its "determined," or trustee-approved, claim:
Owners of physical commodities held for delivery against futures positions were put into a special class of bankruptcy claims and have already been paid 100% of their claims.
Securities customers are expected to receive 100% of their claims. In fact, most individual securities investors were already covered by the Security Investors Protection Corporation (SIPC), a fund that covers losses in the event that a brokerage firm fails and customer cash and/or securities are missing. Owners of 4d property - named after the section of the Commodity Exchange Act covering segregated customer funds, and consisting of customers holding futures and options traded on US exchanges - are expected to receive 93% of their claims.
Owners of 30.7 property - named after the section of the CFTC regulations that requires futures and options traded on foreign exchanges to be kept separate, and consisting of customers holding futures and options traded on foreign exchanges - are expected to receive 54% now, and perhaps as much as 82% eventually as additional property is recovered
For MF Global's former US futures and options customers, 93 cents on the dollar is much better than the 72 cents that they received at the outset. But it is still less than the full 100 cents that they felt they deserved.
For decades, futures/options traders have been assured that they would be fully protected in the event of a brokerage firm default, but these assurances proved to be false. And while a loss of 7 cents on the dollar may not sound like much, it means that customers as a group lost more than $52 million on the approximately $750 million in 4d property.
In contrast, stock/bond customers will recover everything they lost, with the losses covered by SIPC. This has prompted interest in creating a SIPC-like fund for futures/options customers. SIPC was created by Congress in 1970 in response to a rash of financial problems in the securities industry.
It currently has a $1 billion reserve fund, which has accumulated over the years from assessments on brokerage firms. The standard assessment is ¼ of 1% per year of each brokerage firm's net operating revenues from the securities business, but the actual rate may vary depending on the level of reserves held by SIPC at the time.
Since it was founded, SIPC has paid out more than $1.8 billion to over 767,000 investors. In the event of a brokerage firm failure, the firm's assets are distributed to customers on a pro-rata basis.
Then any shortfall is made up by SIPC, up to a maximum of $500,000 per customer, including up to $250,000 of cash. However, it is important to note that SIPC does not pay anything in cases of fraud. Therefore, while such a SIPC-like fund for futures/options customers would have been useful in the MF Global situation, customers of Peregrine Financial/PFG Best would have been left empty-handed. Futures and options volume at US exchanges fell by 13.2% in 2012, and many observers believe that in part this decline is due to a loss of customer confidence in the integrity of these markets.
While an industry-wide reserve fund is just one of several ideas under consideration, futures and options customers may remain cautious until some type of program is in place that fully protects their funds against these and other types of non-market losses.
Source: FarmDoc Daily Prev 1 2 3 Next All
China's corn rejections cost companies $427 million
Grain, soy futures dipped while other markets firmed Friday p.m.
China rejections of U.S. corn top 1 million tons
The SortAll® Revolution 2 The SortAll® Revolution 2 is a highly automated hog sorting system designed to encourage consistent growth, provide growers and integrators ... Read More
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/11519
|
Premium Bonds: can you ever earn enough with Ernie? Premium Bonds are enormously popular, but do they offer decent returns? The Premium Bond scheme - often known as Ernie - is run by the Government's savings arm, National Savings & Investments (NS&I) By Alison Steed 7:00AM GMT 09 Nov 2010
Britain's 250th Premium Bond millionaire was created this month. The lucky winner is from the East Riding of Yorkshire – one of 132,118 Premium Bonds held in the East Riding district alone. There are 23 million Premium Bond holders in the UK, making it the most popular savings product in Britain. More than a third of us hold at least one of the nation's first examples of government-sponsored gambling. The Premium Bond scheme – often known as Ernie – is run by the Government's savings arm, National Savings & Investments (NS&I), and were launched by Harold Macmillan in his Budget in 1956 as a way of reducing inflation and to encourage saving after the end of the Second World War. The idea was aimed at those who were more interested in winning a prize than getting regular interest payments. The Opposition called it a "squalid raffle", but the country disagreed. On the first day, £5m of Premium Bonds were sold, and by the time the first draw took place on June 1 1957, £82m had been invested, with a top prize of £1,000 paid. In all, 23,000 prizes were awarded. A single £1m prize is awarded each month, although to celebrate the bonds' 50th anniversary, NS & I paid out five £1m jackpots in December 2006 and June 2007. In 1994, there was £4bn invested in Premium Bonds, but that has risen to £41bn today. Sally Swait, Premium Bonds manager at NS&I, said: "We wanted to recognise these landmark dates by holding our biggest ever prize draws."
Each Premium Bond costs £1 and the most you can invest is £30,000. While there is no interest paid, you are entered into a draw with the chance to win £1m every month. The chances of winning ''the big one'' are slim at 24,000 to one, but the chances of winning the National Lottery are about 14m to one, so the odds could be a lot worse. Even though there is no specific interest rate paid on the bonds, because of the way the prize funds work out, there is an estimated annual prize fund interest rate of 1.5pc at present. All prizes are paid tax-free. Penny O'Nions, of independent financial adviser The Onion Group, believes there is a "place for Premium Bonds in most people's portfolios''. For risk takers, they can "balance high-risk equity by providing the fun of gambling without the risk of losing capital". "For the cautious investor they offer the potential for high returns with only the risk of losing out against inflation, as no interest is paid on the monies invested. "For the 'balanced portfolio' investor – when you have made conventional investments, such as a balance of equity, fixed interest and property and maxed your individual savings account investment, filled your pension pot and are looking for something you don't already have, Premium Bonds are a good place as capital is guaranteed and winnings tax-free."
Anyone over 16 can buy Premium Bonds. If you want to buy some for a child, you put your details on the application, as well as the child's. But you have to do this by phone, post or monthly standing order, you cannot do it online. You must buy a minimum of £100 in Premium Bonds, unless you are buying them regularly by standing order, when the limit drops to £50. Once you have £100 worth, you can get them in multiples of £10, and hold up to £30,000 in total. Philippa Gee, managing director of Philippa Gee Wealth Management, cautioned against investing a large proportion of a portfolio in Premium Bonds. "We are in an investment environment where there is little choice by way of low-risk products; cash returns are terrible, other National Savings products are currently unobtainable, yet at the other end of the risk spectrum, there is a plethora of higher-risk, volatile funds to choose from. "Investors need simple, low-risk products to choose from and without that opportunity, Premium Bonds will start to look a lot more attractive. So to have a proportion of your portfolio invested in this way is ideal, but when you start holding more than is necessary you need to worry and I would tend to say that 20pc of your portfolio would be too high. "But with the limit of £30,000 a larger investor is restricted anyway. Let's not forget that proceeds are tax free, the capital remains yours and a general conversation piece by most of my clients is how much money they have won. "Don't go in it with the view of becoming the next millionaire, but for a low-risk, simple product, this is hard to beat at present."
The winning numbers are drawn by "Ernie" – which stands for Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment – and "he" is now in a fourth incarnation. Despite myths that Ernie is not random and that newer bonds win more prizes, NS&I said the system is random, and each bond has an equal chance of winning, no matter when it was bought. The skew towards newer bonds winning more could be because more bonds have been bought in the past six years than in the previous 48 years altogether. If you want to cash in a bond, you can do this any time by filling in a form you can download online or get from the Post Office. Ideally, you should send the certificates of the bonds you want to cash in to NS&I at National Savings and Investments, Glasgow, G58 1SB. If you do not have the certificates, you can still claim your investment back. The money will usually be paid into your bank account within eight working days, or you can ask for a cheque if you prefer. This short turnaround means many self-employed people use Premium Bonds to hold their tax fund, providing a nice irony that the Government is giving the chance to win a serious amount of money through money that you owe it. Almost £40m in unclaimed premium bonds About £39m is sitting at NS&I in unclaimed prizes, waiting for 680,000 of us to pick it up. Given the financial worries many people have, there is no better time for an unexpected windfall. There is no time limit on claiming Premium Bond prizes; if the money is yours, you will be able to get it no matter how long ago you won. To see if you have won and not claimed, go to www.nsandi.com and enter your premium bond number into the prize checker. If you have lost your Premium Bond certificate, there is a tracing service you can use to not only find your bonds, but check whether they won, too. A spokesman said: "A Premium Bond holder with the maximum amount invested (£30,000) and average luck could win 15 prizes each year."
While NS & I will make an effort to check the addresses of Premium Bonds, you should tell it if you have changed address. You can call free on 0500 007007 or write to NS&I at National Savings & Investments, Glasgow, G58 1SB. To use the tracing service, you can download a form from www.nsandi.com and send it to the tracing service at National Savings and Investments, Blackpool, FY3 9YP. You need separate applications for traces for more than one person. Alternatively, you can visit www.mylostaccount.org.uk, which not only covers NS&I, but 42 banks taking deposits in the UK and all 59 building societies. This is a one-stop shop for any lost account investigating you might need. With this, you complete the online form, give as much detail as you can about your lost Premium Bond, or other account, such as names and previous addresses of the holders, and this information will be passed to the relevant organisation. The good news is that if you have a Premium Bond prize to claim and you make your application now, you will get the money before Christmas. A spokesman for NS& I said: "We would be able to process the claim and get the payment of that prize out to the winner in less than a fortnight." Featured platform »
Castle Trust Protected Housa Returns linked to UK house prices with capital protection More Savings
Find out how to invest in recovery with this free guide
Help protect yourself from Identity Fraud with CreditExpert
Search the market for savings accounts
Isa dilemma: fixed or variable rate?
Our four favourite cash Isas for transfers in
Savings tricks: How to earn 5pc
Savings rates 'to hit 3.5pc in 2014'
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/11605
|
Resource Center Current & Past Issues eNewsletters This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, click the "Reprints" link at the top of any article. Proposed Reg Might Curtail Banks' Muni Demand
Banks have been increasing holdings of municipal bonds in recent years, but a proposal by the Fed, OCC, and FDIC would make munis less attractive.
By William Selway, Bloomberg February 14, 2014 • Reprints
U.S. banks poured more than $200 billion into state and local-government debt since the onset of the financial crisis six years ago, boosting their share of the $3.7 trillion market to a two-decade high.
Now, if federal regulators have their way, California Treasurer Bill Lockyer says banks next year will have more incentive to buy debt sold by Saudi Arabia or Botswana than by U.S. municipalities. The result, he says: higher costs for taxpayers.
California, Georgia, and New York City are among issuers pressing regulators, including the Federal Reserve, to ease a rule, proposed last October, that may curb buying by banks. The regulation, intended to guarantee that banks have enough easy-to-sell assets during a cash crunch, wouldn’t let them use munis to satisfy the requirements, giving the companies less reason to hold the debt.
“Anything that reduces demand for our bonds could have a negative impact,” said Diana Pope, who oversees debt sales for the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission in Atlanta. “Banks are a big part of our market, and anything that limits what they can invest in affects us.”
Banks propped up demand last year, as Detroit’s record bankruptcy filing and bets that interest rates were set to rise led investors to pull money from local-debt mutual funds. Munis logged their biggest annual loss since 2008, pushing benchmark 10-year yields to a two-year high of 3.15 percent in September. The yield was 2.67 percent yesterday.
In the first nine months of 2013, banks added $41 billion of munis, Fed data show. That left them with $404 billion as of Sept. 30, or about 11 percent of the market. It was their biggest share since 1990 and double their holdings at the end of 2007, when they accounted for about 6 percent of the total.
“The bank bid has played a very important role in the market’s performance since the credit crisis,” said Matt Posner, an analyst who tracks regulatory issues for research firm Municipal Market Advisors, based in Concord, Massachusetts. “If this rule is put in place, many of these banks would have to curb their purchases.”
The proposed rules are pending before the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). They are part of the broader overhaul of securities oversight ushered in by the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, intended to prevent a repeat of the credit crunch.
Changes Possible
The regulators are reviewing public comments on the proposal, which may result in changes.
Greg Hernandez, an FDIC spokesman; and Eric Kollig, a spokesman for the Fed, declined to comment. Bill Grassano, a spokesman at the OCC, said the agency “doesn’t comment on proposed rules, but keep in mind that we do consider all comments.”
Separate regulations released last year, aimed at curbing banks’ speculative bets, will also bar investments known as Tender Option Bond programs, which use borrowed money to buy debt and have spurred demand for munis. Banks have been trying to figure out how to overhaul such funds to keep them operating.
The reserve rules have yet to be decided on and would be phased in starting on Jan. 1. They mandate how much the largest banks must hold in what regulators view as high-quality, liquid assets during times of financial stress.
Such assets would include Treasuries, bonds of foreign governments, and other securities, including some stocks and corporate bonds. Municipal obligations wouldn’t count because regulators said they didn’t consider them easy enough
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/11663
|
The nickel had a growth spurt.
Coins and Medals
Coin News
Collectors Club
Mint History
Uncovering America's Heritage... Coin by Coin
Nevada Quarter
Whee! I love horses! And Nevada's quarter has three of them! That's really why I chose the Nevada quarter as February's Coin of the Month. But when I was learning about Nevada, I found out there's a link between February and Nevada: the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. You see, part of Nevada used to belong to Mexico. The land was given to the United States when this treaty was signed in February...February 2, 1848, to be exact. (We know February 2nd as Groundhog Day, but I'm sure Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog, wasn't born yet.)
The United States and Mexico needed a peace treaty. They were at war over the border between Texas and Mexico. Leaders signed the treaty in a Mexican city called Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexican land that was given to the United States in the treaty is today California, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado, Nevada, Texas, and Utah.
Way before all this happened, while the Spanish were moving into Mexico, they brought horses with them. Those were the multiple-great-grandparents of the wild horses that roam the plains of Nevada and other states today.
The horses are protected by law and watched after by the federal government. Since the land can't feed too many horses, some horses are rounded up every year and adopted. But the horses don't let their Spanish horse heritage go to their heads. They just eat grass and look pretty!
Reverse: Horses and mountains are surrounded by sagebrush, the state flower of Nevada.
Obverse: All the new quarters show the traditional portrait of George Washington, with some minor changes. The bust is smaller and the legends have been moved. Place your mouse over the image to see the former design.
[Past Picks]
Bottom Navigation Menu
H.I.P. Pocket Change
Teachers and Parents
usmint.gov
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/11697
|
Business Roundtable’s issues warning on debt limit but says it won’t pick sides
(Alex Wong/ Pool ) - President Obama greets members of the Business Roundtable as he arrives for an address at the groups;' headquarters in Washington.
By Zachary A. Goldfarb, E-mail the writer
On Wednesday morning, one of the most influential business groups in Washington warned that a drawn-out confrontation over the nation’s debt would harm the economy and stall hiring, and that it must be avoided.
What happened over the next few hours made clear that the group’s warning is likely to be ignored — and that the traditions of influence in Washington, where a little pressure from a well-heeled corporate donor could help tip a debate or seal a deal, seem to have broken down.
U.S. debt outlook is still dark.
Health industry wants to change price transparency
Jason Millman About two dozen industry stakeholders, including lobbying groups for hospitals and health insurers, issued recommendations Wednesday on how to provide patients more information about the cost of health-care services.
The Business Roundtable, representing the nation’s biggest companies, released a report showing that nearly half of major companies will probably slow hiring because of the mayhem in Washington this fall as Democrats and Republicans clash over the budget. John Engler, the chief executive of the trade group and a Republican former governor of Michigan, told reporters it would be “unthinkable” not to raise the government’s debt ceiling, which Congress must do as soon as next month to avert a default on federal obligations.But Republicans, who benefited by a two-to-one margin from corporate contributions in the 2012 election, announced they would neither keep the government open nor raise the debt ceiling without concessions, in a direct repudiation of the business lobby’s message.A few hours later, President Obama appealed to the Roundtable’s executives to use “your influence in whatever way you can” to pressure Republicans to strike a deal to avoid a shutdown or debt default. But the group had a somewhat surprising response: Politically, it’s not picking sides.If it sounds confusing, it’s because the sequence of events scrambled the logic of political action. Ordinarily, a business group would simply follow self-interest. But the cautious Roundtable is leery of stepping into the dramatically polarized atmosphere of Washington. The chaotic politics is characteristic of not only this fall’s budget confrontation but also a range of issues — including immigration and agricultural policy — in which traditional methods of engagement seem to be breaking down.“All the major leading institutions have been brought into question by the populace out there and particularly the conservative populace,” said Bill Hoagland, a budget expert and former senior Republican Senate aide. “They just don’t have the same impact they used to have with the electorate, and that’s being reflected by the makeup of the tea party movement and some of the new conservative members in the Senate.”On Wednesday morning, Business Roundtable executives warned that of all the issues, the prospect of a default is most worrisome.“There’s no question the failure to reach agreement on the debt limit would have a significant impact on the U.S. economy, and we don’t want that — for our employees, for our investors and for the country,” said Jim McNerney, Boeing chief executive and Roundtable chairman.Obama later came to the Roundtable’s meeting and made essentially the same point, saying he could not allow a question to arise about whether the country will pay its bills.“What I will not do is to create a habit, a pattern, whereby the full faith and credit of the United States ends up being a bargaining chip to set policy. It’s irresponsible,” he said. “The last time we did this in 2011, we had negative growth at a time when the recovery was just trying to take off. And it would fundamentally change how American government functions.”Obama then appealed for the support of the executives.“It is going to be important for all of you, I think, over the next several weeks,” he said, “to understand what’s at stake and to make sure that you are using your influence in whatever way you can.”But outside of encouraging both sides to compromise, Business Roundtable executives indicated they did not plan to intervene much more pointedly in the debate.“Theoretically speaking, if we came down on one side or the other in today’s environment, that would negate any impact we’d have,” McNerney said. “And therefore I think we’ve got to pressure both sides to move to the middle.”
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/11754
|
4 years in, Madoff trustee still pursuing assets Monday - 12/10/2012, 5:49pm ET
By TOM HAYS Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - When he was first told in 2008 about Bernard Madoff's epic Ponzi scheme, attorney David Sheehan had a response that now sounds inconceivable.
"Who," he wondered, "is Bernie Madoff?"
Four years after Madoff's arrest, Sheehan has been thoroughly educated about the disgraced financier.
Irving Picard, the trustee appointed to recover funds for Madoff victims, and a battalion of lawyers headed by Sheehan have spent long days untangling Madoff's fraud. On the fourth anniversary of Madoff's Dec. 11, 2008, arrest, it's an international effort that shows no signs of slowing.
So far, they have secured nearly $9.3 billion of the estimated $17.5 billion that thousands of investors put into Madoff's sham investment business. In a recent interview, Sheehan said his team at the Manhattan law firm of BakerHostetler is hopeful it can recover $3 billion more over the next 18 months, cutting investors' losses to around $5 billion. Of the money collected so far, about $3 billion has been approved for redistribution to victims through an ongoing claims process.
It's an outcome that neither Sheehan nor Picard thought possible at the outset.
"I don't think either of us thought we could achieve these results," Sheehan said. "There's never been any case like this."
Sheehan described the task first faced four years ago as daunting: It required cracking the code on a secret Ponzi scheme that spanned decades and victimized thousands of customers on a scale never seen before. Madoff, 74, pleaded guilty and is serving a 150-year sentence.
"We had to reconstruct this from ground zero and put it back together again," Sheehan said.
After examining the books at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, lawyers quickly realized that statements showing investors held more than $60 billion in securities were fiction.
Madoff made no investments. Instead, principal was simply being paid out bit by bit to other investors.
Having to hammer home that reality _ over and over _ to disbelieving investors was one of the first major hurdles, Sheehan said. Win or lose, Madoff clients were entitled only to what they put in.
Investors who had reaped fake profits had to accept they had "someone else's money," Sheehan said. "We had no choice but to get it back."
Last year, an appeals court concluded that the trustee's calculation was "legally sound" and that a bankruptcy court was correct when it rejected arguments from lawyers for investors who said their clients should receive more than what they initially gave to Madoff.
Picard couldn't be expected "to step into the shoes of the defrauder or treat the customer statements as reflections of reality," the court said.
Most of the conflicts over what's owed to the burned clients have been resolved without a serious fight. But in scores of other cases, the trustee has sued wealthy individuals and institutions, claiming the defendants knew or should have known their returns were fraudulent and asking a judge or bankruptcy judge to force them to return them.
The litigation has resulted in a series of settlements, including a historic $7.2 billion deal with the estate of Jeffry Picower, a close Madoff associate who drowned in 2009 after suffering a heart attack in the swimming pool of his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion.
A lawsuit against the owners of the New York Mets was settled last spring in a deal that called for them to pay up to $162 million after four years. The deal was structured so that the owners will likely pay much less than the maximum depending on what happens to their own claims against Madoff's estate.
Picard is "a very aggressive advocate of the people who were scammed," said Richard Roth, a Manhattan securities lawyer.
"While his aggressiveness has been a topic of controversy, as several institutions object to it, in light of the extent of the fraud, he has been a strong, positive advocate for those individuals whose money was stolen by Madoff," Roth added.
Still, Picard has had to fend off accusations that he's dragging out the process because it's a windfall for his firm. He's so far sought more than $600 million in fees for work done between Sept. 15, 2008, and Sept. 30 of this year _ money that comes from a federally-authorized nonprofit, not from Madoff victims.
Sheehan said the critics are ignoring the true magnitude of the fraud and the work still needed to get what's recoverable, some of it overseas. The trustee is involved in Madoff-related "litigations, investigations and proceedings" in Great Britain, Spain and Israel and is chasing customer money throughout the Caribbean, Sheehan wrote recently on a Madoff victim-information website.
On balance, Picard "is doing a good job" with a recovery process that usually fails to satisfy fraud victims, said Jeffrey Klink, a former federal prosecutor who runs his own private investigative firm that researches the safety of potential investments and performs fraud probes.
With most investment swindles, once "the money is gone, the odds of getting most of it back are almost zero," Klink said. "The investors end up holding the bag."
Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister contributed to this report.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/12001
|
Author: goldcountry
Subject: Europe: Scramble on to rescue big banks
Bailout European Style;http://www.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/10/05/german.bank.hypo.resc...Europe: Scramble on to rescue big banksStory HighlightsGermany's Finance Ministry convenes crisis talks after bank bailout deal failsHypo Real Estate Holding AG is the country's No. 2 commercial property lenderGovernment, which planned to inject nearly $37.4 billion, may need to spend moreBelgium government battles to save Fortis, Iceland considers urgent actionSTOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Governments across Europe scrambled to save failing banks on Sunday, working largely on their own a day after leaders of the continent's four biggest economies called for tighter regulation and coordinated response to the global meltdown.In Berlin, the German government held crisis talks after the collapse of a $48.4 billion bailout of Hypo Real Estate AG, the country's second biggest property lender.German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Europe's biggest economy would "not allow the distress of one financial institution to distress the entire system."The country's finance minister later said it would guarantee all private savings accounts.In Iceland -- particularly hard-hit by the credit crunch -- government officials and banking chiefs were discussing a possible rescue plan for the country's overstretched commercial banks.Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme said he aimed to find a new owner for troubled bank Fortis NV to restore confidence in the company before the opening of markets on Monday. Will the U.S. bailout work?The bank's Dutch operations were nationalized amid fears they could go insolvent.British treasury chief Alistair Darling said that he was ready to take "pretty big steps that we wouldn't take in ordinary times" to help the country in weather the credit crunch.Darling told the BBC that the government, which has provided billions of pounds (dollars) in support to the banking sector, that it was "important to take generalized action as well as being ready to take particular action if you get a particular problem with an individual bank."In the past year the British government has acted to nationalize struggling mortgage lenders Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley.On Saturday, the leaders of Germany, France, Britain and Italy met to discuss the growing meltdown which has leapfrogged across the Atlantic from the U.S. to Europe, but shied away from the massive $700 billion bailout passed by the U.S. Congress a day earlier that President Bush signed into law. . . . .
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/12016
|
Apple isn't only company with too much cash By Paul R. La Monica February 12, 2013: 12:01 PM ET
Tech giants are hoarding cash. Even if they use some on acquisitions, do they really need this much? Investors want bigger dividends.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.
Issuing preferred shares that pay a big dividend may not be the best use of Apple's more than $137 billion of cash and liquid investments. But hedge fund manager and Apple shareholder David Einhorn, who is pushing the maker of iEverything to reward investors with a new class of high-yielding stock, has a point.
Apple should be doing something more productive with its more than $137 billion in cash.
Did I mention that Apple (AAPL) has more than $137 billion in cash?
Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook defended the company's iMountain of cash. Responding directly to one of Einhorn's most pointed jabs, Cook said that Apple does not have a "Depression-era mentality."
Cook noted how much the company was spending on capital expenditures, research and development and acquisitions.
That may be true. And Apple, to its credit, is also paying a dividend that yields a healthy 2.2%. Still, the company's cash position has continued to grow even after it started paying the dividend last year. Apple remains an extremely frugal company.
Related: Is Apple cursed?
And it's not alone. Several leaders in the tech and pharmaceutical industries are hoarding cash.
Microsoft (MSFT) has more than $68 billion. Google (GOOG) has $48 billion. In fact, tech titans Apple, Microsoft, Google, Cisco (CSCO), Oracle (ORCL), Intel (INTC) and Big Pharma giants Pfizer (PFE), Merck (MRK), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Amgen (AMGN) collectively have more than $435 billion in cash on their balance sheets.
I realize that a big chunk of this cash is being held overseas for tax purposes. And sure, it's smart for Corporate America to be saving for that proverbial rainy day. But they seem to be hunkering down for a biblical flood. Do any of these companies need that much cash? It reminds me of Holly Hunter in "Raising Arizona" -- They got more than they can handle!
Interest rates are likely to remain low around the world for awhile thanks to the Great Global Easing coordinated by most of the major central banks. So cash that's just sitting in the bank, invested in Treasuries or parked abroad is doing bupkus for shareholders. Expect more investors to pull an Einhorn and express their frustration with companies that are just buried in a cash-alanche.
"Apple can't justify holding that much cash," said Jeffrey Sica, president and chief investment officer of SICA Wealth Management in Morristown, N.J. Sica, who owns Apple, said if the company does not have firm plans to spend more on acquisitions and R&D, then it should boost its dividend further.
Related: Companies may be fearful, but investors are still extremely greedy
Sica said the same is true for the other companies with tens of billions of dollars in cash. He worries that these firms are sending a message that they have nothing better to use their cash for ... or worse, that they are too worried about the health of the global economy and consumer demand to start investing more of it.
"It's hard to find companies that aren't stockpiling cash. And to sit on that much cash reveals that companies feel uncertain about their future," Sica said. "It's more about defense than innovation. If you are not going to use it, give it back to shareholders."
So why have companies amassed this much cash in the first place?
Murillo Campello, a professor of finance at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, said that many big companies are still in financial crisis mode. He thinks that top executives can't help but remember the dark days of 2008 and 2009 -- and they want to be prepared in case the markets implode again.
But Campello also thinks that it's premature to suggest that firms with a lot of cash don't have plans to use it more productively. He said that more acquisitions are likely from larger companies. And when firms use cash to scoop up smaller rivals, that's typically better for the acquirer's shareholders than when a company has to issue more stock to pay for a merger.
Related: Insiders are bailing with Dow and S&P 500 near all-time highs
Still, there are only so many merger opportunities out there. Apple could theoretically buy Nokia (NOK) and BlackBerry (BBRY) with its cash and still have well over $100 billion left. Microsoft could buy Facebook (FB) -- although it wouldn't be able to afford much of a premium.
Of course, none of those fanciful deals are ever going to happen. But you get my point. No company needs this much cash just for acquisitions.
Until recently, companies have gotten a free pass for stockpiling cash. But Apple's big stock plunge over the past few months might be a sign that investors are no longer willing to accept the miserly ways of Corporate America. If shares of Google, Cisco and others with large stacks of cash start to drop as investors clamor for bigger dividends, stock buybacks or more acquisitions, then these companies may have no choice but to finally admit the obvious.
"You can't argue that companies are increasing cash levels just as a precautionary measure anymore. Companies just don't know what to do with the cash," Campello said.
Posted in: Apple, balance sheets, cash, Cisco, david einhorn, Google, Microsoft Join the Conversation
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/12111
|
Inter Press Service News Agency
World Bank Urges "Green Accounting" Harmonie Toros
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 14 (IPS) - Who is rich and who is poor? Answering that question is no longer only about Gross Domestic Product and other traditional economic indicators, the World Bank said Tuesday, proposing a new accounting method that includes natural and human wealth.
"Millennium Development Goals are about creating wealth. If we don't measure it right, we won't manage it right," warned World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Ian Johnson, at the launch of "Where is the Wealth of Nations? Measuring Capital in the 21st Century" on the eve of the 2005 World Summit.
The original objective of the Summit, which runs Wednesday through Friday, was to review progress made by the world's poorer nations on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set in 2000. A pledge to halve extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 was a high priority on the agenda.
According to the report, governments and international organisations must begin to calculate resource depletion and population growth, among other factors, if a more complete vision of a country's wealth is to be established and if the environmental costs of development decisions are to be fully understood.
Without these indicators, leaders risk "knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing", Johnson said, quoting the sharp-tongued English writer Oscar Wilde.
The new formula changes little of what is already known about the distribution of the world's wealth: The top 10 countries, led by Switzerland, are all highly developed, including the United States, Japan and seven others in Western Europe; the bottom 10 are all in sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of Nepal.
Furthermore, low-income countries are losing overall wealth while high-income countries are gaining, said the World Bank's Kirk Hamilton, the lead author of the report.
The divide is already phenomenal. Per capita wealth for the 10 richest countries ranges from 648,241 dollars to 451,714 dollars, while per capita wealth for the 10 poorest ranges from 5,020 dollars for Madagascar to 1,965 for Ethiopia, the poorest of the 120 countries studied by the World Bank working with 2000 figures.
The broader understanding of wealth is composed of produced capital, natural capital such as natural resources and crop and pasture land, and intangible capital -� such as skills, know-how and governance.
The three are closely linked, argued Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel peace laureate and Kenya's assistant minister for Environment and Natural Resources.
"People without skills, beliefs and values are people who don't believe in themselves. So they are very dependent on natural resources because it is the only wealth they have," she said.
Maathai stressed that most governments still fail to see that development cannot be separated from environmental policy.
"It is a pity that the most important ministries are the foreign ministry and the defence ministry, yet the new enemy is the destruction of our environment," she said.
But what has in the past been dubbed "green accounting" has strengthened the role of the environment ministries, said Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Costa Rica's energy and environment minister.
Formulas like those presented in the World Bank report help environment ministers convince their heads of state and government that environmental policies can be "economically sound", he said.
"We are able to compete with the other ministers" for resources, said Rodriguez, whose country has been praised for its innovative environmental policies, including charging for some ecological services.
These indicators also help to measure progress toward the MDG 7 -- ensuring environmental sustainability -- which was left without a numerical goal in 2000, said Hamilton.
While welcoming the initiative, Achim Steiner of the World Conservation Union appealed to the World Bank itself to take into account its findings when dealing with developing countries.
"I appeal to (World Bank President) Paul Wolfowitz to not only publish this, but also to take it back and make it influence development," said Steiner during the one-hour panel discussion.
Steiner, director general of a conservation network linking states, government agencies and NGOs, said the World Bank should include the new parameters in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP), national accounts and sectoral policies the Bank is proposing.
Johnson acknowledged that more could be done incorporate environmental sustainability in Bank projects.
"Can we do more? Yes. Should we do more? Yes," Johnson said. But, he added, the challenge lies in convincing national leaders of the importance of taking into account natural wealth in their economic and development planning.
"We could have all the right words in the PRSPs but no one who believes in them," said Johnson.
Streamlining the accounting of resource depletion is also an aim of the United Nations, which is setting up a commission on environmental accounting and aims to have a universally accepted statistical standard by 2010, said Alessandra Alfieri of the U.N.'s statistics division.
Meanwhile, Peter Seligmann, head of the U.S.-based NGO Conservation International, was left wondering why such quantification was necessary at all.
"Why do we have to go through the intellectual exercise (of explaining) why we need to protect the only place we can live on?" he asked, adding that such an exercise proved the need to "build within society a passionate commitment to protect our natural resources".
Seligmann also suggested that the next World Bank report go a step further and answer another question: "How expensive is it for future generations to spend what we have now?"
*This story was produced for the TerraViva Millennium Development Goals Journal. ***** +World Bank report (http://siteresources.worldbank.org/ESSDNETWORK/1105722-1115888526384/20645252/WhereIstheWealthofNations.pdf) +DEVELOPMENT: Poverty Fight May Be Subverted at U.N. Summit (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30226)
(END/IPS/WD/DV/MD/IF/EN/IP/SU/HT/KS/05)
Contact Us | About Us | Subscription | Help us Improve | News in RSS | Email News
| Mobile | Text Only
Copyright © 2007 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/12369
|
BB&T buys Colonial bank; 4 other banks failSouthern regional bank Colonial BancGroup sees rival grab its branches and deposits. EMAIL | PRINT | SHARE | RSS
By Chris Isidore and Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney.com writersLast Updated: August 15, 2009: 12:11 AM ET Map
Where the banks are failing
Bank failures and foreclosures keep mounting
DID YOUR BANK FAIL?
For more information visit www.fdic.gov
Don�t panic � your savings are insured
Keep paying your loans � the terms remain the same.
The FDIC will notify you by mail about your accounts/loans.
Contact the FDIC with any questions until further notice
If your bank is purchased, you will be contacted by your new bank.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Troubled Colonial BancGroup will be bought by rival BB&T Friday, the government said after state regulators closed the bank whose assets had been frozen by a federal judge. The Montgomery, Ala., bank, which has 346 branches spread across Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Nevada, and Texas, is the sixth largest bank failure in U.S. history and by far the largest failure of 2009. With $25 billion in assets and $20 billion in deposits, Colonial is 100 times larger than the typical bank to have failed this year.BB&T (BBT, Fortune 500) will buy $22 billion of Colonial's assets, as well as its deposits and branches, leaving the remaining assets in the hands of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.BB&T, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., is also a regional banking power, with 1,500 branches across the Southeast. It is also a major mortgage lender.Most customers of Colonial should not be affected by the closing. The FDIC, the federal agency that has protected bank deposits since the Great Depression, will guarantee account balances up to $250,000.But home buyers and those who want to refinance their mortgages could end up paying somewhat higher rates, even if they have never heard of Colonial, said Guy Cecala, publisher of trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance. Cecala said Colonial was a significant player in the sector of the business known as "mortgage warehouse" lending, which provides financing needed by mortgage brokers and non-bank lenders to make home loans."The more firms like this that get out, the more dependent we get on large banks, and less competition there is. That's never a good thing," he said. Warehouse lending used to be a huge source of funds for home loans, according to Cecala, but the mortgage defaults and declining home prices of recent years has decimated the business."The warehouse lending market is now so fragile and so small, it doesn't help when we lose anybody," he said. "We have only a cup of water where we used to have a bucket of water."Trust fund hit: The failure of Colonial is another blow to the FDIC trust fund, which has had to cover 77 bank failures so far in 2009 -- including four more late Friday (see below). The fund took a $35.1 billion hit in 2008, and an additional $4.3 billion decline in the first quarter of this year, leaving it with assets of only $13 billion as of March 31. But most of last year's decline was due to $25 billion the agency set aside to cover future losses."The past 18 months have been a very trying period in the financial services arena," said FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, in the Colonial failure release. "Our industry funded reserves have covered all losses to date. In fact, losses from today's failures are lower than had been projected.Little more than a year ago, bank failures were relatively rare, with only four occurring in the first six months of last year. The collapse of IndyMac, a major mortgage lender, in July 2008, signaled a rash of failures to follow. IndyMac cost the FDIC about $10.7 billion by itself, and is the most expensive failure in history. Colonial will likely be one of the most expensive bank failures, according to Chip MacDonald, a banking lawyer at Jones Day, given its active position in mortgage warehouse lending across the Southeast.The FDIC said Colonial's closing will cost the Deposit Insurance Fund $2.8 billion. "That's a significant share of the FDIC fund," he said.It is now a rare Friday night that the agency does not seize the assets of a newly failed bank. And the number of banks judged as troubled has soared to 305 as of March 31, up from only 90 a year earlier. Those 305 problem banks on the FDIC's confidential list have combined assets of $220 billion.The trust fund that covers the deposits is paid by banks, and the weaker banks have seen those premiums rise about 14% in the last year. The agency has also announced a special one-time assessment on bank assets that will raise $5.6 billion for the fund this September. But those funds will come from money that the banks will not lend out to businesses and consumers in hopes of reviving the economy.Legal problems: MacDonald said that Colonial is also unusual because of the allegations of criminal wrongdoing at the bank.Colonial disclosed on Aug. 4 that federal agents had executed a search warrant at its mortgage warehouse lending offices in Orlando, Fla. It also had been forced to sign a cease and desist order with the Federal Reserve and regulators at the end of last month related to its accounting practices and recognition of losses, which limited its abilities to make dividends or other payments to investors.The agents who searched its offices came from the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, even though Colonial never received TARP funds. Colonial applied for TARP assistance but had been told it needed to be able raise an additional $300 million in private capital to be eligible for the federal assistance. On March 31 Colonial announced it had found such an investor in Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Co., a major non-bank mortgage lender based in Florida. But that deal collapsed, and TBW halted operations on Aug. 5 as its offices were also searched by federal agents.The bank had issued a statement to investors in November saying it had applied for TARP and had no reason to believe its application was being processed through the normal channels. After it later disclosed the need to raise the additional $300 million in capital to get TARP, it was hit by a shareholder suit.Colonial could end up as the second-most expensive bank failure, according to Chip MacDonald, a banking lawyer at Jones Day, given its active position in mortgage warehouse lending across the Southeast."It's probably going to be cheaper than IndyMac, but my guess is it could be $5 billion to $7 billion," he said. "That's a significant share of the FDIC fund."The sale of Colonial to BB&T also comes a day after U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan ruled in favor of Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), which had requested a temporary restraining order to keep Colonial from liquidating or transferring assets worth $1 billion."Viewing Colonial's contractual breach in conjunction with the fact that Colonial is on the brink of collapse and is suspected of criminal accounting irregularities, the potential for immediate substantial injury to Bank of America is clear," the judge said in his order.The lawsuit that prompted the order was filed by Bank of America. It involved more than 6,000 mortgages issued by its subsidiary and held in trust by Colonial. According to the motion, Bank of America is owed more than $1 billion in assets, but Colonial had failed to pay the amount owed.Last month, the bank said in a statement that it had "substantial doubt about Colonial's ability to continue" due to uncertainties about its ability to increase its capital levels.Shares of Colonial (CNB), which fell 80% in 2009, were not trading Friday. But shares of BB&T (BBT, Fortune 500) gained nearly 9% on the report of the acquisition.Four other banks fail: Late Friday, the FDIC also said that four other banks had failed. Outside of Colonial, the largest collapse of the day was Community Bank of Nevada in Las Vegas, which went under with assets of $1.52 billion and total deposits of about $1.38 billion. Its failure will cost the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund an estimated $781.5 millionThe Nevada bank did not find a buyer, leaving the FDIC in control of its assets. The agency immediately created a new institution, the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Las Vegas, which will remain open for approximately 30 days to allow depositors access to their insured deposits and give them time to open accounts at other insured institutions. Banking activities, such as direct deposit, writing checks, and using ATM and debit cards, will continue normally through the transition. Dwelling House Savings and Loan Association in Pittsburgh closed its door for the last time Friday. The FDIC said PNC Bank will assume control of its assets. It was the first Pennsylvania bank to fail this year. As of March 31, Dwelling House held assets worth $13.4 million and total deposits of $13.8 million. The FDIC estimates that this closure will cost the its insurance fund $6.8 million. MidFirst Bank of Oklahoma City assumed all deposits of two failed Arizona banks, Union Bank in Gilbert and Community Bank of Arizona in Phoenix. Community Bank of Arizona had assets of $158.5 million and total deposits of approximately $143.8 million. Union Bank had assets of $124 million and total deposits of approximately $112 million. The two failures, the first in Arizona this year, will together cost the FDIC's insurance fund around $86.5 million. The 77 bank failures so far in 2009 has more than tripled last year's total of 25. First Published: August 14, 2009: 12:07 PM ET Features
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/12488
|
Latin America’s Free-Trade Champions
What Brazil (and the Obama administration) can learn from Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.
byJaime Daremblum
Page 1 of 2 Next -> View as Single Page Tweet Chilean finance minister Felipe Larraín has called it “the most exciting thing going on today in Latin America.” Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos believes it is “perhaps the most significant and profound integration process in the history of Latin America.” A recent headline said it has created “a new Latin American superpower.” It has also been hailed as a “bridge to Asia” and “a promising yardstick of Latin America’s prosperity.”
“It” is the so-called Pacific Alliance, a free-trade bloc that was first outlined in the April 2011 Lima Declaration and was officially established in June 2012. Its four members are Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru — four countries with a long record of supporting free markets and open commerce. Over the past year, these countries have abolished tariffs on 90 percent of all goods they trade with each other, and have also taken many other steps (such as eliminating visa requirements, merging stock exchanges, and launching a scholarship program) to integrate their economies. Next week, their presidents will meet in Colombia to sign yet another multilateral agreement. The Pacific Alliance nations account for more than one-third of Latin America’s total GDP, a similar share of its population, and roughly half of its global trade. They are the highest-ranking Latin American countries in the World Bank’s 2013 Ease of Doing Business Index, and they are also some of the region’s fastest-growing economies. “Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Peru will grow an average 5 percent this year,” notes John Paul Rathbone of the Financial Times, citing IMF data, “while Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela, will grow an average of 2 percent.”
Not surprisingly, many other nations want to join the Pacific Alliance, and the list of “observer” countries has grown to include Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Japan, New Zealand, Panama, Spain, and Uruguay. As that list suggests, the trade bloc has attracted governments from well beyond Latin America’s shores. Indeed, it is considered a promising vehicle for boosting economic cooperation and integration between Latin America and Asia. In other words, it is seen as a valuable complement to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade deal that is now being discussed by Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam. Colombia is eager to join the TPP talks, and the Pacific Alliance will help Bogotá make its case.
Hopefully the trade bloc will also encourage Brazil to move away from the protectionist policies that are holding back its economic development. Whereas the Pacific Alliance countries have become Latin America’s biggest champions of free trade — Mexico has actually signed more free-trade pacts than any other nation on earth — Brazil remains a stubborn opponent of trade liberalization, and it has actually become more protectionist under President Dilma Rousseff, who took office in January 2011. (Two years ago, Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega complained that rising imports had left his country “under siege.”) This divergence in economic policies can be seen, not only in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index (in which Brazil ranks a lowly 130th), but also in the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom: The Pacific Alliance countries all rank among the top 50 freest economies worldwide, while Brazil ranks 100th.
Advice for John Kerry
Immigrating to America Is Not an Entitlement
The Chávez Legacy in Venezuela
El legado de Chávez en Venezuela
Obama’s Failure in Latin America
SunsetDistrictInc
Socialism in reality is a crony capiitalism. Comapnies in Brazil pay politicians to close protect them from outside comptetition. Mexicans are compteting in world markets. Nissan will be opening it's 3rd plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Aerospace plants are popping up in Queretaro. 47 weeks ago
4 Trackbacks to “Latin America’s Free-Trade Champions”
Flyover-Press.com Center for Security Policy | CSP Daily Brief: Thursday, May 16, 2013 InterAmerican Security Watch – Monitoring Threats to Regional Stability » Blog Archive » Latin America’s Free Trade Champions InterAmerican Security Watch – Monitoring Threats to Regional Stability » Blog Archive » Colombia’s Risky Peace Gambit Advertisement
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/12517
|
No Hope For Bad Debtors?Why nobody's cramming for the great mortgage test
Have the banks bailed out any mortgage deadbeats? When a Wells Fargo Home Mortgage consultant told me last month that the bank had done absolutely no modifications of troubled mortgage loans since receiving its $25 billion from the U.S. Treasury in October, I thought he was crazy. Now I'm not so sure.
More in a moment about why a low rate of mortgage modifications is a piece of good news disguised as an outrage. I must stress at the outset that I do believe Wells Fargo has modified at least three troubled mortgages since October, and not only because the bank's director of investor relations Bob Strickland said Wednesday that "more than 143,000 solutions" were provided to customers through "repayment plans, modifications and other loss mitigation options."
What are those 143,000 solutions, and how many of them are actual changes to loan terms? There is no way to tell from Strickland's explanation:
Through our active communication programs, Wells Fargo home mortgage has reached 94% of its customers who are two or more payments past due.
For every 10 of these customers we have worked with seven on a solution, two declined help and one could not be reached. Of those who received a loan modification, one year later approximately 7 of every 10 were either current or less than 90 days past due.
Since Strickland uses a base unit of 10, we'll assume that Wells Fargo had at least 10 customers who were two or more payments late. Therefore, Wells Fargo worked with at least seven customers in default.
It is unclear from Strickland's narrative how much of that work resulted in actual loan modifications. (There are three generally recognized types of loan modifications: change of interest rate; lengthening of the maturity date; and reduction of principal, or "cramming.") But presumably some number between one and seven of the people Wells Fargo worked with got to an actual modification. To be sporting we'll call that number five.
Of those five, 70 percent are "either current or less than 90 days past due." Please note that "less than 90 days past due" means "in the same situation they were in before the modification." In any event, that means at least three people have actually received loan modifications from Wells Fargo.
This estimate is more generous than the estimate given to me by a consultant in Wells Fargo's Minneapolis Center, who described himself as having 12 years of experience with the nation's second largest bank, and posed to me the rhetorical question and answer: "Sir, do you know how many loans Wells Fargo has modified? None."
I tried to check that claim with a Wells Fargo representative, who said, "I state emphatically that we are indeed modifying loans and providing other workout options to our customers who are facing financial difficulty," and said "the mortgage consultant you apparently talked to would have no access to that type of data." He was unable to provide any actual evidence, however: no ballpark figure, no sample loan modification, not even a statement from a satisfied customer.
In fact, nobody has access to the type of data we'd need either to refute or to confirm any claims about how many loans have been modified—by Wells Fargo or any other bank—since funds from the $350 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program were delivered. The Office of the Controller of Currency (OCC) issues quarterly reports [pdf] on loan modifications, and more recently has been tracking the number of loan workouts that end up back in default. The OCC's next report is due at the end of March, and will cover the fourth quarter of 2008.
In the meantime, Hope Now, a coalition of big lenders, counselors, and community activists, says 122,000 modifications were performed in December, but its figures have the same vagueness—as to what types of modifications they were and how the dollars were rearranged in each case—as the Wells Fargo numbers above.
And lawyers for Countrywide Home Loans have said in court that Countrywide's claims about working out loans were "mere commercial puffery" and "only Countrywide's vague advertisements."
The bottom line is that while Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and others may be wrong about the wisdom of helping deadbeats stay in their homes, they are right to be outraged at the banks' lousy loan-modification performance. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 did not specify how TARP funds would be spent, but the salesmanship for the bill certainly implied that this money would allow lenders to keep more people in their mortgaged homes. Financial institutions—in advertising, congressional testimony, marketing, and statements like Strickland's above—have been voluble about their efforts to help troubled borrowers.
"In general, the level of modifications has been disappointing," says Paul Leonard, California director for the Center for Responsible Lending. "Here in California, they have been increasing, but not quickly enough to match the growth in defaults and foreclosures. We are deeply disappointed that TARP activities have not focused on foreclosure prevention."
It's an unexamined truism that loan modifications are "win-win" solutions: The lender gets to keep getting paid, albeit on slightly different terms; the borrower gets to keep his or her home. All parties avoid foreclosure, which, we're told, is in nobody's interest.
But the continuing deflation of real estate prices means real money has to be lost by somebody. If the goal is to keep large numbers of people in houses they can't afford, then the only type of loan modification that will really work is the cramdown, in which the outstanding principal is reduced to reflect the current market.
This of course is a form of theft. You borrow a bunch of money from a bank and then you don't have to pay it all back. Banks naturally don't like this option, and even the generous modification guidelines offered by the Federal Housing Authority build in heavy conditions (such as a requirement that the borrower split proceeds from any future sale of the property) to minimize the loss. It's understandable that few if any principal-reduction modifications are being done.
Yet the OCC's finding that nearly 50 percent of modified loans end up back in default demonstrates that distressed borrowers can't be helped merely by fiddling with the interest rate or changing the length of the mortgage. This has been clear for at least the last 18 months. At the bitter end of his presidential campaign, John McCain brought out a plan to have the government directly compensate lenders in exchange for haircutting bad mortgages. The plan went nowhere. Even the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's conservatorship of IndyMac aims to get monthly payments into balance with the borrower's income (which is mostly wasted effort, as nearly half of defaults are the result of job losses), not to reduce principal.
So should anybody have expected that TARP funds would encourage banks to reduce principal, or do other forms of loan modifications? Christopher Thornberg, co-founder of Los Angeles-based Beacon Economics, believes that was a pipe dream.
"The purpose of the TARP funds was not to allow banks to do loan modifications," Thornberg says. "They're being used to keep the credit system moving as banks fail. The problem is that you're still looking at $1.5 to $2 trillion in losses on all kinds of loans, not just mortgages. The good news is that TARP funds were not used according to the original plan, which was to buy inflated assets. The Treasury instead is giving this money to certain banks to allow them to continue lending as other banks fail."
Perhaps it's time to state publicly what the market has already decided: Helping out distressed mortgagees is not good business, at least not on any large scale. You don't have to agree in full with the consultant Ramsey Su, who wrote in The Wall Street Journal this weekend that loan modifications are not only dumb but evil and immoral. But one bright spot about the economic slump is that it has yet to produce its Dorothea Lange, that there has been a fairly general lack of sympathy for irresponsible lenders and borrowers who got themselves (and the rest of us) into trouble.
Nor is there any realistic prospect for stemming the macro decline in asset value by potchkying with some loan terms. Using the Federal Reserve's flow-of-funds data, Thornberg estimates the entire U.S. asset base was overvalued by $15 trillion or $16 trillion in 2007. "As of Q3 2008, households are out $6.6 trillion already. So with Q4 being so brutal we may be half way [to the bottom] or more."
That still leaves a lot of room to fall, and little reason to believe the landing will be any softer the more the nation strives to keep bad debtors in their current houses. The good news is that loan modification in its current form doesn't seem to be making much difference one way or another. I don't believe my Wells Fargo consultant was right with his zero-modification claim. But I kind of hope he is.
Contributing Editor Tim Cavanaugh writes from Los Angeles.
Out of Control Policy Blog The Magical Effects of Pre-K (4/8)Comment Period Re-Opened on Proposal to List Rufa Red Knot as Threatened (4/4)The Prairie Chicken Ruling Doesn't Make Sense (4/4)Sasha Volokh on Pension Protection and the Detroit Bankruptcy (4/2)Privatization & Government Reform Newsletter #5 (Mar 2014 edition) (4/1) More By Tim Cavanaugh Damn This Recession! (8/29)How Long Will It Take Keynes to Die? (8/17)
Related MaterialsEconomy and Economics Considering the Not-So-New Normal for Unemployment June's labor market report wasn't very exciting, but does reflect the now long-term trend Anthony Randazzo (7/11)Crony Capitalism and Community Development Subsidies Do commmunity development subsidies actually result in community development? Or have they been captured by vested interests? Anthony Randazzo and Victor Nava (6/11)Tax and Budget Policy Pension Protection and the Detroit Bankruptcy Detroit's Chapter 9 proceeding can proceed, despite constitutional concerns about impairing public-employee pensions Alexander Volokh (4/2)Washington State Legislature Rejects Anti-Privatization Bill Legislation would have created barriers to competitive contracting Leonard Gilroy (3/31) Latest From Reason
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/12528
|
Thursday, April 17 2014 The Fed Has Set Us Up For the Crash of 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013 By Paul Martin Investmentwatchblog.com
by Phoenix Capital Research
Having pumped the system with liquidity non-stop since the Crash of 2008, the Fed now realizes it’s in big trouble and needs to manage down expectations of further stimulus.
As we noted earlier this year, the Fed, while attempting to appear committed to endless money printing via its QE 3 and QE 4 programs, was in fact decidedly split on whether to commit to more as well as the risks inherent to additional QE. Indeed, the Fed FOMC minutes indicate that some Fed members were concerned about whether QE even worked as a monetary policy.
Below are the notes from the Fed’s December 2012 FOMC minutes (the meeting during which the Fed announced QE 4). I’ve added highlights to emphasize the shift in tone.
With regard to the possible costs and risks of purchases, a number of participants expressed the concern that additional purchases could complicate the Committee’s efforts to eventually withdraw monetary policy accommodation, for example, by potentially causing inflation expectations to rise or by impairing the future implementation of monetary policy.
Participants also discussed the implications of continued asset purchases for the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet. Depending on the path for the balance sheet and interest rates, the Federal Reserve’s net income and its remittances to the Treasury could be significantly affected during the period of policy normalization.
on Saturday, April 20th, 2013 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Conspiracy, Corruption, Economics, Government Evil, New World Order.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/12672
|
CEO Spill The Beans On Hiring Hesitancy
Share Tweet E-mail Comments Print By editor Originally published on Sat July 7, 2012 8:57 am
Listen Transcript SCOTT SIMON, HOST: So, another month passes with U.S. stuck in a jobless recovery. Yet many major businesses are reportedly doing well. Their stock price is up. They have cash on hand. So why aren't more companies hiring? I'm joined now by two chief executive officers. Christopher Gorman is the president of Key Corporate Bank and the CEO of KeyBank in Cleveland. He joins us from his office there. Mr. Gorman, thanks for being with us. CHRISTOPHER GORMAN: Good morning, Scott. SIMON: And Lynn Ann Casey is the CEO of Arc Aspicio, a management consulting and information technology company that she founded in Washington, D.C., which focuses on homeland security and intelligence. Ms. Casey, thanks very much for being with us. LYNN ANN CASEY: It's nice to be here. SIMON: Mr. Gorman, let me begin with you. You're a banker. You talk to the CEOs of other companies. What do they say is holding them back from hiring? GORMAN: Well, Scott, you know, jobs are an investment. And I think there's just a lot of uncertainty out there. You know, you look at Europe. You've got China, India. Here, clearly we're growing in the U.S., albeit at a slow pace. And so I think what you see is just a lot of hesitation on people making the investment to go out and hire people. SIMON: Ms. Casey, you're in our studios and I see you nodding your head. CASEY: I agree totally. I think CEOs are taking a conservative approach to hiring because they want to make sure they hire smartly, but we don't want to hire too quickly because we just don't know what the economy is going to look like in six months, a year, a year and a half. GORMAN: The other thing to keep in mind with respect to jobs is part of jobs growing is to not have jobs going away. And I think we're at a point in the cycle where you can see the number of people that are being let go is declining. So I think that's important for that to bottom out as we then talk about going to the next step, which is actually job creation. SIMON: Ms. Casey, from your point of view, is it easy to hire good people? CASEY: No. Despite the economy, it's not easy at the moment to hire good people. I think people are discouraged about finding jobs and they're not putting the same level of effort that they were into finding jobs and understanding not just what they can get out of job, but what they can contribute to a company. SIMON: Well, and that brings up this question, Mr. Gorman. Once companies learn over the past two or three years to do more with less, why should they hire more people? GORMAN: Well, they won't hire more people until they have a business need to do so. And behind your question is the fact that many companies in North America adjusted very quickly to the significant downturn. And what companies I think found is they could get by with fewer people if they used technology in a way that they could really become more and more efficient. Having said that, if we can get the economy to start growing at a rate of better than 1 or 2 percent, we're at a point where we definitely will need to hire people to continue the growth. SIMON: May I ask, Mr. Gorman, if you go into the Starbucks, to use a brand name there in Cleveland, and sit next to a man who says he's been out of work for two years. I don't know what to do, buddy. Do you have any advice to offer? GORMAN: Well, my advice would be to be very focused in what you want to do. And I think as difficult as it is, people have to step back and say, where's the economy going? Where do I think I could make a contribution? SIMON: But, I mean, aren't we in an economy when people with a couple of graduate degrees are willing to work as doormen because they have families to support and haven't been able to find a job? GORMAN: Well, I think that's true. I think there are many, many people that are underemployed. And one of the things that I think as a country will continue to challenge us is we only have about a little less than two-thirds of Americans participating in the labor force. So this is not a problem, Scott, that I think we're going to solve over a short period of time. It's going to be a long, slow climb out of the position we're in currently. SIMON: Lynn Ann Casey, do you have any advice? CASEY: My advice would be to be passionate about whatever job you're applying for, and to demonstrate how your experience, whatever it is, how it relates to that company's mission, and what that company is trying to do. People looking for jobs need to be excited. They need to pursue what they're interested in doing and they need to be persistent about it and clearly articulate the value they bring. And they will ultimately find what they're looking for in a job. SIMON: Can you understand someone who would say what do I want to do? I want a job to support my family. I've applied for 50 jobs over the past two years and I'd love to be passionate about your company, but my impression is companies aren't passionate about their employees. They're shedding them. CASEY: I disagree with that, and we've had numerous people who we've brought onboard who weren't exactly sure what they wanted to do. And in six months or a year, they find that it isn't a good fit for them and they leave. We can't hire people we can't retain so we need to know that they're going to be committed for the long term before we hire them. Every hire is an investment and hiring more people is a tremendous commitment for a company. SIMON: That was Lynn Ann Casey who it the CEO of Arch Aspicio in Washington D.C. and Christopher Gorman president of Key Corporate Bank and the CEO of KeyBank speaking with us from Cleveland. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
Related programs:Weekend Edition Saturday
Weekend Edition on WAMC HD2
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/12735
|
Risk & Compliance December 3, 2009December 3, 2009
Its Future in Limbo, the PCAOB Asks for More Money
As the Supreme Court prepares to consider the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's fate, the board seeks a budget increase.
The week before Supreme Court justices will hear reasons why the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board should be dissolved, the auditor watchdog appears undeterred and has asked for a 16% boost to its 2010 budget.
Members of the board attribute the request for an additional $25.7 million — for a total budget of $183.3 million — to the need for 60 more employees, as the board expects to do more international inspections, undertake a new group of audit firms, and deal with the increasing complexity of accounting rules. The board also expects increased pressure from its regulator to ensure that high-quality audits are occurring at publicly traded companies.
“Changes in economic and business conditions during the past 18 months have made auditing more difficult, particularly in areas like financial-instrument valuation, impairment, going-concern evaluation, and other aspects of financial reporting that require significant estimates and judgments,” said PCAOB acting chairman Daniel Goelzer during a meeting to approve the proposed budget earlier this week. “As a result, our inspections are more challenging and the need for thoughtful risk assessment is greater.”
Nearly half of the additional $25.7 million will go toward the board’s inspections division. In addition, for the first time, the PCAOB will be taking in registrations and annual reports from an estimated 1,200 accounting firms that audit broker-dealers (on top of the more than 2,000 already registered with the board). Before Bernard Madoff’s notorious Ponzi scheme, these firms were not required to register with the PCAOB.
Assuming the budget is approved — which is likely since the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees the PCAOB, works closely with the board during the budgeting process — it will mark a 78% increase over the six-year-old organization’s first full-year budget of $103 million, in 2004. The request could rankle CFOs who may see their accounting-support fees rise next year. “In this day and age, there are not a lot of CFOs who have budgets that are increasing,” notes Andy Burczyk, regional attest leader at accounting firm Mayer Hoffman McCann. “This is just another expense that public companies are going to have to bear.”
The PCAOB funds its activities through fees collected from public companies that have at least $25 million in market capitalization, as well as from investment companies. The annual fee ranges by company size: about half paid $1,000 or less annually in 2008, and 15 companies paid between $1 million and $3 million that year.
In the meantime, the board will likely spend the first half of the year wondering about its immediate future. On Monday the highest court will hear arguments in a case questioning whether the existence of the PCAOB — created out of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 — violates the U.S. Constitution’s separation-of-powers principle. The justices are expected to make their decision by spring.
As of press time, a PCAOB spokeswoman did not respond to CFO’s request to comment for this article. In the board’s most recent strategic plan, it says it “will continue to defend this action vigorously.”
Entering its fourth year in the court system, the lawsuit was filed by the Free Enterprise Fund, a policy group interested in promoting small government, which took on the case of a small accounting firm criticized by the board after one of its inspections. The group contends that because the regulator was not a legal body, it had no standing to perform its reviews and critiques of auditors. The Supreme Court will be weighing in on the specific question of whether Sarbox violates the Constitution because it gives the President no say in the appointment of the PCAOB’s five-member board.
Mark Olson, a former PCAOB chairman who stepped down this summer, believes the oversight question will fall flat since the board — a private, nongovernmental entity — is overseen by the SEC, whose commissioners are appointed by the President. “That takes away the strongest argument, that it’s a separate agency without oversight,” he told CFO. “It doesn’t stand up to reality, either in the construct of the law or the way the law was implemented.”
The matter concerns just one provision of Sarbox that governs the accounting oversight board, but the plaintiffs have not shied away from hoping the case will make the entire seven-year-old law unravel. Moreover, Sarbox dissenters hope the Supreme Court will agree with them that there is no “severability” clause in the act and that any change made to it would open up all of its provisions to debate (including the much-maligned Section 404). “With the issue back at the forefront of the legislative agenda, we anticipate that Congress will consider proposals to reform Sarbanes-Oxley in other ways,” Chris Vergonis, a partner at Jones Day, the law firm that represents the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case, told CFO.
Olson, who now co-chairs the consultancy Corporate Risk Advisors, considers the constitutionality argument a last-ditch effort to get Sarbox repealed by “a group that represents a point of view that was offended by the whole Sarbanes-Oxley legislation.”
The PCAOB was created as a private entity, mostly to help it keep up with private-sector salaries, as well as to keep itself independent from the industry it’s charged with scrutinizing, Olson explains. Four board members are paid just over $500,000 each, more than the SEC commissioners and the U.S. President earn, while the PCAOB chairman’s salary is $654,406.
However, the board hasn’t been able to fill its empty slots. A spokesman says the SEC has made “no final decision” on the three available seats, including Olson’s (which has been vacant since July) and that of Charles Niemeier, who still sits on the board even though his term expired in October 2008. Bill Gradison’s term recently expired as well.
Olson suggests that vacant seats at the PCAOB aren’t unusual; his spot was empty for eight months before he was appointed. The SEC “has a lot on their plate, a lot of things competing for their attention,” he adds.
A group of academics is watching the Supreme Court case closely in the hope it will lead to a rethinking of the board’s makeup and its distance from the SEC. In a critical paper published in Accounting Horizons earlier this year, three professors claim the board members lack practical public-company auditing experience, backgrounds in standard-setting, and variety of audit-related expertise. “The PCAOB approach essentially embodies, in our view, a limited form of the ‘political representative’ approach — ‘limited’ in that the board fails to adequately represent all interested parties,” they wrote.
In particular, says co-author Mark Taylor, an accounting professor at Case Western Reserve University, the PCAOB hasn’t kept pace with its standard-setting activities and has fallen behind converging its rules with other audit rule makers. A Supreme Court decision against the PCAOB could lead to the SEC having to appoint a new board, new directives on standard-setting, and a halt in inspections during any transition, Taylor theorized to CFO.
Sarbox limits the board members from having much practical experience. In response to the coziness between auditors and corporates revealed by the Enron/Arthur Andersen scandal, independence was the word of the day when Sarbox was passed in 2002. The law also put a stop to the self-regulation of public-company auditors. Only two of the PCAOB’s five members can be a certified public accountant, and if one of the CPAs serves as chairman, he or she cannot have been practicing during the previous five years. “You have to go back and remember the context of when the law was passed, that one of the objectives of Sarbanes-Oxley was to take the supervision of the profession out of the profession,” says Olson.
Olson stands by the board’s format and says it should serve as a model for new agencies. “It is extremely difficult to bring in people under a government salary structure and to be able to attract people at the same level of sophistication as the people they are trying to inspect,” he says.
How Old Are Ye, PCAOB?
Watchdog Puts Auditors on High Alert
Supreme Court to Rule on PCAOB's Fate
PCAOB Chairman Mark Olson to Retire
Sarbox R.I.P.?
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/12801
|
Jackson National Life Insurance Company Invests $100 Million In Expansion of Lansing Michigan Headquarters
First Person: Michigan Recalibrates Economic Development Strategy and Initiatives
Michigan Basic Business Taxes 2012
Michigan Direct Financial Incentives 2012
A provider of retirement solutions and educational resources for industry professionals and consumers, the Jackson National Life Insurance Company, plans to expand its corporate headquarters in Lansing Michigan. The expansion will include construction of a connector from its existing headquarters building to a new 260,000 square-foot office complex and a new 80,000 square-foot print center and warehouse on an adjacent piece of land.
The Michigan Strategic Fund approved two grants to support the firm’s $100 million expansion. The investment is expected to create 400 jobs over the next five years, resulting in Michigan Strategic Fund approval of a $3 million Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant.
In addition, MSF approved a $3 million Community Development Block Grant for infrastructure activities at the site, including sanitary sewer improvements, water improvements and electric infrastructure. The project will result in the creation of 278 full time equivalent positions over the term of the work period.
“The reinvention of Michigan is working and making our state the Comeback State. These projects will add to our growing momentum and economic growth,” said Gov. Rick Snyder. “We’ve put in place bold reforms to improve Michigan’s business climate and create jobs. Those reforms are based on policies that embrace public-private partnerships and encourage businesses to expand and create more and better jobs.
|
金融
|
2014-15/0559/en_head.json.gz/12865
|
Young Innovations, Inc. (YDNT) Announces Date of Special Meeting of Shareholders, Early Termination of Hart-Scott-Rodino Waiting Period and Preliminary Results of Go-Shop Process 1/4/2013 9:16:33 AM
ST. LOUIS, Jan. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Young Innovations, Inc. (Nasdaq: YDNT) (the "Company" or "Young") today announced that it will hold a special meeting of shareholders on January 30, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. (CST) at the offices of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, 227 West Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois. At the special meeting, shareholders of the Company will be asked to consider and vote upon a proposal to adopt the previously announced Agreement and Plan of Merger (the "Merger Agreement") which provides for acquisition of the Company by an affiliate of Linden Capital Partners. Shareholders of record of the Company as of the close of business on January 2, 2013 are entitled to notice of and to vote at the special meeting of shareholders. The Company also announced that the Federal Trade Commission has granted early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act as of December 26, 2012. The Company also provided preliminary results of the "go-shop" process it has been engaged in since the signing of the Merger Agreement. The Merger Agreement permits the Company, until 11:59 p.m. (CST) on January 12th, to solicit alternative acquisition proposals from third parties. The Company's exclusive financial advisor, Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated ("Baird"), contacted 62 potential financial buyers and 28 potential strategic buyers. Baird communicated to each of these potential buyers that the Company was looking for indications of interest by December 28, 2012. Despite conducting an active and extensive solicitation of potentially interested parties, the Company had not received any alternative acquisition proposals as of the close of business on January 2, 2013. Based on discussions with Baird and their feedback from the financial and strategic buyers contacted, the Company does not currently expect that an acquisition proposal will be made prior to January 12, 2013, the end of the go-shop period. The Company will continue to actively solicit, initiate, facilitate or encourage inquiries regarding a possible acquisition proposal through the end of the go-shop period in accordance with the terms of the Merger Agreement.The Company expects to close the merger as soon as practicable following receipt of shareholder approval of the proposed merger at the special meeting.About Young Innovations, Inc.:Young develops, manufactures and markets supplies and equipment used by dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants and consumers. The Company's consumables product offering includes disposable and metal prophy angles, prophy cups and brushes, dental micro-applicators, moisture control products, infection control products, dental handpieces (drills) and related components, endodontic systems, orthodontic toothbrushes, flavored examination gloves, children's toothbrushes, and children's toothpastes. In addition, the Company offers a line of diagnostic products that includes panoramic X-ray machines and related supplies. The Company believes it is a leading U.S. manufacturer or distributor of prophy angles and cups, liquid surface disinfectants, dental micro-applicators and obturation units designed for warm, vertical condensation.Forward-Looking Statements:This press release contains disclosures that are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 about Young Innovations, Inc. ("Young" or the "Company") and the proposed merger. Forward-looking statements include statements in which we use words such as "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based upon information presently available to the Company's management and are inherently subjective, uncertain and subject to change, due to any number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause events not to occur as expressed in the forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, unanticipated delays; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted with respect to the proposed merger; and the inability to complete the merger due to the failure to obtain shareholder approval for the merger or the failure to satisfy other closing conditions, as well as other risk factors detailed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, on March 15, 2012 under the captions "Forward Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" and otherwise in the Company's reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Many of these factors are beyond our ability to control or predict. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, since those statements speak only as of the date that they are made. Young assumes no obligation to update, revise or correct any forward-looking statements after the date of this press release or after the respective dates on which such statements otherwise are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise may be required by law.Additional Information about the Merger and Where to Find It:This communication may be deemed to be solicitation material with respect to the proposed acquisition of Young by an affiliate of Linden Capital Partners. In connection with the proposed merger, Young has filed a Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A on January 3, 2013 with the SEC, which it is in the process of mailing, together with a form of proxy, to its shareholders of record as of the close of business on January 2, 2013. Young may also file or furnish with or to the SEC other relevant materials related to the proposed merger. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF YOUNG ARE URGED TO READ CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY ALL RELEVANT MATERIALS FILED OR FURNISHED WITH OR TO THE SEC, INCLUDING THE PROXY STATEMENT, BECAUSE THESE MATERIALS CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED MERGER AND THE PARTIES TO THE MERGER. The proxy statement and any and all documents filed or furnished by Young with or to the SEC, may be obtained free of charge at the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, investors and security holders of Young may obtain free copies of the documents filed or furnished by Young with or to the SEC by directing a written request to Young Innovations, Inc., Investor Relations, 500 N. Michigan Ave, Suite 2204, Chicago, Illinois, 60611, (312) 644-6400.Participants in the Solicitation:Young and its executive officers and directors may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the shareholders of Young with respect to the special meeting of shareholders that will be held to consider the proposed merger. Information about those executive officers and directors of Young and their ownership of Young's common stock is set forth in Young's Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A relating to its 2012 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 5, 2012, and is supplemented by other public filings made, and to be made, with the SEC by Young. Information regarding the direct and indirect interests of Young, its executive officers and directors and other participants in the solicitation, which may, in some cases, be different from those of Young's security holders generally, is set forth in the Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A relating to the merger that was filed with the SEC on January 3, 2013.SOURCE Young Innovations, Inc.
• Young Innovations, Inc.
• Medical Dev. & Diag. - Mergers and Acquisitions
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/14529
|
hide Student loan write-offs hit $3 billion in first two months of year
By Elvina Nawaguna
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Banks wrote off $3 billion of student loan debt in the first two months of 2013, up more than 36 percent from the year-ago period, as many graduates remain jobless, underemployed or cash-strapped in a slow U.S. economic recovery, an Equifax study showed.
The credit reporting agency also said Monday that student lending has grown from last year because more people are going back to school and the cost of higher education has risen.
"Continued weakness in labor markets is limiting work options once people graduate or quit their programs, leading to a steady rise in delinquencies and loan write-offs," Equifax Chief Economist Amy Crews Cutts said in a statement.
Equifax analyzes data from more than 500 million consumers to track financial trends.
U.S. student loan debt reform has become a more pressing issue since the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reported in March 2012 that the total surpassed $1 trillion by the end of 2011 and as interest rates on subsidized Stafford loan rates are set to double in July.
The cost of earning a 4-year undergraduate degree has gone up by 5.2 percent per year in the last decade, according to the CFPB, forcing more students to take out loans. While other forms of debt went down, student loan debt continued to rise through the economic crisis.
Delinquencies have spiked in the last eight years, with about 17 percent of the nearly 40 million student loan borrowers at least 90 days past due on their repayments, a February report from the New York Federal Reserve Bank showed.
The CFPB, a federal consumer agency, is concerned that high student loan debt could affect the rest of the economy because it affects borrowers' credit and could limit their ability to make important purchases such as a home or car.
The CFPB is taking several steps to help reduce the student debt burden on borrowers, including finding ways to offer more flexible repayment options from private lenders and trying to exert more supervisory authority over non-bank student loan servicing companies.
Groups such as the New America Foundation, a nonprofit public policy institute, have said the current student loan repayment system is too complicated for borrowers, and that an income-based repayment system could simplify the process. Some students, they say, simply don't know how to enroll in the different repayment options or put repayment off to take care of more urgent bills such as credit cards and rent.
(Reporting by Elvina Nawaguna; Editing by Richard Chang)
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/14592
|
comments Oil-price manipulation: the next Libor? By James O'Toole @jtotoole May 17, 2013: 12:17 PM ET Regulators have warned that benchmarks for the oil market could be manipulated in a similar way to interbank rates. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Some of the world's biggest oil companies may have a new mess on their hands. The European Commission raided the offices of Shell, BP and Norway's Statoil this week as part of an investigation into suspected attempts to manipulate global oil prices spanning more than a decade. None of the companies have been accused of wrongdoing, but the controversy has brought back memories of the Libor rate-rigging scandal that rocked the financial world last year. UBS (UBS), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Barclays (BCS) have already reached settlements with regulators in the U.S. and U.K. over Libor-rigging, paying over $2.5 billion in fines after admitting to attempts to manipulate interest rates to appear more credit-worthy and to benefit trading positions. Roughly a dozen other global banks remain under scrutiny over rate-rigging, and three people have been arrested so far. Reams of email and instant-message transcripts disclosed in the settlements so far reveal how the banks' scheme worked, and experts have since warned that influential pricing data from publishers serving the oil market could be similarly vulnerable to manipulation. A review ordered by the British government last year in the wake of the Libor revelations cited "clear" parallels between the work of the oil-price-reporting agencies and Libor. "[T]hey are both widely used benchmarks that are compiled by private organizations and that are subject to minimal regulation and oversight by regulatory authorities," the review, led by former financial regulator Martin Wheatley, said in August . "To that extent they are also likely to be vulnerable to similar issues with regards to the motivation and opportunity for manipulation and distortion." Libor -- short for the London Interbank Offered Rate -- is a collection of rates designed to measure the cost of borrowing between banks. The quotes are then used as benchmarks for roughly $10 trillion in loans and some $350 trillion in derivatives. In the setting of Libor rates, groups of banks are asked what interest rate they would have to pay to borrow money for a certain period of time in a certain currency, with averages calculated after several of the highest and lowest submissions are removed. Libor-setting is overseen by the British Bankers Association, an industry trade group, though U.K. law was changed last month to allow financial regulators to supervise the process. Oil-price benchmarks are set by independent "price-reporting agencies," the most influential of which is Platts, a division of McGraw-Hill (MHFI). Platts' data is used help set prices for billions of dollars' worth of physical oil and derivatives contracts. As the Libor scandal gathered force last year, Platts and its fellow price-reporting agencies, Argus and ICIS, issued a joint statement emphasizing what they called the "fundamental differences" between their "reliable and robust" methods and those used in calculating Libor. Some observers, however, say the processes are similarly vulnerable. Delta's $12 billion fuel bill Platts collects voluntarily submitted information on bids, offers and transactions in the otherwise opaque physical-oil market in an effort to provide an assessment of the market price around the close of trading. The process is complex, and while traders can't predict it perfectly, they recognize that transactions late in the day are most important, said Rosa Abrantes-Metz, a principal at Global Economics Group who has studied Platts. "If you put in a price that is a bit off, you can affect the benchmark in a meaningful way, particularly because there just aren't that many transactions at the end of the day," she said. "You may try and move Platts in a particular way and lose in that transaction, but then gain, by moving the index, in a larger transaction on the opposite side or on your derivatives position." There are also concerns about the fact that reporting to Platts is done by traders voluntarily. In a report issued in October, the International Organization of Securities Commissions -- an association of regulators -- said the ability "to selectively report data on a voluntary basis creates an opportunity for manipulating the commodity market data" submitted to Platts and its competitors. Responding to questions from IOSCO last year, French oil giant Total said the price-reporting agencies, or PRAs, sometimes "do not assure an accurate representation of the market and consequently deform the real price levels paid at every level of the price chain, including by the consumer." But Total called Platts and its competitors "generally... conscientious and professional." "While there is the risk of market actors voluntarily submitting false data to the PRA assessment process, most PRAs have effective processes to verify submissions and generally avoid this problem," Total said. Platts describes its methods as "structured" and "highly transparent," saying the submissions it collects must reflect verifiable transactions or executable bids and offers. The agency vets submitters and restricts them from altering their bids and offers beyond defined increments to mitigate against sudden price swings. Platts declined to comment in detail on the European Commission investigation, saying only that investigators visited its office in London on Tuesday and that it is "cooperating fully" with the probe. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday asking that the Justice Department join the investigation, though it's not clear whether American regulators will get involved. Spokesmen for the Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission declined to comment. Shell (RDSA), BP (BP) and Statoil (STO) all confirmed that they were cooperating with the European Commission. Italy's Eni (E) said it had not been visited by officials but had received a request for information and would be cooperating. Aside from the big oil companies, Wall Street banks are also big players in the energy markets who could conceivably benefit from price movements, said David Frenk, director of research at the financial reform group Better Markets and a former commodities analyst at a hedge fund. If Platts' data was indeed manipulated, Frenk said, consumers as well as other traders took a hit. If the benchmark was manipulated upward, that would mean higher oil prices and more expensive gasoline, Frenk said. If it was manipulated both up and down at various times, that volatility would increase the cost of hedging for gasoline resellers, who would in turn pass that cost onto drivers. "Even small distortions of assessed prices may have a huge impact on the prices of crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels purchases and sales, potentially harming final consumers," the European Commission said this week. CNNMoney's Mark Thompson and Alanna Petroff contributed reporting from London. First Published: May 17, 2013: 12:17 PM ET Join the Conversation Most Popular
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/14665
|
Stronger Lure for Prospective Home Buyers
Owning Continues to Become More Affordable Relative to Renting, but Several Obstacles Prevent Many From Biting
Nick Timiraos
Home prices and mortgage rates have fallen so far that the monthly cost of owning a home is more affordable than at any point in the past 15 years and is less expensive than renting in a growing number of cities. Where Housing Is Headed View Graphics
The Wall Street Journal's third-quarter survey of housing-market conditions in 28 of the nation's largest metropolitan areas found that home values declined in all but five markets compared with the second quarter, according to data from Zillow Inc.
Z +1.82%
Zillow Inc. Cl A
04/12/14 What Relocating Grads Should B...
04/02/14 Zillow to Offer Real Estate Li...
03/12/14 Morning MoneyBeat: Short Selle...
Z in
Meanwhile, rent levels have risen briskly across the country and mortgage rates, hovering around 4%, are the lowest in six decades. As a result, monthly mortgage payments on the median priced home—including taxes and insurance—are lower than the average rent levels in 12 metro areas, according to data compiled for The Wall Street Journal by Marcus & Millichap, a real-estate brokerage that tracked 27 metro areas. It remains less expensive to rent than to buy in 15 cities. But affordability hasn't done much to lift the sagging housing sector because many would-be buyers are unwilling to purchase a home or unable to qualify for a mortgage. Related Video Tough Lending Rules Curbing Housing Growth (11/17/2011) Mortgage Delinquencies Fall to Three Year Low (11/17/2011) Could the Fed's Housing Agency Default? (11/11/2011) "It's one of the most striking developments of the housing downturn," said Paul Dales,
an economist at Capital Economics. "The initial building blocks for a recovery are in place, but the legacy of the recession is really preventing households from taking advantage." In Atlanta, which had the most favorable values for owning versus renting, the monthly payment on the average home was $539 assuming a 20% down payment during the third quarter. By contrast, the average asking rent stood at $840, according to the Marcus & Millichap data. But real estate agents and economists say the trend hasn't boosted demand. That is because affordability alone hasn't been enough to overcome the obstacles in the way of a housing recovery. Some homeowners who would like to move up to larger properties are stuck because they can't sell their homes. Owner's Advantage
Also, while the monthly carrying costs on a mortgage are lower than average rents in some cities, home ownership carries other costs—including taxes, insurance, homeowner association dues and maintenance—which may dissuade some potential owners. Other would-be buyers can't qualify for mortgages because lending conditions are tight or because they don't have enough equity in their current homes to use as a down payments. "The reality of coming up with the down payment and the loan-qualification standards makes things much different than the raw numbers suggest," says Hessam Nadji,
managing director of Marcus & Millichap. And even those who may qualify remain skittish about buying property in a market where prices could fall amid foreclosures and weak job growth. Ryan Young
illustrates the point. He is under contract to buy a three-bedroom home in Washington Grove, Md., that will have monthly mortgage, tax, and insurance costs for around $150 less than the $1,900 he is paying to rent a slightly smaller house in Bethesda, Md. He qualified for a 30-year mortgage with a 3.95% fixed rate. Still, Mr. Young says he is cautious about owning his first home with the prospect of future price declines. "Buying a house is not a good financial decision, per se, but we needed a bigger place," said the 35-year-old scientist, "and we don't want to move every couple of years into a new rental." Other cities where owning is now cheaper than renting include Detroit, Minneapolis, Orlando, Las Vegas, Miami, St. Louis, Chicago and Phoenix. Monthly Costs: Rent vs. Own View Graphics
Home ownership is also looking more affordable because after several years of declines, apartment rents will rise by around 4% this year, says Mr. Nadji. He says rents are poised "to pick up even more momentum across the country next year." Even cities where it is still cheaper to rent than own have seen big boosts in affordability. In San Diego, the monthly cost of owning a home has averaged around 83% more than renting over the past two decades. During the third quarter, owning was 22% more expensive than renting, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting. Enlarge Image
A new development in Canonsburg, Pa. The inventory of homes on the market has fallen from levels seen a year ago, as prices and mortgage rates continued to decline.
Associated Press Mortgage rates are a big reason why affordability continues to improve. In 1991, a $1,700 mortgage payment allowed a borrower to take out a $200,000 mortgage. Today, it gets that homeowner a $350,000 loan, a 77% increase in borrowing power, says Dan Green,
a loan officer with Waterstone Mortgage, in Cincinnati. At the same time, low mortgage rates aren't spurring sales because few analysts expect rates to rise anytime soon. The Federal Reserve in August said it would keep rates at ultralow levels for two years. In a normal interest rate cycle, "when they go low, they don't stay for very long, and people jump in," said Mr. Dales. "This time, there is no urgency." Affordability could continue to improve as prices slide even lower in coming months. Price declines are likely because the share of "distressed" sales, including bank-owned foreclosures, tend to rise in the winter, when traditional sales activity cools. Banks are often much quicker to cut prices to unload properties quickly, which means that the greater the share of "distressed" sales, the more prices tend to fall. One hopeful sign is that inventories have fallen from their bloated levels of one year ago. All 28 cities in The Wall Street Journal's latest survey saw homes listed for sale fall from one year ago, when markets were reeling with a substantial overhang of properties amid a big drop in demand. Visible inventory was down sharply in several markets, including by almost half in Miami and 40% in Phoenix. Low inventories have spurred more bidding wars at the low end of the market as investors compete for homes that they can convert into rentals. In Sacramento, it would take just 2.5 months to sell the listed inventory at the current sales pace. Las Vegas has a 4.3 month supply of inventory, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting. But the potential supply of homes is much bigger because banks have yet to process hundreds of thousands of potential foreclosures. Write to Nick Timiraos at [email protected] Email
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/14672
|
Review & Outlook
The Apple Tax Diversion
Senators beat up a U.S. success for following the tax laws they wrote.
You almost have to admire Carl Levin's
timing. Amid a furor over politicized IRS tax enforcement, the Michigan Democrat on Tuesday tried to change the subject to a hardy Washington perennial—corporate tax loopholes. Too bad his designated business pinata, Apple,
demonstrates instead the insanity of the tax code that Mr. Levin has done so much to write. Mr. Levin unveiled the results of his months-long investigation into Apple's corporate taxes and accused the American business success of employing "alchemy" and "gimmickry" to lower its tax bill. What Mr. Levin did not do was present any evidence of anything illegal or even inappropriate. He did prove that Apple has smart accountants and tax lawyers. Mr. Levin is outraged that Apple subsidiaries in Ireland pay little or no corporate income tax on profits generated from Apple's international sales. Ireland has a laudably low corporate tax rate of 12.5% to attract jobs and capital, but it turns out that for certain corporations controlled by entities outside Ireland, the deal gets better. The Apple units are based in Ireland, so U.S. law does not consider them to be U.S. corporations subject to U.S. corporate tax. But since they are managed and controlled by Apple in the U.S., Irish law doesn't consider them Irish companies and thus they are also not subject to the 12.5% Irish corporate tax. This isn't alchemy; it's accountancy. Enlarge Image
Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.) questions Apple Inc. witnesses during a hearing in Washington on Tuesday.
Bloomberg Mr. Levin claims that as a result one Apple subsidiary reported net income of $30 billion from 2009-2012 but didn't pay any corporate income tax. Apple says that since 2003 its Irish subsidiaries have paid a corporate rate of "2% or less," though it has also created some 4,000 Irish jobs. None of this required a Senate "investigation" to discover because Apple is constantly inspected by the IRS and other tax authorities. These tax collectors are well aware of Apple's corporate structure, which has remained essentially the same since 1980. An Apple executive said Tuesday that the company's annual U.S. tax return adds up to a stack of paperwork more than two feet high. We wonder what the Irish think of the spectacle of an American Senator expressing outrage that an American company doesn't pay enough Irish taxes. As Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson pointed out on Tuesday, Americans are better off when U.S. companies pay less in taxes to foreign governments. That includes Americans who are invested in Apple through their mutual and pension funds. And it includes Apple's U.S. workers who benefit when the company is able to sell more iPhones and iPads overseas. Roughly 50,000 of Apple's 75,000 employees are in the U.S. It's also amazing to behold Democrats who routinely claim that high tax rates don't matter to business behavior denouncing a business for engaging in behavior to avoid paying higher tax rates. Which brings us to the real scandal that Mr. Levin has exposed: the folly of America's corporate tax code. The genuine outrage is that Apple's profits in the U.S. are subject to a combined state and federal statutory tax rate of 39.1% that is the developed world's highest. Corporate taxation is so heavy in the U.S. relative to other countries that even while enjoying its near-zero rate in Ireland, Apple ends up with roughly the same overall effective tax rate, 14%, as South Korea's Samsung, its main global competitor. Yet Samsung still enjoys a tax advantage, because it has more flexibility to allocate those profits to the most promising investments anywhere in the world. Like other U.S. companies, Apple pays an extreme tax penalty for bringing its foreign profits home to invest in the U.S. This is due both to the punitive U.S. tax rate and the fact that the U.S. is virtually alone in refusing to embrace a territorial tax system that applies corporate income taxes only in the jurisdiction where the money is earned. So it's no surprise that Apple keeps $102 billion of its roughly $150 billion cash pile overseas. The repatriation tax penalty is so absurd that Apple chose in April to borrow $17 billion to pay a prospective dividend to shareholders rather than pay out of its overseas cash horde. All of which argues for a corporate tax reform that would at the very least cut the combined U.S. state-federal rate to the mid-20s to be comparable with many of our trading partners. We'd suggest something closer to the Irish model—ideally zero but 12.5% also works—to turbo-charge growth and coincidentally generate lots of new revenue for Mr. Levin's beloved IRS. Speaking of which, Mr. Levin is one of those Senators who wrote the IRS demanding that it inspect the tax-exempt status of Americans for Tax Reform, the Club for Growth and other groups that are his ideological opponents. "Why does the IRS allow 501(c)(4) organizations to self-declare?" he roared in July 2012. The IRS seems to have followed his orders, so no wonder he is trying to change the subject. Email
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/14676
|
SEC Chief's Exit Opens Void
Banks, Investors Fear Regulatory Limbo; For Schapiro, Victories and Controversy
Scott Patterson And Jean Eaglesham Updated Nov. 26, 2012 7:31 p.m. ET
When Mary Schapiro took over as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2009, the agency was reeling from its failure to spot Bernard Madoff's yearslong fraud and the collapse of some of the investment banks it oversaw. Ms. Schapiro, who said Monday that she would step down after four turbulent years, helped restore the agency's reputation and ensure its survival. But she also leaves behind a string of pressing regulatory issues—such as the so-called Volcker rule restricting proprietary trading at...
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/14776
|
Symantec's CEO Discusses Q2 2012 Results - Earnings Call Transcript
| About: SYMC by: SA Transcripts Executives
Enrique T. Salem - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
James Beer - Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President
Helyn Corcos - Vice President of Investors Relations
Dennis Simson - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division
Brent Thill - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division
Adam H. Holt - Morgan Stanley, Research Division
Brian Freed - Wunderlich Securities Inc., Research Division
Danyaal Farooqui
Steven M. Ashley - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division
Kash G. Rangan - BofA Merrill Lynch, Research Division
Edward Maguire - Credit Agricole Securities (USA) Inc., Research Division
John S. DiFucci - JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division
Rob D. Owens - Pacific Crest Securities, Inc., Research Division
Brad A. Zelnick - Macquarie Research
Unknown Analyst - James Wesman
Symantec (SYMC) Q2 2012 Earnings Call October 26, 2011 5:00 PM ETOperator
Good day, and welcome to Symantec's Second Quarter 2012 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Helyn Corcos, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Helyn Corcos
Thank you. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining our call to discuss fiscal second quarter 2012 financial result. With me today are Enrique Salem, Symantec's President and CEO; and James Beer, Symantec's Executive Vice President and CFO. In a moment, I will turn the call over to Enrique. He will discuss Symantec's execution during the quarter, then James will highlight our financial results as well as discuss our guidance assumptions as outlined in the press release. This will be followed by a question-and-answer session. Today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay on Symantec's Investor Relations website. A copy of today's press release and supplemental financial information are posted on our website. And a copy of today's prepared remarks will be available on the website shortly after the call is completed. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that we will review our financial results focusing on year-over-year constant currency growth rates, unless otherwise stated. Net income, EPS and sequential growth rates are based on as-reported results. For the September 2011 quarter, the actual weighted average exchange rate was $1.41 per euro, and the end-of-period rate was $1.34 per euro compared to our guided rate of $1.43 per euro. For the September 2010 quarter, the actual weighted average rate was $1.30 per euro, and the end-of-period rate was $1.38 per euro. We've included a summary of the year-over-year constant currency and actual growth rates in our press release tables and in our supplemental information, which can be accessed on the Investor Relations website. Some of the information discussed on this call, including our projections regarding revenue, operating results, deferred revenue, cash flow from operations, amortization of acquisition-related intangibles and stock-based compensation for the coming quarter contain forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties and may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the statement. Additional information concerning these risks and uncertainties can be found in the company's most recent periodic reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Symantec assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement. In addition to reporting financial results in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP, Symantec reports non-GAAP financial results. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP results, which can be found in the press release and on our website. And now, I'd like to introduce our CEO, Mr. Enrique Salem.
Enrique T. Salem
Thank you, Helen, and good afternoon, everyone. For the fifth quarter in a row, the team executed very well, delivering solid September quarter results. We generated record September revenue and deferred revenue. Performance was balanced across our business segments and geographies. Results were largely driven by strength in enterprise security, backup and Consumer. The VeriSign authentication business generated strong growth for the fifth consecutive quarter. In addition, the Clearwell acquisition completed its first full quarter, posting its largest bookings quarter ever and exceeding expectations. Now let's take a closer look at some of the highlights from the quarter. Focused sales execution, coupled with industry-leading products, drove solid results in each region. Both the Americas and APJ regions grew double digits, and the growth in EMEA met expectations. Our public sector business generated record bookings this quarter as we closed several competitive wins. We are successfully cross-selling the product portfolio with 43% of our September quarter deals over $1 million, including sales from both enterprise product segments. Sales of Data Loss Prevention and backup solutions drove license revenue growth for the third consecutive quarter. Our enterprise security business generated another quarter of growth, reflecting improvement in the Endpoint Security business and strong performance for our Managed Security Services, Authentication and Data Loss Prevention businesses. Since the July launch of Symantec Endpoint Protection 12, the product has been successfully deployed on more than 1.3 million end points. I'm pleased with both the level of quality and effectiveness the solution provides for both virtual and physical environments. Early customer and partner feedback for both the enterprise and small business editions has been very positive. Recently, at our annual partner conference, several partners commented that the product is easy to deploy, and their customers have had 0 infections since installing the product due to SEP 12's new, innovative, reputation-based security technology. Partners serving the SMB segment in the U.S. and Canada are also excited about the ability to sell SEP.cloud for end customers' choice in deploying our security solutions. The Managed Security Services business had another quarter of strong double-digit revenue and bookings growth. Customers are increasingly relying on our security expertise to protect their environments and information as many struggle to meet the IT staffing needs they require to confidently respond to new and emerging threats. Our Data Loss Prevention business posted strong double-digit growth as information protection continues to be top of mind for corporations and governments around the world. We've been a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for 6 years, making us the clear choice when CSOs [ph] evaluate DLP solutions. Further extending our leadership we'll be delivering the industry's first content aware DLP solution for tablets in early 2012. Our Authentication business had another strong quarter as we continue to reap the benefits of leveraging Symantec's distribution channel for SSL and user authentication solutions. The SSL install base grew double digits for the fifth consecutive quarter as we increased our lead in both the premium and value segments. In addition, our cloud-based user authentication solution, known as VIP, had its best quarter ever. VIP is cost effective for customers and delivers strong authentication service that's allowing us to win competitive deals. Our enterprise mobility strategy is focused on unifying identity, information and device-independent protection. We continue to make progress in helping our customers manage the increased adoption of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices in the enterprise. We launched Symantec Mobile Management 7.1, which now extends native controls to activate, secure and manage Apple iOS devices. Symantec Mobile Management 7.1 is a natural extension to Symantec's client management suite. Moving on to our Information Management business, our backup solutions once again realized strong revenue growth as we continue to take share. Growth in this business is being driven by the ongoing adoption of our deduplication and virtualization capabilities. In addition, the V-Ray technology embedded in our backup products continues to differentiate us from the competition, allowing IT administrators increased visibility in the backup images across physical and virtual environments. Customer adoption of our NetBackup Appliances is growing as we have integrated backup, deduplication and the media server into a single offering, making it easier to deploy our solution and reduce total cost of ownership. Over the past 6 months, we sold more than twice as many appliances as compared to all of last year. In August, we expanded our appliances into the SMB segment. Our Backup Exec Appliance is the first SMB backup clients [ph] which integrated client and target data deduplication for protecting virtual and physical machines. And for those customers who prefer a backup solution in the cloud, we launched Backup Exec.cloud. This SaaS-based solution is ideal for small businesses or remote offices with easy-to-use online backup and recovery, allowing customers to automatically protect their information on desktops and servers. The Clearwell e-Discovery team, working with Symantec's Federal team, signed the largest deal in its history, driving their results above our original expectations in the September quarter. The team has done an outstanding job of integrating sales, operations and product development. As expected, Clearwell's e-Discovery solution complements our archiving capabilities. Customers value our ability to get relevant information to the right people while reducing the need for high-cost manual discovery. Our storage and availability management business met our expectations this quarter, driven by customer demand for centralized management across Linux, Windows and UNIX platforms. Customers transitioning to non-UNIX-based environments are realizing that managing multiple point tools is costly, inefficient and ineffective. Our solutions help customers deal with this challenge, allowing them to adopt new platforms while maintaining their service levels and reducing storage costs and operational complexity. Customers are increasingly adopting our ApplicationHA solution for managing critical applications in virtualized environments. Earlier this month, customers got a glimpse of how Symantec can help transform their IT infrastructure with the upcoming 6.0 release of Storage Foundation and Cluster Server. With this upcoming release, we expect to enable IT organizations to use their existing infrastructure to build and manage resilient private clouds that's in multiple virtualization technologies, operating systems and storage platforms. We expect this release to help us further stabilize this business and attract new customers while grappling with the challenge of having to do more with less. Our Consumer Business generated a solid quarter of high single-digit revenue growth, driven by our strong, multichannel relationships, improvements in renewal rates via our eStore and the quality of our products and services. The consumer team has delivered consistent growth for the past 3 years. We signed more than 20 new deals worldwide across OEMs, service providers and alternative channels. We had a competitive win at Samsung to provide Norton Internet Security and Norton Online Backup on their laptops and notebooks. We expanded our partnership with AOL to offer Norton Online Backup to a majority of their paid subscribers starting this fall. During the quarter, we continued to extend our security leadership with the release of the Norton 2012 products, which have once again set the industry bar for the best protection and performance. Our new products received PC Magazine Editors' Choice and CNET's top award. In total, Norton has won more than twice as many awards as our closest competitors combined. As part of the 2012 release, it is now possible for consumers to remotely manage their Norton products and subscriptions on multiple computers, all from a central location. In addition, we announced Norton One, which will be the industry's first personalized service that will protect consumers across multiple devices and platforms, including Windows, Mac and Android. This offering is expected to be available in the first half of 2012. As part of our Norton Everywhere initiative, we extended our mobile offerings with Norton Mobile Security Light, Norton Tablet Security and Norton Anti-Theft. Since the launch of Norton Mobile Security Light, the premium version of our mobile security solution, we've averaged 170,000 downloads per month. These new products seamlessly combine antitheft features with powerful anti-malware capabilities, giving users improved protection in the event their phone is lost, stolen or compromised. In addition to these new mobile offerings, we have several products already in the market, including Norton Mobile Security, Norton DNS and Norton Online Family for Android and iOS. In conclusion, we have executed well against our FY '12 plan, delivering strong results in the first half of the year. We've been able to effectively integrate and grow our acquisitions consistently, and customers are embracing the value propositions we offer across our portfolio. And with that, I'll turn the call over to James for a detailed review of our financial results.
James Beer
Thank you, Enrique, and good afternoon. In the second quarter, we once again achieved solid results driven by growth in bookings across all geographies and business segments. Our consistent execution drove record September quarter revenue and deferred revenue, as well as double-digit earnings per share growth. GAAP revenue totaled $1.68 billion, an increase of 9% versus the September 2010 quarter. The U.S. dollar weakened 8% against the euro as compared to the year-ago period. Overall, foreign currency movements positively impacted revenue growth by 5 percentage points. License revenue grew 1% year-over-year, driven by strong performance in backup and Data Loss Prevention. Content, subscription and maintenance revenue continued to grow, up 11% year-over-year. Increasing subscription sales from our Consumer, Software-as-a-Service and Authentication businesses accounted for 39% of total revenue, up from 35% in the year-ago period. Non-GAAP net income of $295 million grew 11% and resulted in fully diluted non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.39, up 15% from the September 2010 period. The Consumer business delivered its 12th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth, generating revenue of $531 million, up 9% year-over-year. If we exclude the impact of a 2010 onetime charge of $10 million, year-over-year revenue growth was 7%. Our new product and service offerings grew 52% and contributed 2 percentage points of revenue growth to the Consumer business. In the September quarter, OEM placement fees were higher than we originally forecast as our OEM partners increased their PC shipment volumes ahead of our expectations. In addition, it's important to note that OEM PC shipments are historically higher during the second half of our fiscal year with shipments and, therefore, OEM fees peaking in the December quarter. Turning now to the enterprise business. Solid sales execution continued again this quarter. We generated a total of 373 transactions valued at more than $300,000 each, up 17% year-over-year, and 56 transactions valued at more than $1 million, in line with our seasonal expectations. Of our deals valued at more than $300,000, 72% included multiple products. The Security and Compliance segment generated revenue of $483 million, up 22% year-over-year. This performance was driven by growth in our Endpoint Security business with the successful release of SEP 12 as well as the continued strength of Data Loss Prevention and Managed Security Services. The VeriSign authentication business continued to perform well, generating revenue of $89 million in the September quarter. The Storage and Server Management segment generated revenue of $605 million, an increase of 4% as compared to the September 2010 quarter. Revenue from the Information Management business, which includes our backup and archiving offerings, increased 11% year-over-year, driven by our differentiated deduplication and virtual machine protection features. In addition, we realized $20 million in revenue from our Clearwell acquisition, well above our expectations, due in part to a large federal deal that was not in our original forecast. Revenue from the storage and availability management business was down 7% for the quarter and down 2% for the first half of fiscal year 2012, in line with our expectations. Our services business generated revenue of $62 million as we continued to transition our consulting practice to specialized partners. Turning now to total company margins. Non-GAAP gross margin was 85.8% for the September 2011 quarter, up 10 basis points from the year-ago period. Non-GAAP operating margin was 25.5%, down 40 basis points compared to the September 2010 quarter, in line with our expectations. Cash flow from operating activities for the September quarter totaled $308 million. We generated operating cash flow of $811 million for the first half of fiscal 2012, an increase of 26% year-over-year. We exited the September quarter with $2.25 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. During the quarter, we utilized $275 million to repurchase 16 million of our shares at an average price of $17.30. 32% of our cash balance was on shore in the U.S. as we exited the September quarter. GAAP deferred revenue at the end of September 2011 was $3.45 billion, up 11% year-over-year. In the month of September, the dollar appreciated 7% against the euro, negatively impacting our reported end-of-quarter deferred revenue balance. At our guided rate of $1.43 per euro, deferred revenue would have totaled approximately $3.5 billion, at the high end of our guided range. Now I'd like to spend a few minutes discussing our guidance for the December 2011 quarter. We are assuming an exchange rate of $1.37 per euro versus the weighted average rate of $1.35 and the end-of-period rate of $1.33 per euro in the December 2010 quarter. Our $1.37 per euro assumption reflects a 3% decrease from our weighted average rate of $1.41 for the September 2011 quarter. As a result, foreign currency movements would decrease estimates sequentially but provide a modest tailwind during the December quarter year-over-year. Our guidance assumes an effective tax rate of 28% and a common stock equivalent total for the quarter for approximately 745 million shares. Thus, for the December 2011 quarter, we expect GAAP revenue to be in the range of $1.7 billion to $1.715 billion as compared to revenue of $1.604 billion during the December 2010 quarter. We expect year-over-year revenue to be up 6% to 7% on an as-reported basis. 71%, or $1.2 billion, of our December quarter revenue is estimated to come from the balance sheet. The Clearwell business is expected to contribute between $13 million and $17 million to our December quarter revenue. GAAP earnings per share are estimated to be between $0.25 and $0.26 as compared to $0.17 in the year-ago period. Non-GAAP earnings per share are estimated to be between $0.40 and $0.41 as compared to $0.35 in the year-ago period, up 14% to 17% on an as-reported basis. As previously mentioned, we expect $0.005 of dilution as a result of our Clearwell acquisition during the quarter. In addition, U.S. GAAP accounting dictates that we no longer recognize quarterly losses from our joint venture now that the JV's cumulative losses exceed our original investments. The impact of this accounting requirement is reflected in our earnings per share guidance for the December quarter. GAAP deferred revenue is estimated to be between $3.685 billion and $3.705 billion compared to $3.408 billion at the end of December 2010. We are expecting deferred revenue to be up 8% to 9% on an as-reported basis. In conclusion, we are pleased with our execution and the solid performance across all of our geographies, segments and financial metrics. We will continue to focus on carefully managing our expenses while driving long-term growth and free cash flow generation. And now I'll turn it back over to Helen so we can start taking some of your questions
Thank you, James. Gwen, will you please begin polling for questions?
[Operator Instructions]
While the operator is polling for questions, I'd like to update you on a few upcoming events. We will be presenting at the UBS Conference on November 15 in New York, the Crédit Suisse Conference on November 29 in Phoenix and the NASDAQ Investor Program on December 7 in London. Lastly, we'll be reporting our fiscal third quarter results on January 25. For a complete list of our investor-related events, please visit the Events section of the Investor Relations website. Gwen, we're ready for our first question.
We'll take our first question from Brad Zelnick with Macquarie.
Enrique, specifically on the Consumer business, it's great to see this kind of acceleration. I was hoping maybe you can give us a little bit more visibility to what it looks like on a bookings perspective. Just especially in light of what we're seeing with PC growth, the results are much stronger than we had expected. And also, if you can comment on the contribution from nontraditional products.
Yes, brad, thanks for the comments on the quarter. We're obviously pleased with our ability to consistently deliver against our guidance. What I was going to comment on was as you look at the PC business, the Consumer team just continues to deliver the best products on the market. I mean, it's evident from their ability to consistently win awards that people love what we're doing as far as the overall solution. And so what that's doing is it's allowing us to do a much better job of not only bringing in new customers over a range of channels, but it's also allowing us to get -- improving our renewal rates. A lot of that's being driven by the work we've done around the eStore where we can be much more effective at targeting the renewal with the appropriate offers, the appropriate price points and so forth. The other thing that's going on, and you heard in James' comments, that we did see good -- better shipments of OEM units into the call -- into the back-to-school/holiday season or the beginnings of the holiday season. And so my expectation is that while we'll continue to see pressure on the overall PC business given people diversifying to other nontraditional devices, we expect that this will be fairly common or as expected given the work that we've done. The other thing I did say in my comments was Janice's team has done a really good job of extending the number of new products that we're shipping on non-PC platforms: our Norton One initiative, some of the work we've done with Norton Everywhere and then some of the new mobile solutions. So we're getting nice distribution beyond our traditional PC products. You specifically asked how much of our revenue came from the non-PC products. And that is approximately 2% at this point of the total business that we're generating in Consumer.
Well, 2 points of the growth...
Two points of the growth, that's right.
Came from the traditional businesses.
Nontraditional.
Yes, oh, the nontraditional businesses. That equates to about 4% or so of the overall consumer revenue.
That's helpful color. If I could just ask a follow-up for James. James, just on margins, if I recall back to Financial Analyst Day, your guidance on margins at the time was for where the Street was at pre-Clearwell. So I think that was 26.3%. Looking at the first half, I think we're a little bit behind. And I haven't been able to run through all of your details on guidance, but I'm not sure that Q3 is much better than what we saw this quarter. I just want to know if your guidance from Financial Analyst Day still holds and if I've got that right.
Well, you're right that at analyst day, we talked about 26.3%, and then the 0.2-point adjustment for Clearwell, bringing us down to 26.1%. So that's the discussion that we've had on operating margins. And we're continuing to go quarter-by-quarter to meet that goal.
And We'll take our next question from Walter Pritchard with Citi.
It's Danyaal for Walter. Enrique, you mentioned that Europe met expectations. Could you give any more granular detail on country level?
Yes, I'll give you a couple of thoughts. We grew 11%, as reported, 2% on constant currency basis. And what we saw was Central Europe continued to perform well, and we did see a little bit of weakness in the Mediterranean countries in the September quarter.
Anything on Europe? I mean, anything on U.K., sorry?
Yes, yes. So as far as the U.K., we performed as expected. It was probably a little better than it's been. We had seen about 1 year ago a little bit of weakness in the public sector in the U.K. but definitely seemed a little more stable with a bit of improvement.
Got it, okay. And then just one more. How much are you benefiting from bringing eCommerce in-house? Is there a way you could kind of quantify it and -- or tell me or tell us how much of financial benefit you've had this quarter for Consumer?
At this point, we're -- the -- because the eCommerce platform has been in our business now for several years, we're not breaking out any other deltas for year-over-year or quarter-over-quarter. But clearly, it is making a difference because more of our business is coming from the eStore, I mean, where over 80% of our business now comes through electronically. And so a big driver of the improvements in a lot of the work that we do is in that much better targeting. So ultimately, it is a absolute benefit to the business.
Yes, I think the investment has helped build our cash flow and margins over time.
And we'll go next to John DiFucci with JP Morgan.
I had a question on the storage business, Enrique. This continues to put up I'll call it respectable results after a couple of years of sort of tough sledding. But after next quarter, the comps, at least year-over-year, get tougher. And I just wonder if you think you can continue to put up mid-single digits, sometimes in the high single-digit growth. If you can continue to do this with the storage business? Or is it something we should just expect to be sort of a lower-growth business?
You're right that, that business has continued to improve. I think our team there is doing an outstanding job. And what's happening, John, is that we've been able to diversify away from the UNIX platform where, as you remember, a lot of the business was on UNIX. Now we're seeing a lot more business coming through on Linux, Windows and HP-UX. As far as the other things that we're doing in that business that I think are meaningful are the work that we've done to help optimize VMware environments with technologies like ApplicationHA or AppHA. And so I do see good momentum and improvements there. As far as the growth rate, I'm going to stick with what we've said at analyst day, which is this is a business that will be relatively flat for us. Obviously, we're going to work hard to outperform that. And there's a lot of good signs in the business because, as I commented on the last several calls, we're seeing people who want to simplify their environments, and that means not having lots of point products and lots of point tools spread out across multiple data centers. And that's where we're really seeing some kind of return back to using the products from our SAMG business. So, so far, I'm pleased with the performance. It's -- team's doing an outstanding job, and I expect that to continue.
If I might, just a quick follow-up on the Security Compliance business. Exclude -- if you exclude acquisitions, and by the way, your acquisitions that appear to be performing very well here, but if you exclude that, you're sort of growing that sort of in low single digits, it looks to us anyway is this -- in this business and realize that most of that is sort of desktop or Endpoint Protection for corporate, is that sort of what we should be expecting for that part of that business anyway?
Well, for the Security and Compliance business, if you adjust for acquisitions and also in a constant-currency basis, that business unit grew at 5% year-over-year. And so, I mean, that's reflecting the progress that we're making in Endpoint Security. We're very pleased with how the SEP 12 release has come out of the gates, continued growth around Data Loss Prevention and Software-as-a-Service.
I'm sorry, James. Did you say 5%?
Yes, 5%. So that's adjusted for currency and acquisitions.
The other quick comment I'd kind of give you is we're very pleased with the launch of SEP 12. I mean, the feedback has been outstanding. I mean, 1.3 million end points have already been upgraded. The efficacy of the solution is proving to be just incredibly strong, and many of our customers are saying it was easy to deploy and they absolutely are seeing improvements in detection rates. So as you know, 75% of attacks now are hitting less than 50 machines. And so this new technology is really allowing customers to better protect their environments. And the feedback from both customers and partners has been better than I expected. And I think that also showed some improvements in the Security and Compliance segment.
And we hear -- actually, well, I hear similar things in the field.
And we'll go next to Adam Holt with Morgan Stanley.
Maybe just to follow up on the question of organic growth. James, what do you think your organic constant currency growth was in the quarter? And then maybe a longer-term question. As you think about the 3-year targets, and this may be for Enrique or James, that you gave at the analyst day, how do you bridge from where we are now to those 3-year targets? Is it about the environment getting a little bit better? Some of these acquisitions anniversary-ing? Maybe give us the bridge from here to there.
Well, in terms of the organic constant currency growth rates, our revenue had been growing in the 3% to 4% type range. So that's a little bit faster than we have seen in the last 3 or 4 quarters. So a bit of a sequential improvement.
I think as we look forward, we're comfortable with where we set kind of 3-year growth rates at the 7% to 8% levels. And what really is driving that and will drive that is kind of 2 big thrusts. One is continuing to improve our core businesses. How do we continue to drive improvements in security with the great launch of products like SEP 12? But then also, the work we're doing with appliances around the backup business. So it's really about strengthening the core business. And then, it's executing against our vision and taking advantage of the opportunities around cloud computing, virtualization and mobility. I mean, some of the new technologies that we're showing both at our Vision conference in Europe that we just held the beginning of the quarter -- beginning of this quarter where we showed people you can take a lot of that current infrastructure you have and re-tool it using our products to be more efficient, better utilized and create your own internal private cloud without having to procure lots of new equipment and software. And so we're seeing people -- especially in this what I'll say is folks trying to do a lot more with less, some of the solutions we're shipping or will be shipping with the 6.0 release will really help people do that. At this point, the combination of strengthening our core and taking advantage of some of these big trends that we've been talking about over the last several calls I think will enable us to achieve the growth rates. Now, obviously, we do expect that, that requires IT spending to continue at what I would say normal levels, and that's what'll make it possible.
If I could just sneak in one follow-up. It looks like the buyback accelerated in the quarter. Is that something you think we should expect to see continue? Or are you thinking about doing other things with your capital position, which is obviously strong?
So the buyback did accelerate during the September quarter, and that very much reflected our approach of trying to buy a little more back when we see particular dislocations in the marketplace as we did in August.
And we'll go next to Brent Thill with UBS.
And just on Europe, can you just walk through what you think is happening? Obviously, I know it's been lagging the U.S. But -- and the U.S. has been recovering and Europe really hasn't recovered, and I'm just curious if there's something else going on in terms of the competitive landscape or something that you're seeing in terms of the deal structures that perhaps is holding Europe back still. Who would have thought that, that would have recovered a little bit better than it has?
What I would look at in Europe is I think we've been in an interesting kind of macro environment in Europe over the last 12 months. That's a little bit different than what we're seeing here in the U.S. And what I mean by that, Brent, is we -- a year ago, we were dealing with some weakness in the U.K., specifically in the public sector. Now as we look at it, given what's been happening in the Mediterranean countries, from Greece to Spain and Portugal, I think that that's continuing to put some level of pressure on the overall results coming out of Europe. Now the shining spot in all of this for us has consistently been the Central European area of Germany, Austria, Switzerland that continued to perform well for us. But we've seen different parts of Europe be weaker at different points. Operator?
And we'll go next to Aaron Schwartz with Jefferies.
Unknown Analyst - This is Sonya [ph] on for Aaron. Just a quick question on the Storage Management business. So now that we've gotten through kind of the bulk of Sun-related declines, I guess can you comment a little bit on your expectations for the growth trajectory going forward?
I think as we -- I think you're right that we are at the tail end of the integration or the Sun-Oracle OEM contract. We're continuing to see that business stabilize. As we showed last quarter and this quarter, some of the other platforms beyond Sun Solaris are doing well for us. And I think the important point is that's stabilizing the overall segment. But then we're also seeing improvements in the backup business. We launched a new set of appliances that are doing very well for us. We're seeing a lot of demand for our approach of taking what used to be multiple point products, potentially some from us and some from others, and integrating it into one device where now you've got the backup software, the deduplication software and the media server all integrated into one appliance. And so that's also helping that business. We're coming up on a new product cycle with the backup products at the first half of next year. And so my expectation is that our backup business will continue to be the driver of growth in that overall segment.
Unknown Analyst - Okay, that's helpful And then just quickly circling back on your points around SEP 12 or just Symantec Endpoint Protection 12. I guess can you speak a little bit to how meaningful you think the revenue opportunity is there? Is this more of a maintenance release where it seems like it'll be more related to seat expansion? Or is there a price increase associated with it as well?
Yes, it's definitely -- as we look at it, that -- it's a major release, and it integrates a number of new capabilities, most specifically the reputation-based technology that really is doing an outstanding job of detecting a lot of these very targeted threats. And also, because we worked very hard on the ease of deployment, and some of the early results are showing that where we have had previously a little bit of weakness in the SMB segment, I think this will be part of the improvement plan of tailoring products to serve that market segment well. So my expectation is that we'll continue to see improvements in the Security and Compliance segment where previously, the Endpoint Security business had been a bit of a drag on the overall business. The other thing that's important is we continue to see, post-Intel acquisition of McAfee, some disruption in their business and go-to-market. And that's helping us across the various segments now, and we expect that to continue.
And we'll go next to Kash Rangan with Merrill Lynch.
I was wondering if you could give us a little bit more color on public sector. I think you talked about some good business performance towards the end of the quarter. With -- given all the controversy and the scrutiny on IT budgets in that sector, what's your view as to how spending trends hold up for your businesses based on your conversations and what sales people are telling you about how your products are being budgeted for the public sector?
It was a -- Kash, it was a record quarter for us in the public sector. I think the team executed very well, and the Clearwell acquisition performed well against our expectations and some of the larger deals came out of the public sector. Obviously, people are trying to figure out what happened to the federal budget. As you know, we're in this kind of wait and see what budget gets allocated in the new fiscal year. But as I kind of look and talk to a lot of folks, senior folks in government, the federal budget will be anywhere from $76 billion to $80 billion. And cyber security has become a big priority for governments around the world, and so my expectation is that we'll continue to see demand for a number of our security products. But I still expect it to be a very significant budget. I haven't seen dramatic changes in that area, and we'll wait and see what happens with the budget. But at this point, I do believe that we'll continue to do well. And the question is now what ultimately happens with the focus on cyber security and some of the other priority areas.
Got it. And I don't know if you have time for one quick follow-up. But on the consumer security business, I was wondering if you could talk to conversion rates directionally?
Yes, if you look at what we've done with the eStore, it's pretty clear that our ability to really have a good understanding of what products they're using, what browsers, what price points they paid previously, is really enabling us to be much were effective at converting and getting more value per transaction of people coming to our online stores. So I would say that ultimately, we're getting benefits in 2 areas: better pricing or increases in pricing, and also better conversion rates.
And we'll go next to Phil Winslow with Crédit Suisse.
This is Dennis in for Phil Winslow. Can you describe the trends you saw in the sales force productivity in the quarter and how much room you think you have for improvement there?
Well, thanks for asking the question because it's pretty clear that our sales force execution has continued to improve consistently over the last 18 months. I think it's a credit to Bill Robins and his team and the work they've done to institute a much more disciplined sales process. What I would comment is, I think there's continued room for improvement. I think we can continue to drive efficiency. I think we can continue to be even better at cross-selling the whole portfolio. We're giving you a metric right now that talks about our ability to cross-sell and what's happening with the larger deals. 43% of the deals above $1 million contained products from both segments. I think that's just our sales team is much more focused and disciplined in how they look at the Symantec portfolio and how that matches to the things our customers are trying to do. So I expect there will be continued improvements in sales force effectiveness and productivity.
And can you describe maybe the trends that you saw? You commented on your traction with your backup products. If you can maybe expand there a little bit more, specifically in the SMB space?
With the backup product in particular?
Yes, in the SMB space.
Yes. So a number of things that we're doing is we're looking at what are all the capabilities that we need to deliver into the SMB space. Specifically, we've added 2 things, which are the new Backup Exec Appliance. It's early. Well, this was the first quarter at our partner event a couple of weeks ago. We showcased it, and there was genuine enthusiasm about our ability to deliver the Backup Exec Appliance, which will be targeted at the -- our mid-market/smaller-sized companies. I think the other thing that we're doing is clearly the Backup Exec.cloud or our cloud-based backup capabilities that will also allow us to better serve the SMB segment with the cloud-based offering. So my sense is the combination of Backup Exec.cloud and the new appliance are definitely going to help us there. And clearly, we're going to continue to work towards bundling both the security products with the backup products because IT buyers or smaller businesses, they want simpler. They want it easier. They don't want a lot of point products. And so ultimately, our ability to bring together the products from both our security and backup business will fit well with that segment.
And we'll go next to Steve Ashley with Robert W. Baird.
Great. I actually would like to just swing back to the SEP products and specifically the mid-market or small business SPS SEP product that was also released recently. Do you have any kind of early feedback on how that's being received? I don't know if it's too early to get Net Promoter Scores. Or also, if you might be doing anything different in the channel to try driving adoption at that level?
Yes. Well, the Net Promoter Scores for the new version of SEP, of SEP, have done very well both in the enterprise and SMB markets. The initial data is showing multiple points of improvement, and that really is a tribute to the great work the team has done. I am very encouraged by the partner feedback, and I'm sure you're starting to hear the same thing, that people believe this is just an outstanding product. And my expectation is that it will bring partners back in because what partners are trying to do is they're trying to optimize their time. And if they can -- if it's easier to deploy and they don't have to go back and potentially have to clean up when some of these machines gets infected, that really is something that allows them to be more productive, more efficient and then generate more profit for the partner. As far as from a go-to-market perspective in the partner segment, we've done a number of different things. We continue to be very focused on specialization where we're trying to make sure that partners have the necessary certifications to make each implementation successful. And that's why you are seeing the improvements in the Net Promoter Score, because our partners are becoming back that much more effective at implementing the new products. And so we're very confident that the new products, combined with some of the work we've done in the new channel, will drive improvements in the small business segment.
And just quickly on the VeriSign authentication business, have you done anything there with respect to the go-to-market strategy to broaden out either the breadth of distribution or things that are -- anything new and different on the go-to-market there that's helping the success there?
Well, absolutely. The big difference is you now have got a much larger sales force around the world that is able to take the user authentication products to market. But the other more important thing is that we're able to combine it with a much richer portfolio, because we're able to bring in the extensions around encryption, the extensions around malware and improved management platform. And so ultimately, the combination of product breadth and a larger go-to-market or sales force capability is definitely driving improvement. Also, there have been some attention as a result of some of the issues that one of our major competitors faced with an attack. And so my sense is that, that combination is definitely having a positive impact on our user authentication business.
And we'll go next to Ed Maguire with CLSA.
Enrique or -- and James, you had mentioned that your OEM agreements had, I guess, higher costs upfront. Could you discuss what the competitive dynamics have been around some of those OEM agreements? And what do you expect going forward with any major renewals that might be coming up?
Well, what I was referring to in my text was that our OEM fees actually came in higher during the September quarter than we were expecting would be the case 90 days prior, very much driven by the fact that the OEM partners shipped more PCs than, I think, everyone was expecting. So that effect added about half $0.005 worth of costs to the operating expense base. And the other point I was making in the text was that we would expect to see sequential increases between the September quarter and the December quarter in the total amount of OEM fees that we pay. So that would likely add something in the $0.01, $0.015 type realm. We'll see how we go with the OEM PC shipment volumes this quarter.
Great. And just a follow-up, if I may, on the Huawei-Symantec progress. I saw that you are making some moves in North America. We'd love an update on that.
Well, we're continuing to work on improving the overall product portfolio in that business across both the storage and security areas. And from a go-to-market perspective, kind of the next frontier for the joint venture is really getting traction in the U.S. The other part of that, as you know, we're in discussions around what's the best outcome for the joint venture. And so we're continuing down that path, working with Huawei to determine: is it something that we continue to manage jointly and drive towards an IPO? Or is there a potential different outcome? And so we're probably in the late innings of really having a determination. And I would hope that by the next call, the next earnings call, we'll have an opportunity to give you a more detailed update on where we are with that.
And we'll go next to Rob Owens with Pacific Crest Securities.
Enrique, given that over half of your organic constant currency growth is still coming out of consumer and you've got potentially Windows 8 on the horizon at some point, what's some of the industry thinking right now? What's the feedback been from the OEM channels? They actually make a decent amount of their money off AV being onboarded by folks like yourselves?
Well, I think everybody is looking at Windows 8 and what are the things Microsoft's trying to do. Obviously, their priority is really around thinking out how they stay relevant in a what I'll call the move to next-generation or other non-PC devices. And that's really the priority. Everything we've seen, that's the focus. Now clearly, Microsoft, like all the vendors, is always trying to think about how they make sure that their platform is secure. And the OEMs, as you say, a part of the profits that they make is the aftermarket products that they sell, security being one of them. And so they're working closely with us and with Microsoft to make sure that we still can deliver, sell security products on their traditional PC platforms. Obviously, it's still early, Rob. There's -- they've shown some of the things that they're going to do. But we expect to see some continuing changes in the approach and what they're going to do with Defender and other things. So we're all working together. We've got folks in Redmond as we speak talking about how our security continues to add a lot of value beyond anything that's being done in the operating system.
Great. And then for James, what was the organic deferred revenue contribution from Clearwell?
Clearwell, gosh that would have driven of the order of about $10 million to $15 million worth of additional deferred revenue, something of that nature.
And we'll go next to James Wesman with Raymond James.
James Wesman
It's James sitting in for Michael Turits. First question now. What is the VeriSign business growing pro forma x the remaining write-down?
Well, the VeriSign business that we've seen growing in this past quarter at so mid to high single digits, so we're pleased with how the value-added items that Enrique was talking about on an earlier question, things like the additional malware scanning capabilities, the much enhanced management platform that we have integrated into the VeriSign SSL certificate sales, are getting traction in the marketplace.
Okay. And then one other question on the Consumer side. As you start selling into more emerging markets, though, what type of impact are you expecting on ASPs?
Well, clearly, the ASPs, there's more price sensitivity. And we've always used a number of approaches to emerging markets from some of the things we've done with our PC Tools brand to the work we're doing around some of the premium offerings where we can deliver a capability and then do some upselling. But clearly, there's more price sensitivity in the emerging markets, and we take that into account with the mix of products and price points.
We'll take our last question from Brian Freed with Wunderlich Securities.
Can you guys give us a little bit more color around the scale and number of customers for your Norton Online Backup business? And maybe just some -- to the extent you can give some clarification as to what percentage of your consumer business you would attribute to that business?
So I'll give you -- the headline number is approximately 15 million, 1 5, 15 million people using our online backup capabilities. And what we continue to see is that business is driving good growth rates on top of a small base. We haven't broken out the specific online backup numbers, but when we talked about the 4% of the business coming from the nontraditional products is that one of the biggest drivers there, Brian, is the online backup business. But clearly, service is another thing. They're also contributing there. But ultimately, we are encouraged by the capabilities and the adoption of the online backup feature.
And that concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Enrique Salem for closing remarks.
Thank you, operator. I'm pleased with the team's execution and solid results for the fifth consecutive quarter. We'll be focused on executing our key priorities for the remainder of the year. Thank you very much for joining us this afternoon, and I look forward to speaking with you again soon.
Thank you, everyone. That does conclude today's conference. We thank you for your participation.
Source: Symantec's CEO Discusses Q2 2012 Results - Earnings Call Transcript
All SYMC Transcripts
Symantec Corporation released its FQ4 2013 Results in their Earnings Call on October 26, 2011.
Do you feel more positive or less positive about Symantec Corporation after ready these results?
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/14939
|
E-mail Print Comments Share Tweet Google+ Economy Fact-Checking The State Of The U.S. Economy
By editor Listen Transcript MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: The economy was such a focus of the president's speech last night that we thought it was appropriate to check in with NPR's senior business editor, Marilyn Geewax. Marilyn, thanks for coming in once again. MARILYN GEEWAX, BYLINE: Hi. MARTIN: Now, you just heard from Senior White House Advisor Valerie Jarrett. And the president said that, quote, "the state of the union is getting stronger," but I think you heard Ms. Jarrett say that a lot more is yet to do. So where are we, really? GEEWAX: Well, the state of the economy at this moment is actually pretty good, at least compared with where we've been. Now, I know, if you're unemployed, it doesn't feel that way at all, but if you look at what happened in December, for example, 200,000 jobs were created. Last August, people were talking about the possibility of a double-dip recession. They thought the economy was actually contracting. But now we're getting the data that shows, in the fourth quarter and towards the end of the year, actually, it's probably pretty good - better than 3 percent. So if you're looking at the economy at this very moment, corporations have a lot of cash on hand. That means they can add to hiring. We've got - the unemployment rate is down from about 10 percent at the worst to 8.5 percent. Those are good things and they say when you're an incumbent the trend is your friend. So you want to not look at so much where have we been, but where are we headed? And, if you look ahead, the economy seems to be on a fairly good path. But - and that's a very big but - there are some really major uncertainties out there that could change that trajectory by November. MARTIN: Well, let's talk about that. What are those things? What are the things that - maybe just give me three things that economists are particularly worried about. GEEWAX: You know, there are lots of things to worry about, but the big three right now - there are three foreign factors that are really weighing on economists' minds if they're going to break bad for us. Number one is the European debt crisis. That's a serious problem. It hasn't been solved and it could get much, much worse, destabilizing financial markets around the world. Number two, oil prices. You know, people really relate to gasoline prices. It matters a lot to consumers and understandably, that if gasoline is rising, that's a real problem for you. So it's also a problem if you're running for reelection. But we have a lot of tension in the Middle East. Iran is a situation that could go bad at any moment. So that's a real threat. And then number three, China has been looking like it might be heading towards a recession. That would be bad for us. And then - well, there's a big, giant fourth factor, and that is a domestic problem and what's going to happen with Congress. MARTIN: Well, I was going to ask, though, because the things that you enumerated - I mean, from the standpoint of being incumbents. I mean, both, you know, members of Congress and the president - there are obviously, everybody in the House of Representatives, as Loretta Sanchez pointed out, are all running and, of course, a significant - a third of the Senate. So they're all on the ballot and none of those things that you talked about really have anything to do with anything they can control. What about the things that they can control? I know that you went to a briefing with some key members of Congress. Was there any sense that they've found any common ground with the president? Or are there areas that they think they can work together? GEEWAX: Yes. This morning, National Journal and The Atlantic put on this program where some key members of Congress were invited to talk about what they see happening this year and that's this fear that economists have, that nothing will get done this year, that there will be this really serious gridlock that could trigger problems with the economy. And from what I heard this morning, there's good reason for those fears. For example, Congressman Paul Ryan - he's the head of the House Budget Committee - talked about his perception of President Obama's leadership and would he get anything done. And he literally said about President Obama, quote, "he has shown nothing but demagoguery," end quote, on the issue of things like entitlement reform, social security. MARTIN: And? GEEWAX: And he said that he could not work with this president, that all serious economic advances on issues like Social Security and Medicare would have to await a new president. MARTIN: So does that reflect the feeling of the entire House leadership? I mean, he's the chair of the Budget Committee, which is certainly a key influential role. GEEWAX: Well, that's what he... MARTIN: But does that reflect the leader - the perspective of the leadership? GEEWAX: I would say that there seemed to be a feeling there. There was also Senator Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming. He was talking about some of the smaller issues. Ryan was talking about this really big stuff - Social Security reform. But Barrasso was talking about the payroll tax holiday that we're going to have in January and February. The president wants to extend that for the full year, but Republicans have attached to that the issue of this pipeline, an oil pipeline called the Keystone pipeline. MARTIN: That Valerie Jarrett was just talking about a minute ago, saying that two have nothing to do with each other, so why are they related? GEEWAX: Well, Republicans feel that this is a - the payroll tax holiday - it has to do with helping the economy. They feel the pipeline has to do with helping the economy and they want those issues linked. The president has made it very clear he does not want those linked. So listening to those kinds of comments, you do have a feeling that a real problem for the economy this year may be that effectively it's a dead year in terms of getting anything accomplished in Congress. And that could be problematic. MARTIN: So, Marilyn Geewax, before we let you go, the next big political event in the presidential race is the Republican primary in Florida on January 31st. And it's really hard to talk about Florida without talking about the housing crisis. And as we mentioned earlier, the president made a proposal to allow homeowners to refinance, that he said would save, you know, significant dollars. I wanted to - we don't know a lot about the plan to this point, but how significant an issue is housing in the consciousness of the American people, as part of the economic recovery? GEEWAX: This is really a huge issue all over the country, certainly, but Florida has really been ground zero for this housing problem. The states that have been pummeled - Nevada, Arizona, California, Florida - they continue to really struggle with this problem, and as a result, their unemployment rate is higher. As I said, in the United States, unemployment is about 8.5 percent. In Florida, it's closer to 10 percent. In some places, like in the Tampa area, it's above 10 percent. And if you talk to anybody down in Florida, they all say it's tied to housing. Until you really get at that problem of these foreclosures and the underwater factor. About 44 percent of the people in Florida who own a home, their house is worth less than they owe. MARTIN: Forty-four percent. GEEWAX: That's a lot. MARTIN: That's a lot. GEEWAX: So that weighs on voters' minds and that's a swing state. It's going to be an issue in this election. MARTIN: Marilyn Geewax is NPR's senior business editor. She was nice enough to join us once again in our Washington, D.C. studios. Marilyn, thank you so much. GEEWAX: Oh, you're welcome. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) MARTIN: Coming up, the ladies head into the Beauty Shop to give their take on the president's State of the Union address. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels wasn't the only response. The Tea Party chose former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain to weigh in. (SOUNDBITE OF TEA PARTY RESPONSE TO STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS) HERMAN CAIN: We, the people, are coming. That's the Tea Party message to Washington, the president and his administration. We, the people, are coming. MARTIN: Politics and more in the Beauty Shop. That's coming up on TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) MARTIN: The new film, "Red Tails," is fictionalized account of a story drawn from the history books, that of the first black pilots to serve in the U.S. military, the Tuskegee Airmen. UNIDENTIFIED MAN: One of the things that a lot of people don't realize, just how rigid segregation was at that time. What we did helped to break those barriers. MARTIN: We'll speak with an original Tuskegee Airman, as well as one of the stars of "Red Tails." That's next time on TELL ME MORE. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/14942
|
hide China growing strongly, risks manageable : OECD report
Friday, March 22, 2013 2:05 a.m. CDT
Men chat outside of an office of the Bocom Financial Tower at Pudong financial district in Shanghai March 21, 2013. REUTERS/Carlos Barria BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economy should expand by 8.5 percent in 2013 and more in 2014, with inflation and export demand the biggest near term risks to growth that should average 8 percent in this decade at current rates of investment and reform, the OECD said on Friday.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) offered one of the most upbeat assessments of China's prospects of any of the major multilateral institutions in its new Economic Survey of China, which was unveiled in Beijing.
The 161-page survey, the first such report from the Paris-based OECD since 2010, was particularly optimistic about the outlook for investment spending in the world's No.2 economy.
It pointed to substantial deficits in rail and road capacity relative to other major economies at similar stages of development, as well as to sub-standard housing as offering scope for more profitable spending on infrastructure.
"The level of investment in the private sector is well-founded by the rates of return, and in infrastructure, we still think there are tremendous needs," Richard Herd, the head of the OECD's China desk, told a media conference.
"We're positive on investment in the sense that we see rates of return remaining quite high," he added.
Many private sector economists believe China's GDP growth by the end of this decade will be nearer 5 percent than the 10 percent average annual rate it has hit for the last 30 years.
China's official growth target for 2013 is 7.5 percent and 7 percent on average in the five-year plan that runs to 2015.
Growth slowed to a 13-year low of 7.8 percent in 2012, with weak demand in the European Union and the United States -- the two biggest export customers -- the main drag on growth.
"Recent OECD simulations suggest that China could maintain high, though gradually easing, growth during the current decade, averaging 8 percent in per capita terms," the report said, adding that the country was on course to become the world's largest economy by 2016, adjusted for price differences.
The OECD said soggy export demand was the biggest potential external risk to its 2013 growth forecast and a pick-up in inflation was the biggest domestic risk factor to maintaining a policy mix that has underpinned an economic recovery in China that took hold in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Herd said official economic data so far in the first quarter of 2013 supported the OECD's above-consensus growth call, with domestic consumption -- key to Beijing's economic rebalancing strategy to wean the economy off of exports and investment -- faring well with wages ticking higher and inflation subdued.
He played down the concerns about heavily-indebted local governments, saying that in the overall context of a central government with big cash reserves, large fiscal flexibility and the potential for Beijing to take direct ownership of troubled local government assets, China's financial system was strong enough to easily absorb potential trouble.
The report, which focused on the growth prospects and risks offered by China's renewed urbanization drive as well as relations between local and central governments and pollution, said that further economic reform was crucial to ensure growth was sustained longer term.
"To sustain vigorous and socially inclusive growth over the longer run, renewed reform momentum is required," it said, pointing to financial market liberalization and increased competition in the services sector as key areas of focus.
(Reporting by Nick Edwards; editing by Jonathan Standing)
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/15213
|
From the March 27, 2013 issue of Credit Union Times Magazine • Subscribe! CFPB Silent on CU Blanket Exemptions
March 27, 2013 • Reprints Members of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Credit Union Advisory Council told Credit Union Times that CFPB officials listen to credit union concerns and seem to understand the unique relationships between credit unions and their members. However, they said, CFPB officials don’t have an answer for why they can’t simply exempt credit unions altogether from some or all regulations.
John Buckley, president/CEO of the $124 million Gerber FCU of Fremont, Mich., attended the council’s March 12 meeting in Washington. He said while CFPB officials seem to appreciate that credit unions didn’t cause the housing meltdown, they also seem to feel constrained by Dodd-Frank and the law’s congressional mandates, which “doesn’t really allow for common sense implementation.”
The 15 council members have stressed the differences between credit unions and community banks, he said. In particular, they have tried to explain to CFPB officials that the CFPB’s mission to protect financial consumers from shareholders doesn’t really apply to credit unions because credit union shareholders are also the consumers.
“You could justify exempting [credit unions] from any and all regulations proposed by the CFPB because our owners, who are ultimately baring the profit or loss from the cost of operations, are the same consumers the CFPB purports to protect,” Buckley said.
When council members have pressed this point with the CFPB, he said, the bureau officials nod approvingly, but so far the cooperative education hasn’t yet translated into a blanket credit union exemption.
Gregg Stockdale, president/CEO of the $35 million 1st Valley CU of San Bernardino, Calif., also attended the March 12 meeting and said he was encouraged by the CFPB’s good grasp of Dodd-Frank Act mandates. “I think we moved the needle on their regulations in the favor of credit unions,” Stockdale said. “How far is up for grabs. They still hold to what is stipulated in Dodd-Frank and are careful not to violate any of those mandates.” Marc Schaefer, president/CEO of the $1.6 billion Truliant FCU, attended the meeting and confirmed the group has asked the CFPB pointblank for a credit union exemption, but hasn’t received a satisfactory answer. Schaefer said the group has further suggested the CFPB expand its exemptions to at least include credit unions that serve low-income or underserved areas.
Credit unions would do themselves a favor developing a litmus test that would help the CFPB feel more comfortable exempting the cooperatives from rules designed to protect consumers, he said.
“I’ve tried in the past in credit union roundtables to define, for example, five things credit unions don’t do that would separate us from predatory lenders,” he said. “Some sort of litmus test that clearly shows your main reason for existence is to serve members and improve their financial lives.”
Yes, there are some credit unions that aren’t as strongly aligned with the credit union philosophy, Schaefer said, and he theorized that perhaps the NCUA could help the CFPB separate out those institutions and determine which credit unions wouldn’t be eligible for the bureau’s exemptions.
Schaefer was complimentary of the CFPB’s organization of the council, calling it “one of the most organized groups I’ve ever been involved with.” Members receive a meeting agenda well in advance, he said, and the CFPB even organizes a pre-meeting meeting to discuss the agenda and what kind of feedback they’re seeking.
In addition to reviewing mortgage rules, Schaefer said CFPB officials discussed potential rules on overdrafts, the bureau’s new Project Catalyst and expressed interest in indirect auto lending.
“They seemed very concerned about letting car dealers mark up the loan rate during indirect lending,” he said.
The Truliant chief executive was also complimentary of CFPB Director Richard Cordray, who he said arrived at the council meeting immediately after testifying before the Senate Banking Committee regarding his pending confirmation.
“He didn’t get any lunch, he was grabbing a sandwich with the rest of us,” Schaefer said. Cordray and his senior executives ask a lot of questions of the council and run a very informal and informative meeting, he said. Page 1 of 2 Next »
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/15214
|
Fraud Fuels Reputation Risk
By Missy Baxter
October 28, 2013 • Reprints It’s been about a year since two employees at the $1.6 million Enterprise Credit Union pleaded guilty to embezzling almost $1 million over a period of 10 years, but the topic still fuels the gossip mill in the small Kansas town. And, according to one prominent resident, the incident reduced residents’ trust in the credit union industry and regulators.
“Everyone in town wonders how that much money could go missing over so many years without someone noticing it sooner,” said Tom Decker, who for many years was mayor of the 855-resident town.
Decker, who belonged to the 478-member credit union when the fraud hit the fan last fall, said the problems prompted him and others to wonder whether credit union regulators are focusing enough attention on small institutions.
“I’m not sure how it got past the board of directors and it seems like the federal government wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping an eye on what was going on,” he said. “Since it’s a small credit union, maybe the people who are supposed to monitor credit unions just don’t pay much attention, but that just doesn’t seem right.”
Also read: Twelve Notorious Credit Union Heists
Although the credit union is still operating with about 450 members, Decker said he’s heard numerous former members and local residents express distrust.
“As a result of the mess, there are definitely some folks in town that don’t think it’s a good idea to put their money in any credit union,” he said. “Once you break that type of trust, there’s no turning back.”
The $1.6 million Enterprise Credit Union is among more than a dozen small credit unions hit hard by employee embezzlement, member fraud and mismanagement during the past two years. Small credit unions that failed because of fraud include the $3.1 million Border Lodge Credit Union of Derbyline, Vt., the $2.5 million Lawrence County School Employees FCU in New Castle, Pa., and the $5 million El Paso FCU in El Paso, Tex.
Across the Kansas border in Nebraska, the former manager, treasurer and sole employee of the H.B.E. Credit Union was sentenced to four years in prison in January 2013 for embezzling more than $635,000 from the failed institution, which represented nearly all of the credit union’s assets.
Additionally, the NCUA seized the $2 million Women’s Southwest Federal Credit Union of Dallas after its former manager pleaded guilty to stealing $3.4 million over a period of 11 years.
Despite the significant number of fraud and mismanagement cases at small credit unions, the NCUA has reduced the amount of time it spends examining institutions with assets less than $10 million and a CAMEL rating of three or better.
As part of the NCUA’s new Small Credit Union Examination Program, launched last year, the agency now allocates only 40 hours for each on-site exam, the agency said.
Some support the strategy.
By shifting resources away from smaller credit unions, the agency can focus on larger organizations that, by nature of their asset size, could create larger losses for the share insurance fund if they failed, said NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz.
Matz said during CUNA’s 2013 Governmental Affairs Conference that the agency is dedicated to preventing and detecting problems at credit unions, no matter what size.
Yet, experts question whether streamlining the exam process for smaller organizations has opened doors for increased incidents of credit union fraud, failure and reputational risk.
“It is the smaller credit unions that face a higher risk of fraud and embezzlement, due to their inherent weaker controls structure. As such, they are the ones that need greater scrutiny and oversight,” said Christopher Marquet, founder of Marquet International Ltd., a Wellesley, Mass., investigative, litigation support and due diligence firm that publishes an annual report on embezzlement.
Next Page: Credit Unions Hit Hard
According to Marquet’s most recent report released in May, nearly one in four major embezzlement schemes last year in financial institutions involved credit unions.
The failed El Paso FCU is one example of examiners not paying close enough attention to a small credit union, according to a recent report by NCUA Inspector General James Hagen wrote that NCUA examiners could have reduced losses to the share insurance fund by doing a better job of identifying and following up on fraud risk factors.
To prevent similar incidents in the future, the report recommended that the NCUA implement tighter controls, especially in situations when a lack of segregation of duties exists, which is often the case in small credit unions.
In response to the OIG recommendations, the NCUA recently told Credit Union Times it is currently working on examination procedures and approaches to improve identification of fraud risk indicators.
“We believe an enhanced examination procedure designed to focus in on high fraud risk areas combined with training on the new procedures is a key step to mitigate risk,” said John Fairbanks, public affairs specialist.
Procedures are under development and are expected to roll out in 2014, he said.
In addition, the NCUA is also evaluating approaches toward establishing specialist teams for the most significant fraud risks, Fairbanks said.
“NCUA continuously evaluates current risk indicators against new losses included fraud cases to determine what if any additional measure so of risk we should incorporate into the ongoing surveillance process,” he added.
With each case of fraud or failure, the NCUA often discovers ways to improve the exam process, said NCUA Executive Director Mark Treichel this summer.
“When we do a conservatorship, with each one, you learn something new you haven’t encountered before and might add a step,” Treichel said. “The same thing happens when have a fraudulent situation. The inspector general will do a review and sometimes discover a step that doesn’t add a lot of incremental time to the process.”
“What we do is not a fraud audit, but if there are five or 10 steps we can add relative to the fraud side, then we need to look at possibility of doing those things,” Treichel said.
“While scaling back hours relative to small to large, we need to be more effective in the hours we’re using,” he continued. “Adding too many steps for small credit unions might be too time consuming and inefficient. It’s a delicate balance.” Page 1 of 2 Next »
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/15216
|
From the February 26, 2014 issue of Credit Union Times Magazine • Subscribe! Ron Hance Plans Departure
By February 26, 2014 • Reprints The $347 million, 39,000-member Heritage Family Credit Union in Rutland, Vt., announced Tuesday that President/CEO Ron Hance is planning to retire this fall after 36 years of service.
Hance took over the $2 million credit union with its three employees at one branch in 1978 after serving as a volunteer board member beginning in 1967, HFCU said in its announcement. It now has more than 145 employees at nine branches, as well as two student credit unions and the Ron Hance Operations Center.
Hance has also been a leader in his local and the global credit union communities, including on the board of the World Council of Credit Unions, the Vermont Credit Union League and CUNA. He also has been active with the NCUF and is in the CUES Hall of Fame, and has been a trustee with both College of St. Joseph's and the Rutland Regional Medical Center.
A search committee has been formed to seek his successor and he plans to stay on until the process is completed, expected this fall, the board said.
“The growth and accomplishments comes as a result of the talented staff, Board of Directors, other committee members and mostly the membership itself,” Hance said in the announcement. “I look forward to retirement and leave confident of the continued success that the organization will have.”
“Ron Hance has been, for many years, the symbol of the credit union movement of people helping people,” said Thomas O’Brien, HFCU board chairman.
Hance said his retirement plans include more traveling with his wife, Marsha. Show Comments
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/15249
|
Print Email Font ResizeStores look to week after Christmas for salesBy MAE ANDERSON and CANDICE CHOI AP Retail WritersPosted:
12/26/2012 04:13:03 PM MSTClick photo to enlargeShoppers walk past an H&M location, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012, in New York. This holiday season is shaping up to be the weakest since the country was in the middle of a deep recession in 2008. That not only shows that stores misread Americans' willingness to spend during this period of economic uncertainty. It also could indicate that the days of throngs of shoppers spending thousands of dollars willy nilly on holiday gifts may be long gone. «12345»Bargain-hungry Americans will need to go on a post-Christmas spending binge to salvage this holiday shopping season. Despite the huge discounts and other incentives that stores offered leading up to Christmas, U.S. holiday sales so far this year have been the weakest since 2008, when the nation was in a deep recession. So stores now are depending on the days after Christmas to make up lost ground: The final week of December can account for about 15 percent of the month's sales, and the day after Christmas is typically one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Stores, which don't typically talk about their plans for sales and other promotions during the season, are known for offering discounts of up to 70 percent after the holiday. This year, they're hoping to lure more bargain hunters who held off on shopping because they wanted to get the best deals of the season. Still, a powerful winter storm, which pounded the nation's midsection on Wednesday and is heading toward the Northeast, could hurt post-Christmas shopping. The storm is bringing high winds and heavy snow that disrupted holiday travel, knocked out power to thousands of homes and were blamed in at least six deaths. The Macy's location in Herald Square in New York was bustling with shoppers on Wednesday. There were a variety of deals throughout the store: candy dispensers for 70 percent off, various men's clothes were "buy one get one free," belts for 50 percent off, a bin of ties for $9.99. Ulises Guzman, 30, a social worker, was shopping in the store. He said he waited to shop until the final days before Christmas, knowing that the deals would get better as stores got more desperate. He said he was expecting discounts of at least 50 percent. The strategy worked. He saw a coat he wanted at Banana Republic for $200 in the days before Christmas but decided to hold off on making a purchase; on Wednesday, he got it for $80. "I'm not looking at anything that's original price," he said. Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta was also crowded by midday on Wednesday. Laschonda Pitluck, 18, a student in Atlanta, was shopping after Christmas because she wanted to get the best deals. Last year she spent over $100 on gifts but this year she's keeping it under $50. Pitluck said she found items for 50 percent off, including a hoodie and jeans for herself at American Eagle and a shirt at Urban Outfitters. She said she would have bought the clothes if they hadn't been 50 percent off. "I wasn't looking for deals before Christmas," said Pitluck, who also bought boxers for her boyfriend. The shopping rush after Christmas illustrates just how important holiday sales are. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity, and many retailers can make up to 40 percent of their annual revenue during the two-month holiday shopping period at the end of the year. So far, holiday sales of electronics, clothing, jewelry and home goods in the two months before Christmas increased 0.7 percent compared with last year, according to the MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse report that was released on Tuesday. SpendingPulse, which tracks spending, said that's the weakest holiday performance since 2008 when sales dropped sharply, although the company did not know by how much. The SpendingPulse data, which captures sales from Oct. 28 through Dec. 24 across all payment methods, is the first major snapshot of holiday retail sales. A clearer picture will emerge next week as retailers like Macy's and Target report monthly sales. In the run-up to Christmas, analysts blamed bad weather for putting a damper on shopping. In late October, Superstorm Sandy battered the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, which account for 24 percent of U.S. retail sales. That coupled with the presidential election, hurt sales during the first half of November. Shopping picked up in the second half of November, but then the threat of the country falling off a "fiscal cliff" gained strength, throwing consumers off track once again. Lawmakers have yet to reach a deal that would prevent tax increases and government spending cuts set to take effect at the beginning of 2013. If the cuts and tax hikes kick in and stay in place for months, the Congressional Budget Office says the nation could fall back into recession. Still, The National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail trade group, said Wednesday that it's sticking to its forecast for total sales for November and December to be up 4.1 percent to $586.1 billion this year. That's more than a percentage point lower than the growth in each of the past two years, and the smallest increase since 2009 when sales were up just 0.3 percent. Kathy Grannis, a spokeswoman for the group, noted that the trade group's definition of holiday sales not only includes clothes and electronics, but also food and building supplies. "Stores have a big week ahead, and it's still too early to know how the holiday season fared, at this point," she said. ——— Anderson reported from Atlanta and Choi reported from New York. Ann D'Innocenzio in New York and Daniel Wagner in Washington contributed to this report.Print Email Font ResizeReturn to Top RELATED STORIES
Nathan MacKinnon leads Avalanche past Wild for 2-0 series leadKiszla: Nathan "Razor" MacKinnon is making Minnesota Wild look sillyColorado Springs Police respond to neighborhood altercation Like this article? Recommend it () all reader-recommended news Login | Sign Up | Email Support
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/15502
|
Banks face 'massive' damages from states' Libor probe
More than 12 AGs have banded together to investigate alleged manipulation
Feb 7, 2013 @ 7:42 am (Updated 7:54 am) EST
For RBS, a wee spot of trouble (Photo: Bloomberg News)
A multistate probe of alleged manipulation of interest rates threatens to leave banks liable for billions of dollars in estimated state and local losses from the scandal, even as they settle with national regulators.New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is helping lead a probe into claims that banks rigged global benchmarks for borrowing, adding to investigations by other authorities, including the U.S. Justice Department. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc agreed yesterday to pay about $612 million to U.S. and U.K. regulators to resolve their claims.“The damage to public entities is a matter of great concern to state and local governments,” Schneiderman said in an interview. “These were allegations of really despicable conduct.” More than 12 states are participating in the probe, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity because he isn't authorized to speak publicly.
Advertisement States have joined forces as banks reach settlements to resolve liability tied to Libor, or the London interbank offered rate. Barclays Plc in June agreed to pay 290 million pounds ($454 million), and in December, UBS AG agreed to pay 1.4 billion Swiss francs ($1.5 billion).By acting together, state attorneys general can amass potentially large claims against banks and gain leverage in any settlement negotiations, said Stephen Houck, an attorney at Menaker & Herrmann LLP and a former chief of the New York attorney general's antitrust bureau. Antitrust law allows states to seek triple damages.More Clout“It certainly gives them more clout,” Houck said about states working with one another. “If they can bring all their claims together they're representing a very large group of plaintiffs.”Global authorities have been investigating claims that more than a dozen banks altered submissions used to set benchmarks such as Libor to profit from bets on interest-rate derivatives or make the lenders' finances appear healthier.Libor, a benchmark for financial products worldwide, is created from a survey of banks conducted each day on behalf of the British Bankers Association in London. Lenders are asked how much it would cost them to borrow from one another for different periods in various currencies.Libor manipulation that kept the benchmark artificially low cost states and local governments about $6 billion on interest rate swaps, according to an estimate by Peter Shapiro, a managing a director at Swap Financial Group in South Orange, New Jersey. Those swaps are used to hedge interest-rate risk, with governments paying a fixed rate in exchange for variable payments based on Libor.Floating RatesAny investments in floating-rate securities tied to Libor also would have paid less in interest if the rate was suppressed. Shapiro said he doesn't have an estimate for those damages.“One of the challenges going forward is not necessarily whether the index was manipulated but to determine the degree,” said Nat Singer, a Swap Financial managing director. “Municipalities know they were shortchanged, but they don't know by how much.”Last year, 49 states and federal agencies reached a $25 billion settlement with five U.S. banks after attorneys general began an investigation into claims of fraudulent foreclosure practices by mortgage servicers.Confirmed InvolvementBesides New York, 10 states confirmed their involvement in the Libor multistate investigation, including California, Florida, Colorado, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Subpoenas have been issued to more than a dozen banks in the investigation, including Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., HSBC Holdings Plc, and Societe General SA, a person familiar with the probe said last year.Ed Canaday, a spokesman for RBS, and Michael O'Looney, a spokesman for Barclays, declined to comment about the state investigation. Karina Byrne, a UBS spokeswoman, said in an e- mail that the bank has disclosed that states are investigating.Jaclyn Falkowski, a spokeswoman for Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, said in October that attorneys general throughout the U.S. had organized “a large, well-coordinated multistate investigation” in whether state and municipal issuers have been harmed.Banks have already been sued by municipal governments including the city of Baltimore and San Diego County.Critical MassBanks will want to settle with a “critical mass” of states so they can avoid the potential cost of litigating in many states, said Peter Henning, a professor at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit and a former federal prosecutor.“They're a force to be reckoned with,” Henning said about the state attorneys general. “When states band together, this is where you get the multimillion- and multibillion-dollar settlements.”Schneiderman declined to go into detail about the states' investigation. Determining the damages is “quite complex,” he said.“I think they're massive,” he said. “I couldn't even put a number on it.”--Bloomberg News--
The Takeaway: RBS's Libor emails are absolutely cringe-worthy
Everyone seems to want in on this weak-Yen, strong Japanese stock trade. (...
Wealth management Americas lone bright spot for UBS in 4Q
UBS' wealth management unit in the Americas turned in a stellar performance in the fourth quarter. The same cannot be said for the rest of the bank's operations.
@IN Wire Apr 19 08:21PMDarla MercadoEaster egg dyeing! #HappyEaster http://t.co/njvQWZU14IApr 19 06:59PMFrederick P. GabrielDid Market Monetarists Accurately Predict Low Inflation? http://t.co/TUTp5dJ4aL $500K reps
Firms with the largest portion of $500K+ producers
Top 5 Firms
Wells Fargo Advisors Financial NetworkCommonwealth Financial NetworkProspera Financial Services Inc.VSR Financial Services Inc.Geneos Wealth Management Inc.
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/15551
|
Obama picks top white-crime prosecutor for SEC job
By JULIE PACE, AP White House Correspondent
Mary Jo White (2002 file photo)
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama will nominate Mary Jo White to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, tapping an attorney with broad experience in prosecuting white-collar crimes to lead an agency that has a central role in implementing Wall Street reform.White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama would announce White's nomination during a ceremony in the State Dining Room Thursday afternoon."She's got an incredibly impressive resume," Carney said. "The president is very pleased to be able to nominate her."At the same event, Obama will renominate Richard Cordray to serve as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a White House official said. The president used a recess appointment last year to circumvent Congress and install Cordray as head of the bureau. That appointment expires at the end of this year.The official spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the nomination before the president announces it.White spent nearly a decade as the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, building a reputation as a tough prosecutor with an expertise in pursuing white-collar crimes and complex securities and financial fraud cases. White House officials say that experience makes her well-positioned to implement Obama's Wall Street reform legislation.While serving as U.S. attorney, White also won convictions related to the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.If confirmed by the Senate, White would take over the helm at the SEC from Elisse Walter, who is serving out the rest of former SEC chairwoman Mary Schapiro's term. Schapiro resigned in December.In 2000, White led the criminal prosecution of more than 100 people - including members of all five New York crime families - accused of strong-arming brokers and manipulating prices of penny stocks. The action was called one of the biggest crackdowns on securities fraud in U.S. history at the time.White's office also won a record $606 million in restitution from the securities arm of the Republic New York Corp. bank in 2001. That year, the bank pleaded guilty to conspiring with an investment adviser to hide hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from Japanese investors.Cordray has run the consumer bureau since last year, when Obama used a recess appointment to install him in the job. Senate Republicans had opposed Cordray, as well as the concept of the consumer bureau.Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., first conceived of the idea of a consumer protection bureau. Obama considered naming her to lead the bureau, but her nomination would likely have run into deep opposition on Capitol Hill.White, 65, currently heads the litigation department at law firm Debevoise & Plimpton.She was the first woman to hold the position of U.S. attorney in Manhattan, one of the most prestigious positions in federal law enforcement. During her tenure from 1993 to 2002, White won convictions of white-collar criminals, drug traffickers and international terrorists. The most notable was Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.She also led the prosecution of mob boss John Gotti when she was acting U.S. attorney in Brooklyn in 1992. Gotti died in prison in 2002.If confirmed by the Senate, White would be the first prosecutor to head the 79-year-old SEC. Most SEC chairmen traditionally have come from Wall Street or the ranks of private securities lawyers. The choice of White is likely intended to bolster the agency's enforcement profile in the aftermath of the financial crisis.White's background differs sharply from that of Schapiro, who stepped down last month after guiding the agency in the four years after the crisis. Schapiro worked at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the securities industry's self-policing organization. Some consumer advocates have said that Schapiro's experience as CEO of FINRA made her more likely to seek compromise and less likely to aggressively pursue misconduct.During Shapiro's tenure, the SEC reached major settlements with the biggest banks on Wall Street, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Citibank. But critics said the penalties were small compared with the banks' revenues. And they complained that no senior executives were held accountable.White would be expected to give high priority to expanding the enforcement efforts.At the same time, much of the pressing work facing the agency involves writing new rules. The SEC is seeking stricter rules for money-market mutual funds and must get into shape the so-called Volcker Rule, which would bar banks from making certain trades for their own profit.As head of litigators at Debevoise & Plimpton, White has represented a number of financial institutions likely to have crossed swords with the SEC in enforcement cases. Her clients also included former Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, whom she represented in a 2010 civil lawsuit by then-New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo accusing Lewis of misleading shareholders in the bank's merger with Merrill Lynch.White also represented the largest U.S. hospital chain, HCA, in the insider-trading investigations by the SEC and the Justice Department of former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, whose family owned HCA. The investigations were closed in 2007 with no charges filed against Frist.___Associated Press writer Marcy Gordon in Washington and Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/15586
|
US sues S&P over pre-crisis mortgage ratings
Tuesday, Feb 5 at 2:02 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government says Standard & Poor's knowingly inflated its ratings on risky mortgage investments that helped trigger the 2008 financial crisis.
The credit rating agency gave high marks to mortgage-backed securities because it wanted to earn more business from the banks that issued the investments, the Justice Department alleges in charges filed in federal court in Los Angeles .
The case is the government's first major action against one of the credit rating agencies that stamped their approval on Wall Street's soon-to-implode mortgage bundles. It marks a milestone for the Justice Department, which has long been criticized for failing to act aggressively against the companies that contributed to the crisis.
According to the lawsuit, S&P knew that home prices were falling and that borrowers were having trouble repaying loans. Yet these realities weren't reflected in the safe ratings S&P gave to complex real-estate investments known as mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations.
At least one S&P executive who had raised concerns about the company's proposed methods for rating investments was ignored.
S&P executives expressed concern that lowering the ratings on some investments would anger the clients selling these investments and drive new business to S&P's rivals, the government claims.
"Put simply, this alleged conduct is egregious — and it goes to the very heart of the recent financial crisis," Attorney General Eric Holder said at a news conference Tuesday.
Holder called the case "an important step forward in our ongoing efforts to investigate and punish the conduct that is believed to have contributed to the worst economic crisis in recent history."
At the news conference, acting Associate Attorney General Tony West said "we think that at the very least," S&P is liable for more than $5 billion in civil penalties.
Joining the Justice Department in the announcement were attorneys general from California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa and Mississippi, who have filed or will file separate, similar civil fraud lawsuits against S&P.
On Tuesday, California's attorney general filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court claiming that S&P's inflated ratings on risky mortgage bonds cost the state's public pension funds and other investors billions of dollars.
More states are expected to sue, the Justice Department said.
S&P, a unit of New York-based McGraw-Hill Cos., called the federal lawsuit "meritless" in a lengthy statement.
"Hindsight is no basis to take legal action against the good-faith opinions of professionals," the company said. "Claims that we deliberately kept ratings high when we knew they should be lower are simply not true."
Rating agencies are widely blamed for contributing to the financial crisis that caused the deepest recession since the Great Depression. They gave high ratings to pools of mortgages and other debt assembled by big banks and hedge funds. Their ratings gave even risk-averse investors the confidence to buy them.
Some investors, including pension funds, can buy only investments that carry high ratings. In effect, rating agencies like S&P greased the assembly line that allowed banks to package and sell risky mortgages that generated huge profits.
When the housing market collapsed in 2007, the agencies acknowledged that mortgages issued during the bubble were far less safe than the ratings had indicated. They lowered the ratings on nearly $2 trillion worth, spreading panic that spiraled into a crisis.
In its statement Tuesday, S&P said its ratings "reflected our current best judgments" and noted that other rating agencies gave the same high ratings. It said the government also failed to predict the subprime mortgage crisis.
But the government contends in its lawsuit that S&P was more concerned with making money than issuing accurate ratings. It says the company delayed updating its ratings models, rushed through the ratings process and kept giving high ratings even after it knew the subprime market was flailing.
The complaint includes a trove of embarrassing emails and other evidence that S&P analysts saw the market's problems early:
— In 2007, an analyst who was reviewing mortgage bundles forwarded a video of himself singing and dancing to a song written to the tune of "Burning Down the House": "Going — all the way down, with/Subprime mortgages." The video showed colleagues laughing at his performance.
— A PowerPoint presentation that year said being "business friendly" was a core component of S&P's ratings model."
— In a 2004 document, executives said they would poll investors as part of the process for choosing a rating. One executive asked, "Does this mean we are to review our proposed criteria changes with investors, issuers and investment bankers? ... (W)e NEVER poll them as to content or acceptability!" The executive's concerns were ignored, the government said.
— Also that year, an analyst complained that S&P had lost a deal because its standards for a rating were stricter than Moody's. "We need to address this now in preparation for the future deals," the analyst wrote.
The lawsuit comes just 18 months after S&P cut its rating on long-term U.S. government debt by a notch. The downgrade followed a contentious debate between the White House and Congress over the raising of the government's borrowing limit that was resolved at the last hour.
During the news conference, Holder was asked about a possible link between the lawsuit and the downgrade.
"There's no connection," Holder said, who added the Justice Department investigation began in 2009. He said that S&P lowered its rating on U.S. debt after "assessing the creditworthiness of this nation."
West, the acting associate attorney general, said the documents "make clear that the company regularly would 'tweak,' 'bend,' delay updating or otherwise adjust its ratings models to suit the company's business needs." He said that in 2007, S&P issued ratings that it "knew were inflated at the time they issued them."
S&P countered that the emails were "cherry picked," that they were "taken out of context, are contradicted by other evidence, and do not reflect our culture, integrity or how we do business."
It said the government left out important context. For example, one email that says deals "could be structured by cows" and then rated by S&P was unrelated to the types of mortgage investments at issue in the government's suit, S&P said. It said the analyst's concerns were addressed before a rating was issued.
The lawsuit alleges that S&P was well aware that the subprime mortgage market was collapsing by 2006, yet it didn't issue a mass downgrade of subprime-backed securities until halfway through 2007. The mortgages were performing so poorly "that analysts initially thought the data contained typographical errors," according to one document cited in the lawsuit.
In a 2007 email, another analyst said some at S&P wanted to downgrade mortgage investments earlier, "before this thing started blowing up. But the leadership was concerned of p(asterisk)ssing of too many clients and jumping the gun ahead of Fitch and Moody's."
The government's case sides with critics of rating agencies who have long argued that the agencies suffer from a fundamental conflict of interest. Because they are paid by the banks that create investments they are rating, the agencies had to compete for banks' business. If one agency appeared too strict, banks could shop around for a better rating.
The government's lawsuit says "S&P's desire for increased revenue and market share ... led S&P to downplay and disregard the true extent of the credit risks" posed by the investments it was rating.
S&P typically charged $150,000 for rating a subprime mortgage-backed security and $750,000 for certain other securities. If S&P lost the business to Fitch or Moody's, its main competitors, the analyst who issued the rating would have to submit a "lost deal" memo explaining why he or she lost the business.
S&P analysts ended up trying to keep banks — its clients — happy, even if it meant approving sloppy ratings, the government said.
The government charged S&P under a law intended to make sure banks invest safely. It said S&P's alleged fraud made it possible to sell the investments to banks.
If S&P is found to have committed civil violations, it could face fines and limits on how it does business. The government said in its filing that it's seeking financial penalties.
There are no criminal charges, which would require a higher burden of proof.
McGraw-Hill shares dropped $2.72, or 5.4 percent, to $47.58 in morning trading Tuesday after plunging nearly 14 percent on Monday after the lawsuit was first reported.
Shares of Moody's Corp., the parent of Moody's Investors Service, another rating agency, lost $1.05, or 2.2 percent, to $48.40 in morning trading Tuesday after closing down nearly 11 percent on Monday.
Christina Rexrode reported from New York. AP writers Pete Yost and Marcy Gordon in Washington and AP Business Writer Bree Fowler in New York contributed to this report.
Daniel Wagner can be reached at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports .
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/15617
|
A Tiger In Your Portfolio: The 'Debt Weapon'
By Daniel M. Ryan September 9, 2008 DIGG THIS
Sometimes, even large markets can turn on a dime. We saw that recently in one of the largest markets in the world: the U.S. dollar. Less than two months ago, the trade-weighted U.S. dollar index was touching 70. As of last Friday, it got to almost 76. In about the same timeframe, the Euro has gone from about $1.60 US to about $1.41. Although the recent rally looks like a mere blip on the longest-range St. Louis Fed’s chart, it was still enough to knock gold and silver, as well as oil, right out of bull-market-recovery mode. According to post-mortems, the greenback reversal’s cause was co-ordinated central bank intervention — which included the central bank of China. In a sense, this explanation is counter-intuitive. The U.S. dollar market nowadays is too large to control, even by a team of central banks. It’s much larger than the gold market was as the’70s opened, and the co-ordinated team effort of the London Gold Pool didn’t halt gold’s rise back then. Central banks can’t fight the fundamentals, as a certain government official found out in 1999. Consequently, there’s only one way that the recent intervention could have succeeded in its aim: it was well-timed. The U.S. dollar must have been sorely undervalued at that point, or at least deeply oversold. There’s been a long learning process, but central bank officials are discovering that governmental force means little when compared with world supply and demand. They have to pay attention to fundamentals and timing just as any private-sector trading entity does, else their intervention is for naught.
This point is important, as it explains the most efficacious intervention undertook by a multi-government consortium in the last forty years. It’s one that’s remembered even to this day by Joe Average.
Freedom Hatred, And What To Do About It
The standard line as to the cause of 9/11 is President Bush’s: "they hate us for our freedoms." Rather than mention such impolite terms as blowback, I’m going to take it straight by assuming that there’s an evil genius called Useenhim bun Evil. He hates U.S. freedoms and has made it a holy cause to end what he considers to be the pernicious influence of the U.S. on the world. How would he go about hatching his plot? What strategy would he have?
Since Useenhim fears and loathes U.S. freedoms and their influence on the world, his obvious strategy is to bait the U.S. into ending them. A U.S. government that practices what it preaches makes bun Evil lose on the world stage. A U.S. government that continually acts hypocritically on the world stage makes bun Evil a winner. If the U.S. government abolishes at home those freedoms it ballyhoos abroad, then Useenhim wins. A pharisaical U.S. State is no threat to the kind of tyranny that bun Evil holds dear.
So, it’s obviously in bun Evil’s interest to goad the United States into becoming a police state, if not a military dictatorship. That’s how Useenhim would win. Who amongst the peoples Useenhim holds dear would regard the U.S. government as anything other than an ignorable fraud should those same freedoms be eroded in the U.S. itself? The continual U.S. campaign for "human rights" would turn into little more than hot air. More to the point, a U.S. of that sort would not be seen as a liberator anymore. That would make a war of "liberation" almost impossible to win. Baiting the U.S. government into eroding freedoms in the U.S. itself is the perfect Fourth Generation Warfare strategy. In addition to rendering any claims of "liberation" hollow in the invaded nation, it also creates a group of U.S. sympathizers at home — who sympathize for their own reasons. Case in point: a group of thirteen rebellious colonies, whose grievances touched a common chord amongst citizens of the Empire to which they belonged. "What they’re doing to us, they’re doing to you" makes for the kind of strategic alliance that requires no entangling treaty. Wild tales to that effect gaining widespread credibility is a sign that bun Evil’s strategy is working for him. Going On Offense
The above scenario is confined to defensive maneuvers. Within the confines of the "human rights" game, there is a way to go on offense — the "holier than thou" maneuver. We saw these offensive ploys during the Cold War: the U.S.S.R. became quite good at them. In the case of "radical Islam," the best tactic would be rigorous observance of certain civil liberties that haven’t exactly been in a bull market these last seven years. This strategy, and others like it, goes with the flow. It doesn’t create conditions; it works with already-existing conditions that have been "plausibly denied." This go-with-the-flow aspect is also a feature of other means by which not-so-friendly foreign powers can get nasty with the U.S. That above-mentioned intervention, by a consortium of governments, was one of them. It was OPEC’s use of the "oil weapon" in 1973.
We now know that this bolt from the blue was the result of the oil price failing to catch up with U.S. inflationist policies, leaving a huge equilibrium gap that OPEC could exploit. The price of other commodities, most particularly gold, had leapt up by a comparable amount in the early’70s. The oil weapon only worked because the U.S. practice of "exporting inflation" caught up with Americans. Nowadays, there’s no such inflation gap to be filled in the oil market. In addition, we’ve become inured to sharp rises in petroleum-product prices. These two changes suggest that, if the oil weapon is deployed nowadays, it would largely fizzle as a terror tactic. Another embargo would hurt, but it would not shock as it did back in 1973. On the other hand, there is a continued equilibrium gap that would shock us if exploited. It’s the "debt weapon." To be more specific, it would be an embargo on holding and refinancing U.S. treasury debt. What makes this debt weapon so packed with a punch is the extraordinarily low interest rates the U.S. has enjoyed, relative to U.S. inflation. If you believe the official statistics, the U.S. government has been enjoying a recent negative-real-rate ride for about a year now. If John Williams’ alternate measure is correct, then the U.S. government has been stiffing Treasury debtholders for at least three years. This gap can only go on for so long before it’s filled.
The Tiger In The Tank
Although the total amount of foreign holdings of U.S. government debt seems eye-boggling, it’s not overweening as compared with total U.S. treasury debt outstanding. What’s most noticeable about the foreign-holders list is that the nation with the most is a long-time U.S. ally, Japan. Close in second is the People’s Republic of China. The U.S. government, despite the continual China-bashing in the human-rights game, has little to fear from either of the two as of now. The nation that’s #3 on the list is the U.K., a second long-time ally.
Fourth on the list is "oil exporters," a category that not only includes many Islamic countries but also several Latin American nations and a few African ones. Russia, #8 on the list, has only $65.3 billion in U.S. treasury securities. The oil-exporting nations, collectively, have only $170.4 billion. These two sums are only small fractions of the whole: even current Federal Reserve holdings of U.S. treasury debt make them look small by comparison. Breaking down the securities by maturity reduces the alarm rate even further. The total amount of U.S. Treasury bills held by all non-U.S. governments — including the above-mentioned Japan, China and the U.K. — is a mere $225.8 billion. Looking at this total suggests that the debt weapon will prove to be a wet firecracker.
Markets, though, are made at the margin. If the U.S. government is getting an after-inflation free ride on the debt market, then all holders of its debt are somewhat asleep at the switch with respect to real yield. Many of them may have other reasons for investing in U.S. treasury securities, such as safety or convenience, which make the after-inflation yield not that relevant to them as of now. If safety is the reason for this lassitude, then the safety premium has hit quite a high. The average interest rate of the entire U.S. debt, as of August 31st, is 3.902% for marketable securities and 4.827% for non-marketable securities; the total average interest cost is 4.36%. All of these numbers are well below the 12-month trailing official inflation rate, 5.6%. In other words, if the CPI figure is an accurate gauge of purchasing-power depreciation, the U.S. government has been enjoying an after-inflation free ride for all of its borrowings. Historically, this is an unusual benefit that doesn’t last very long. Fore-shadows
Given that the debt weapon would only carry a huge sting if the real rate of U.S. Treasury borrowings remains negative for quite some time, it’s realistic to assume that it wouldn’t be used for a few (if not several) years. The after-inflation free ride currently enjoyed by the U.S. treasury hasn’t lasted sufficiently long for general complacency to set in. That complacency won’t set in until the worried person who brings it up at parties becomes a well-known bore or laughingstock. We’re not at that point yet.
In addition, as noted above, foreign holdings aren’t that massive in comparison to the whole load. As also noted above, a mistimed use of the debt weapon will fizzle…just as the Gold Pool’s interventions did. Nevertheless, even a relatively small intervention can start an avalanche if the timing’s right. It may only be a coincidence, a decision prompted solely by market fundamentals, but the Russian State has declined to renew most of its holdings in Fannie and Freddie debt. Despite official assurances that those shifts were not a dumping maneuver, it seems to have had the effect of one — although the Chinese State selling some of its own agency holdings seems to have been the final yell that started a pre-emption of an avalanche. Despite its lack of imminence, though, the above-described "debt weapon" shows that the U.S. government has a lot to lose through throwing weight around on the world stage. What seems to be foreigners’ gullship may turn out to be a prudent investment in geopolitical stability. We won’t know until it’s too late. Thanks to last weekend’s scramble, though, we do know that the People’s Republic of China has the most noticeable creditors’ clout. The PRC State has tended to be "businesslike" in its diplomacy so far…and not just with the United States. Daniel M. Ryan [send him mail] is a Canadian with a past. Visit his website.
Daniel M. Ryan Archives The Best of Daniel M. Ryan Tags:
Previous article by Daniel M. Ryan: Peasants' Rights and Duties previous articlenext article
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/15977
|
3tweets
Europe’s co-op boom
In some parts of Europe, workers' co-operatives are well-established parts of the economyJune 2010
More than 140 million people are members of co-ops of all kinds in Europe. Some 10 per cent of France's employees work in the co-operative sector - consumer as well as workers' co-ops - while the continent in general is having a worker co-op boom. There are now 83,000 such enterprises in 42 countries, employing 1.3 million people, well over double the number in 1982. There are some regions, however, that have a particularly strong history of co-operativism.
Emilia Romagna In Emilia Romagna in northern Italy, networking by thousands of small co-operatives has produced a regional economy that is the 10th richest in Europe. Emilia Romagna has the lowest unemployment rate in Italy and the highest GDP per capita. Just under half of the region's inhabitants are members of at least one co-operative. With more than a century of co-operative history, the region now boasts more than 8,000 co-operatives. But it hasn't always been this good and building this vast network has been a real struggle. In 1926 the fascist movement, through the National Fascist Board of Co-operation, took over all the co-operatives and removed their autonomy. For two decades they fought hard to retain any independence, with members killed or imprisoned for resisting fascist control.
When fascism was defeated the movement began to rebuild, forming three national co-operative movements. The 'Lega' group represents the political left, 'Confco-op' represents the Catholic centre-right, and the 'Associazione' represents the centre-left, with a large number of unaffiliated co-operatives operating outside these three groupings. The legislative and local government environment is favourable towards co-operatives, with tax benefits and other supportive legislation in place. Perhaps the most interesting aspect in relation to the UK today is the use of co-ops in social care. In Italy there are now over 3,000 social care co-operatives, employing nearly 60,000 people, many of whom are handicapped or were formerly marginalised from mainstream society. In Emilia most of these are workers co-ops. They range in size from 10 or 12 members to over 500 in the case of CADIAI, which provides a range of health services and elderly care. First organised in the early 1970s, social care co-ops were formed by care-givers and families to provide services to the disabled that were not available from the state. Today, their turnover is over 1.3 billion euros, amounting to 13 per cent of Italian expenditure for social services. In Bologna, over 85 per cent of the city's social services are provided through social care co-ops.
In a recent study of elderly care in Emilia Romagna, it was shown that social co-ops provided a superior service at 50 per cent of the cost of state programmes. This can be traced to a number of factors, including more flexible working conditions, lower labour costs and greater commitment among workers resulting. The Basque Country and Mondragón
The first workers' co-op in the Basque region was set up in the early 1950s with a handful of members. The Mondragón network started in 1956 with a small stove factory built by five former students of a priest named José María Arizmendiarrieta. A focus on domestic appliances and machine tools for the protected Spanish market allowed the network to expand. Today Mondragón has more than 66,000 employees operating over 160 co-ops, of which 135 are industrial, six financial and 14 involved in distribution. The three sectors are backed by the Caja (bank), and by housing, schools, health clinics, training co-ops and even a university founded in 1997. Mondragón is the Basque country's largest business corporation and the seventh largest business group in Spain. At the time that Mondragón was started, Franco was in power and trade unions were banned. But agricultural co-op laws allowed workers to own their workplaces and the co-ops provided protection for workers who were otherwise easily exploited. However, debates rage over how radical this sprawling business group really is today. This debate intensified after 1991 when over 100 co-ops, previously organised by geographic regions and linked through the Caja, reorganised in three business sectors as Mondragón Co-operative Corporation. This allowed speedy, centralised decision making but opened them up to the criticism that they had lost their internal democracy and adopted too similar a form to the corporate sector. There are now large pay differentials between workers, although the 'salary' is based on a democratically agreed job rating index. Share capital also still only carries one vote per person and with no non-worker owners, co-ops remain in the hands of their active workforces.
In her book The Myth of Mondragón, Sharryn Kasmir discusses a number of problems, from working conditions under 'just in time' production methods to lack of union representation and a depoliticisation and loss of solidarity amongst workers. She argues that these issues are cemented by commentators from abroad eulogising the model without any critical engagement, limiting the possibility of the co-ops developing on more progressive lines. No comments yet. Be the first ▸No comments yet. Be the first ▾
Comments are now closed on this article More like this ▾Ukraine’s uncertain future Having completed its transition from protest to power, Ukraine’s #Euromaidan encapsulates the problems of revolution in a post-socialist world, writes Luke Cooper The day Greece's TVs went dark Hilary Wainwright reports from Thessaloniki on what happened when the state ordered Greece’s state broadcaster to shut downWe're striking to support the movement - interview with Turkish union activist John Millington speaks to Ertan Elsoy, an activist in the Kesk union which has called a two day strike to support the rebellionIstanbul: a tree grows in Gezi Kevin Buckland reports from Istanbul on the movement so far - and what it means to people Subscribe to the magazine
About Red Pepper
Get our email newsletter, with news, offers, updates and competitions.
Articles by topic ▼
Red Pepper regulars ▼
Guerrilla guides
Natural born rebel
Radical cities
Articles by writer ▼
Jeremy HardyMichael CalderbankLorna StephensonNick DeardenPhyllis BennisSiobhan McGuirkJenny NelsonEmma HughesMike MarquseeAlex Nunns The UK's leading supplier of Fair Trade products
Are you interested in joining Red Pepper's editorial collective? We're looking for a co-editor and commissioning editors – more information and details of how to apply here. Red Pepper · 44-48 Shepherdess Walk, London N1 7JP · +44 (0)20 7324 5068 · office[at]redpepper.org.uk · Advertise · Press · Donate
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/16105
|
Emerging country debt set to attract more investors - Taipei Times
Mon, Dec 05, 2011 - Page 10 News List
Emerging country debt set to attract more investors
AFP, PARIS
The bonds of emerging countries, which have been following sounder policies than the US and eurozone, are attracting investors seeking to diversify risks as well as earn high returns.Today, emerging markets represent 10 percent to 15 percent of the global debt market, up from 6 percent in 2000, and even big money managers such as PIMCO and BNY Mellon in the US, or Swiss private bank Pictet have jumped into the game.“Since the summer when the US lost its triple-A rating from Standard & Poor’s there has been a very marked interest in this category of assets,” Pictet Paris director Herve Thiard said.“At more than 6 percent on average, the return on emerging country debt is very attractive in [US] dollars as well as in local currencies — it is more than three times that on US Treasury bonds” which are currently yielding about 2 percent, said Brigitte Le Bris, head of fixed-income investment at Natixis Asset Management.Currently, Brazilian bonds denominated in reals bring in returns of over 12 percent per year.Another plus, the fundamentals of these countries are generally more solid than for the US or the eurozone, which the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said is entering a slight recession.In a major role-reversal, emerging countries have now started lecturing advanced countries about the need to balance budgets.“The weak growth and deep deficits in developed countries drove the need for a geographical diversification in favor of countries with growth and ... sound public finances,” bond specialist Ernesto Bettoni at BNP Paribas bank said.The IMF says that emerging countries have on average public debts equivalent to 40 percent of GDP compared to 90 percent for rich countries.
That divergence is expected to widen further through 2015, said Didier Lambert, a bond manager at JP Morgan Asset Management.Certain countries have been able to keep their debt level very low, such as Russia at 11.2 percent of GDP, thanks to its oil windfall.While ratings agencies have repeatedly downgraded their ratings of southern European countries and the top triple-A ratings eurozone countries are under threat, they have raised their ratings for emerging markets.Last month, Standard & Poor’s raised Brazil’s rating one notch to “BBB,” citing in particular the ability of its economy to withstand the slowdown in the global economy.Since last year Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia have also had their ratings upgraded.“These countries are now better armed to battle against a crisis scenario,” Le Bris said.“Inflationary pressures have been contained in most of the countries, except in Turkey or South Africa. Since 2008 central banks have raised rates and their currencies have appreciated, currency reserves have grown, budgets are globally in balance,” she said.“All these elements help them to better resist external shocks,” Le Bris added.Finally, emerging country bond markets have more players, which makes trading fluid, with local investors such as pension funds, insurance companies and central banks increasingly active.Bonds in local currencies are becoming accessible for foreign investors, such as in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.China has yet to open up yuan-denominated debt to foreign investors, but is slowly opening up its currency. Since last year it has allowed foreign companies to issue debt in yuan.
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/16209
|
Resource Center Current & Past Issues eNewsletters This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, click the "Reprints" link at the top of any article. Brightstar Names Seifert CFO
JetBlue Hires Leddy as treasurer; Viacom Promotes Davis to CFO.
By Ashley Scudder November 30, 2012 • Reprints
Brightstar Corp., a $5.7 billion Miami-based wireless distribution company, appointed Thomas Seifert CFO and executive vice president. He replaces Dennis Strand, who was named president of a new unit, Brightstar Financial Services. Seifert recently was CFO and senior vice president at Advanced Micro Devices. Previously he was CFO and COO at Qimonda, where he played a role in the company’s IPO. Earlier he was group vice president and general manager of the memory rroducts group at Infineon Technologies and CEO and COO at Wireline Communications.
JetBlue, the New York-based U.S. airline with $4.5 billion in annual revenue, appointed James Leddy treasurer and vice president. This position was previously held by Mark Powers, who is now JetBlue’s CFO. Leddy, pictured at left, joins JetBlue from NBCUniversal, where he was senior vice president of treasury and cash management. Earlier, he worked at General Electric, Measurisk and the Industrial Bank of Japan.
Henry Schein, an $8.5 billion healthcare products and services provider in Melville, N.Y., named Carolynne Borders vice president of investor relations. Borders recently served as vice president of investor relations and corporate communications for a semiconductor products design company. Earlier she was a senior associate at the Financial Relations Board. She was also co-founder and executive vice president of LI Invest, a former not-for-profit organization in Long Island, N.Y.
Viacom, the $4 billion entertainment company, named Wade Davis CFO. He succeeds Jimmy Barge, who is leaving New York-based Viacom to pursue other interests. Wade, 40, at right, joined Viacom in 2005 as senior vice president of mergers and acquisitions and later worked in strategic planning and corporate development. In his time with the company, Davis has led ventures including partnerships with Microsoft and Unilever and the acquisition of DreamWorks, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Atom Shockwave. Previously he spent more than 10 years as an investment banker at Wasserstein Perella and Lazard Freres & Co., served as executive vice president at Americas Choice, and co-founded AdvancedPath Academics, a technology-based center that educates high school dropouts.
Keyera, a $2.5 billion natural gas midstream business based in Calgary, Canada, appointed Steven Kroeker CFO and vice president. He succeeds Dean Setoguchi, who resigned to pursue other interest. Kroeker most recently served as Keyera’s vice president of corporate development. From 2004 to 2006, he was a director in the energy group of Scotia Capital Investment B
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/16477
|
FDIC Launches Supervisory Insights Journal
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PR-71-2004 (6-29-2004) Media Contact:
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today released the inaugural issue of its new publication Supervisory Insights. The journal provides a forum for discussing how bank regulation and policy are put into practice in the field, sharing best practices, and communicating about the emerging issues that bank supervisors are facing.
"The practice of banking supervision continues to evolve," said Don Powell, Chairman of the FDIC. "Supervisory Insights will promote the ongoing supervisory debate and help focus attention on key issues that supervisors and examiners tackle every day."
Articles featured in the Summer 2004 issue of Supervisory Insights describe a number of areas of current supervisory focus at the FDIC. The industrial loan company (ILC) charter has received considerable attention over the years as part of the ongoing debate about the mixing of banking and commerce. Some observers have questioned whether current regulatory arrangements would provide sufficient protection to insured entities if the ILC charter were to grow in importance. The lead article in this issue of Supervisory Insights puts ILC supervision strategies in historical context, and includes a brief chronology of ILC failures. Other articles in this issue of Supervisory Insights explain the evolution of the FDIC's approach to consumer compliance examinations and discuss the results of an FDIC pilot program in the Atlanta metropolitan area that attempted to "get behind the numbers" on bank commercial real estate lending and understand the potential portfolio risk. This issue also analyzes the results of the FDIC's review of those community banks that are the heaviest users of Federal Home Loan Bank advances and focuses on how these institutions are managing this product. The new journal also includes regular features. This issue's "Accounting News" provides a detailed explanation of how to comply with recently issued guidance on accounting for purchased impaired loans. "From the Examiner's Desk" provides perspective on how certain provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act affect banks and examiners.
Supervisory Insights is available online by visiting the FDIC's Web site at http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/examinations/index.html. Suggestions for topics for future issues and requests for print copies can be e-mailed to [email protected].
Congress created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1933 to restore public confidence in the nation's banking system. The FDIC insures deposits at the nation's 9,116 banks and savings associations and it promotes the safety and soundness of these institutions by identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to which they are exposed. The FDIC receives no federal tax dollars - insured financial institutions fund its operations.
FDIC press releases and other information are available on the Internet at www.fdic.gov or through the FDIC's Public Information Center (877-275-3342 or (703) 562-2200).
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/16488
|
The following item is a Letter of Intent of the government of Madagascar, which describes the policies that Madagascar intends to implement in the context of its request for financial support from the IMF. The document, which is the property of Madagascar, is being made available on the IMF website by agreement with the member as a service to users of the IMF website.
Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view Table 1.
Antananarivo, October 23, 2000
Mr. Horst Köhler Managing Director International Monetary Fund Washington, D.C. 20431 Dear Mr. Köhler:
1. As provided under the second annual arrangement under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility, approved by the Board on July 23, 1999, the government of Madagascar and the Fund staff conducted the discussion for the second review under the arrangement during the period September 5–18, 2000. The discussions focused on economic and financial developments and the structural reforms undertaken in the first eight months of 2000, and the outlook for the remainder of the year. Also discussed were the main lines of the 2001 budget, which is under preparation, taking into account the priorities set forth in the poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) under preparation within a wide process of civil society participation.
Economic and financial developments in the first six months of 2000
2. Madagascar’s economy was seriously affected in the first few months of the year by three cyclones that devastated certain regions of the country, causing considerable loss of human life and destroying infrastructure, housing, and agricultural crops. To cope with these disasters, the government received extraordinary assistance from external donors and lenders, including the International Monetary Fund, and mobilized additional domestic financial resources for reconstruction programs, which were authorized in the supplementary budget approved by the National Assembly in July 2000. The prospects for economic growth had to be revised downward: preliminary estimates place the rate of real GDP growth in 2000 at approximately 4.8 percent, instead of the 5.3 percent initially projected. Moreover, the impact of the cyclones on export crops and on the demand for imported rice, raw materials, and equipment necessitated an upward revision of the external current account deficit, excluding grants, from 7.3 percent to 9.1 percent of GDP in 2000. The government would like to thank the international community for its quick response in mobilizing humanitarian aid, and in providing support for the reconstruction program (amounting to more than US$100 million over the course of 24 months) and the additional financial resources needed to cover the balance of payments financing requirement. These resources include the exceptional debt relief granted by Paris Club creditors for the period June-November 2000 (deferral of all remaining obligations on precutoff-date-debt) in the context of the extension of the 1997 Paris Club agreement from end-July to end-November 2000.
3. In the first seven months of the year, inflation slowed considerably as a result of the prudent financial policy implemented by the authorities and the increased agricultural production in certain regions not devastated by the cyclones. Consequently, in January-July 2000 the consumer price index (traditional index) rose by 1.9 percent, resulting in a year-on-year inflation rate of 10.2 percent at end-July, compared with 14.4 percent in 1999. In the first seven months of 2000, the Malagasy franc appreciated in response to a number of factors, including the accelerated repatr
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/16881
|
hide Exclusive: UBS was mystery lender for Thai group's Ping An buy from HSBC - sources
The logo of Swiss bank UBS is seen on a building in Zurich, February 13, 2013. REUTERS/Michael Buholzer By Michael Flaherty, Elzio Barreto and Denny Thomas
HONG KONG (Reuters) - The mystery lender behind a Thai billionaire's $9.4 billion purchase of a stake in China's No.2 insurer was UBS, people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, revealing how the bank stepped in at the last minute to offer a complex financing package known only to a few involved.
The Swiss bank's financial backing for China's largest ever foreign stock purchase explains how a Thai conglomerate scraped together $7.4 billion in cash for the deal's final payment, after its main lender backed out at the 11th hour.
The white knight role played by UBS AG in the deal - CP Group's purchase from HSBC Holdings Plc of a 15.6 percent stake in Ping An Insurance Group Co of China - has gone unreported until now.
People with direct knowledge say that UBS backed the deal with two financing facilities. The major piece of that package is a five year, roughly $5.5 billion loan, one of the largest loans of its kind ever extended in Asia, according to Thomson Reuters data.
For the help it provided, UBS is set to earn another milestone. People familiar with the matter say the bank is expected to reap, over time, about $100 million for its effort, which would make it one of the largest fees ever earned by one bank for a single transaction in Asia, Thomson Reuters data shows.
Such an extraordinary arrangement with a prized client, Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont, is both a rare move for UBS and signals a key shift in strategy - both for the bank and the industry.
The Dhanin deal shows that the investment bank is focusing more on high margin transactions rather than standard deal flow. The aim is to cater more to faithful, fee-paying clients and constructing deals for them that may be higher in risk, but also higher in reward.
That strategy, taken on by rivals as well, comes at a time when investment banking revenues are under pressure, in part from a drop in the high-fee business of equity capital markets banking across Asia and other parts of the world.
A jumbo loan for UBS, backed by the borrower's assets, is new turf for the bank, known more for its M&A skills and equity capital markets prowess in the region.
UBS's secret role in the saga is just one of several plot twists that emerged in HSBC's sale of its stake in Ping An, the world's second-largest insurer by market value.
UBS declined to comment for this story. Dhanin and the company he controls, CP Group, also declined to comment.
On December 5, HSBC announced that affiliates of Dhanin's conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group) agreed to buy the Ping An stake for $9.4 billion, and to pay nearly $2 billion up front. The remainder was to come early in 2013, pending approval from China's insurance regulator and the deadline for approval was set for February 1.
According to the December 5 statement, the second installment was backed in part by a branch of state lender China Development Bank Corp.
Three weeks later, Chinese magazine Caixin published a story based on anonymous sources saying that the up-front payment came from entities not directly affiliated with CP Group. Beijing was under pressure to clean up corruption, and China Development Bank did not want to take any chances. People familiar with the situation say the bank backed out of its loan in early January.
HSBC announced on February 1 that China's insurance regulator had granted approval, with final payment coming in five days. The deal was nearly complete. The HSBC release made no mention of China Development Bank.
The question quickly surfaced: Without China Development Bank, how did Dhanin secure the $7.4 billion? The official line was that CP Group managed to fund the last installment itself. But doubts about that explanation lingered.
Although Dhanin is Thailand's richest man with a net worth of $14.3 billion according to Forbes, coming up with $7.4 billion on his own was out of the question, people familiar with the matter said. He and UBS began discussions on financing in early January, they said.
Dhanin is a private banking client of UBS and the bank has worked with him and his various corporations for at least a decade on stock offerings, restructurings and acquisitions. UBS was already the sole M&A adviser to CP on the Ping An deal, a role that would earn the bank around $25 million in advisory fees, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Dhanin's last-minute snag quickly turned UBS into a lender as well.
According to people familiar with the matter, UBS arranged a short-term facility, crafted in order to show the seller and the regulators that Dhanin had the cash on hand to pay the final amount.
A long-term financing facility then replaced the first one, once the deal was approved and the two parties knew it would go through without issue.
That second facility is a five-year, roughly $5.5 billion loan, with a few other financing products attached, including a hedging mechanism, according to the people familiar with the matter.
A financing package of that size, huge in any market, was so large that Zurich-based UBS Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti signed off on the deal personally, the people said.
Part of the roughly $5.5 billion loan was syndicated to UBS private banking clients, the people said, so that UBS is not exposed to the entire amount. Dhanin and CP Group came up with the remaining cash needed for the final $7.4 billion payment.
For UBS, backing the loan is Dhanin's personal wealth and the various corporate entities he controls, including several publicly traded companies.
The hedging part of UBS's financing package, the people say, was put in place to protect Dhanin's financial interests if Ping An's shares fall below a certain level.
The details of the package were privately negotiated and only a few senior bankers and executives are aware of the precise, complex details.
"The client had an issue, and UBS provided a solution. And UBS will be paid a fee for that solution," said one of the people familiar with the deal.
(Additional reporting by Clare Baldwin, Stephen Aldred and Khettiya Jittapong; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/16943
|
What's Next comments Oil jumps as Syria conflict heats up By Alanna Petroff @AlannaPetroff August 28, 2013: 8:04 AM ET Click chart to check up-to-the-minute oil prices. LONDON (CNNMoney) Once again, a Middle East conflict is pushing oil prices higher. Oil prices rose roughly 3% Tuesday and continued advancing by nearly 1% Wednesday, as the U.S. government and its allies consider a military strike on Syria following the country's suspected use of chemical weapons. The conflict has left investors reeling, with global stocks selling off and investors rushing to safer havens, such as Treasuries, which are backed by the U.S. government. "In a world when you don't know what to do, you buy government bonds," said Steen Jakobsen, chief investment officer at Saxo Bank. Even gold, which had been maligned by investors, is spiking. The precious metal, also considered a safe haven in times of geopolitical turmoil, is back above $1,400 an ounce for the first time since early June. CNN: A call to arms over alleged gas attack in Syria But oil prices in particular are being closely watched since any turmoil in the Middle East could threaten global oil supplies. "It's very difficult to measure a perceived threat of military intervention, but immediately we know Middle East oil prices will rise," said Ishaq Siddiqi, a London-based market strategist at ETX Capital Syria is not a major oil producer, but there's a spill-over risk if neighboring nations become engulfed in the conflict, said Emad Mostaque, a market strategist at Noah Capital. "[Brent crude] could easily go up by $10 to $20," said Mostaque, noting that prices were already relatively high as traders have been pricing in geopolitical risk from the ongoing conflict in Egypt. Mostaque forecasts prices will jump further if a strike on Syria somehow leads to a disruption in global oil supplies. Saudi Arabia produces nearly 12 million barrels of crude a day. Iraq and Iran are also big producers. Sanctions have already severely restricted oil exports from Syria, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But Iran has been operating under sanctions for years, and it hasn't imploded yet. While global stocks have been selling off, equity markets in the Middle East have been posting the most dramatic declines. The benchmark index in Dubai has tumbled by 7%, while markets from Abu Dhabi to Bahrain to Kuwait also moved roughly 1% to 3% lower Tuesday. Turkey, which neighbors Syria, has been particularly hard hit in recent months as it has faced its own share of violent protests and heightened concerns about the Syrian conflict. The country's benchmark stock index fell 3% Tuesday and the Turkish lira hit a record low. Syria shares a border with Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon. In Israel, the main stock index shed 2% Tuesday. Related: More trouble ahead for emerging markets Emerging markets around the world also stand to lose out if Syria is hit with a military strike, as investors will be keen to pull their money out of more volatile markets in favor of traditional safe havens. Emerging market equities and currencies across the globe have been hammered in recent months as investors have worried about the impact of the Federal Reserve pulling back on its massive bond buying program that has pumped liquidity into markets and helped resuscitate the U.S. economy. -- CNNMoney's Steve Hargreaves contributed to this report. First Published: August 27, 2013: 10:50 AM ET Join the Conversation Most Popular
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/17079
|
Investor Confidence Index Falls from 107.4 to 99.7 in April 27/04/2010 Boston, April 27, 2010 – State Street Global Markets, the investment research and trading arm of State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT), today released the results of the State Street Investor Confidence Index® for March 2010. Globally, Investor Confidence fell 7.7 points to 99.7 from March's revised reading of 107.4. Declines in sentiment in North America were a key contributor, with institutional investor confidence falling 6.7 points from 110.4 to 103.7. Among Asian investors, too, confidence was lower, falling 6.5 points from 100.7 to 94.2. European institutions bucked the trend, as the reading for that region rose 1.2 points from 94.7 to 95.9.
Developed through State Street Global Markets’ research partnership, State Street Associates, by Harvard University professor Ken Froot and State Street Associates Paul O’Connell, the State Street Investor Confidence Index measures investor confidence on a quantitative basis by analyzing the actual buying and selling patterns of institutional investors. The index assigns a precise meaning to changes in investor risk appetite: the greater the percentage allocation to equities, the higher is risk appetite or confidence It is based on actual trades rather than survey data, and as a result it captures the sentiment of institutional investors with unique precision.
“This month we saw institutional appetite for risk wane slightly, as volatility bounced back from the extremely benign levels seen in March,” commented Froot. “This was especially true towards the latter half of April. While institutions appear to have anticipated much of the improvement in economic prospects over the last six months, and allocated their portfolios accordingly, this month they displayed some increased caution about making further equity allocations. It remains to be seen whether this is a temporary pause, or an indication of a shift in the central theme of the last year.”
"The pattern of equity allocations this past month shows some interesting trends. Institutions have been building back up their portfolios in sectors that have been out of favor for some time, including the consumer discretionary and consumer staples sectors,” added O’Connell. “However, they have been offsetting these purchases with sales in other sectors, such as healthcare and select financials. This type of relative value allocation is characteristic of behavior when institutions feel that macroeconomic news is ‘priced in’ to the overall market.”
About State Street Global Markets
State Street Global Markets provides specialized investment research and trading in foreign exchange, equities, fixed income and derivatives. Its goal is to enhance and preserve portfolio values for asset managers and asset owners. From its unique position at the crossroads of the global markets, it creates and unlocks value for its clients with original flow-based research, innovative portfolio strategies, trade process optimization, and global connectivity across multiple asset classes and markets. State Street Global Markets’ research team of leading academic and industry experts is committed to continually advancing the science, including theory and application of its proprietary investor behavior research and innovative portfolio & risk management technologies to help its clients challenge conventional thinking, shape ideas, make more informed investment decisions and deliver measurable results.
About the State Street Investor Confidence Index® The index is released globally at 10 a.m. Eastern time in Boston on the last Tuesday of each month. More information on the State Street Investor Confidence Index is available at http://www.statestreet.com/investorconfidenceindex. About State Street Corporation
State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is one of the world's leading providers of financial services to institutional investors, including investment servicing, investment management, and investment research and trading. With $19 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $1.9 trillion in assets under management at March 31, 2010, State Street operates in 25 countries and more than 100 geographic markets worldwide. For more information, visit State Street at www.statestreet.com. This news announcement contains forward-looking statements as defined by United States securities laws, including statements about the financial outlook and business environment. Those statements are based on current expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including those set forth in State Street's 2009 annual report and subsequent SEC filings. State Street encourages investors to read the corporation's annual report, particularly the section on factors that may affect financial results, and its subsequent SEC filings for additional information with respect to any forward-looking statements and prior to making any investment decision. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, April 27, 2010, and the company will not undertake efforts to revise those forward-looking statements to reflect events after this date. Back to Press Releases
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/17259
|
Wed November 7, 2012
Economy Looms Large Over Obama's 2nd Term
Share Tweet E-mail Comments Print By editor Originally published on Wed November 7, 2012 10:31 am
Listen Transcript STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: NPR's business news starts with a dive on Wall Street. Just this minute, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 317 points. It's considered the worst drop of the year, so far. We're a little bit before noon in New York City. What's going on? We're going to try to find out. We're joined now by DavidWessel, economics editor of The Wall Street Journal. And David, as best you can determine, what's driving the drop? DAVID WESSEL: Well, it's really hard to figure out what the market does and why they do it. We know by looking at the individual stocks a few things. The energy stocks are falling and that suggests some fear of Obama-style regulation. They would have preferred Mitt Romney. Perhaps that's true of the banks, which are going - stocks which are falling as well. And then, the health care stocks are down and that suggests that investors are not quite so happy about - well, I shouldn't say that. Some health care stocks are up that suggests the ones will benefit from Obamacare are doing well and some are down, the ones that expect to be squeezed. But I think what happened is that there's kind of like also a concern that we still have a divided government. The president won. The Democrats got more seats in the Senate. The Republicans didn't lose the House. We're facing this fiscal cliff and it's not yet clear how we're going to get away from it. INSKEEP: OK. So we've got multiple things going on here. One, is specific companies asking what does the election mean for me or specific investors in specific companies. The second thing is the concern about what you call the fiscal cliff. Let's remind people what that is. WESSEL: Right. Those are the spending cuts across the board and tax increases which are going to take effect at the end of this year unless Congress and the president find some alternative way to reduce the deficit. There's going to have to be some negotiations and we don't really know how fruitful those negotiations will be. What we have seen this morning is relatively conciliatory statements from the leaders of both parties in Congress; suggestions that people are not using the most antagonistic language. But what's hard to know is whether that's posturing or whether they're serious about compromise. INSKEEP: This is really interesting, David Wessel of The Wall Street Journal because an election, especially one with such differing visions of economic policy introduces uncertainty which businesses don't like, makes them nervous. The uncertainty has been removed, but now there's another wave of uncertainty building up, you're saying. WESSEL: That's right. It's because - I mean, one of the economist I spoke to this morning says it's hard to know if we really resolved the issue about the size of government, about are we going to get an agreement to raise taxes and cut benefits to reduce the benefits to reduce the deficit because the Republicans will argue, we won the House. We still have a filibuster group in the Senate. We can stop you from doing things, so you better come to our side. The Democrats are saying, hey, we won the presidency. We got more seats in the Senate. You guys should cave to us. And in this negotiation thing, it's very hard to tell what cards people are really willing to play. It's in the early stages. INSKEEP: Is it possible we could have another standoff like over the debt ceiling extension back in 2011? WESSEL: It's possible, but unlikely. The analysts we talked to say the odds of that are about 1 in 5. They're does seem to be a realization that the government and the people in it, the elective politicians, look dysfunctional, look incapable of governing if we run through that again. So I don't think anybody wants that outcome, but whether they can avoid it is an open question. INSKEEP: I just want to mention that the Dow has regained a couple points just since we've been talking. It's down 314 points. WESSEL: We should keep talking. Maybe it will go up, Steve. (LAUGHTER) INSKEEP: You never know. You never know. I want to make sure also that this is all about response to the election because some of the reporting has suggested that there are also problems out of Europe that may be part of this. WESSEL: Well, yes. It's a global market. The European economy looks increasingly worse. The European Commission came out with a bleak forecast today. But I think the big change in the world economy, there wasn't anything in Europe that really changed people's mind. I think it's right to say that something in the markets are not happy with the Obama victory and divided government. But markets are fickle. Tomorrow, they might change their mind. INSKEEP: David, thanks very much. I'm afraid we haven't gotten all the way back to zero, I haven't gotten all the way back to even, but thanks for taking the time that you did. We did knock about three points off the loss here today. WESSEL: Congratulations. INSKEEP: That's David Wessel, economics editor of The Wall Street Journal. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/17584
|
Career Advice & Money Tips
/The Money Honey's Tips to Loving Your J-O-B
The Money Honey's Tips to Loving Your J-O-B
The co-host of CNBC's Closing Bell and award-winning journalist, Maria Bartiromo, talks about her life and enviable career in her new book, The 10 Laws of Enduring Success. For anyone who's a little freaked about her future, this is a must-read...
Courtesy of The Crown Publishing Group
As if trying to figure out what the hell you want to do with your life isn't hard enough, our gen has some seriously limited career options (thank you, crappy economy). Which is exactly why TV anchor and financial reporter, Maria Bartiromo, decided to write a book about success now: Because during a rough patch like this, she believes that there are certain rules you must follow in order to get ahead. Read on for a few that have served Maria well on her own kick-ass career path.... 1. Own Your Destiny I started my career at CNN as an editor and producer for the business news segments, and I loved it. Then, a few years later, I had a big crisis: I was told that I was getting a promotion, but I didn't think the new position was right for me. I was really upset, crying my eyes out in the ladies room, when Kitty Pilgrim (an anchor for CNN) walked in. "Kitty," I confided, "I don't know what to do. I'm proud to get promoted, but I think I will hate my new job." Kitty gave me great advice: She told me to think about where I wanted to be in five years, and to control my destiny, not let others control it. I ended up turning down the promotion, and I've never regretted my decision. 2. Work Your Arse Off If you were to ask my parents what they thought the secret to success was, they would tell you that it's all about hard work. My dad ran his own restaurant, and in addition to her full-time job, my mom also worked at the restaurant and raised a family. It never would have occurred to them to gripe about how hard they worked. If I complain that my job is stressful, my mother rolls her eyes, and says, "Come on, Maria, you're not chopping trees." I have to laugh no sympathy there! Her quip also reminds me how lucky I am. But I know that I got to be where I am today thanks to the work ethic that I learned from my parents. 3. Be Open to Change Success is fleeting. People have said to me, "You made it. You're set." But I know that's not true. We live in a time of enormous change, and to really be successful, you have to constantly adapt. Now more than ever, you have to look within and assess your skill sets. What are you good at? How can you align your dreams with the areas in the economy that are actually producing jobs? It's critical to figure out what kind of training you may need to best position yourself for this economy. The changes won't wait for you, so adapting will be key to success during this tumultuous time. 4. Cut Yourself Some Slack I'm an overachiever, and hate it when I can't do something perfectly. In the early years of being on air, I thought that I couldn't afford to make any mistakes, have a hair out of place, gain a single pound, or make an incorrect analysis. I worried a lot about the impression I gave. But when a reporter from the New York Post gave me the nickname "Money Honey," instead of worrying that a moniker like that would make me look ridiculous, I just laughed it off. I decided I didn't need to take myself so seriously. It was a breakthrough for me realizing that I could be human and relax about it. Start a Conversation
8 Kickass New Jobs
10 Mistakes Even Smart Women Make in Job Interviews
4 Gutsy Changes to Make in 2010
Little Things That Eat Up Your Paycheck
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/17587
|
No immediate changes expected at Harrisburg PricewaterhouseCoopers office after merger announcement
By Michael Sadowski
Two giants of the financial industry — one with a Harrisburg office — announced a pending merger that could happen by the end of the year.
Worldwide professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and management consultancy firm Booz & Company announced jointly Wednesday morning they had signed a conditional merger agreement to bring the two companies together.PricewaterhouseCoopers, based in New York City, has an office in Harrisburg as one of its three Pennsylvania locations. In the summer, it moved from 1 S. Market St. in Harrisburg to the Penn National Insurance Building at 2 N. 2nd St. Officials at the Harrisburg office referred questions to a media representative at the firm's Philadelphia office.Company spokeswoman Kathryn Oliver said Wednesday morning the company would be making no comment beyond the joint news release.According to the release, it will be "business as usual" at both firms until Booz & Company's partners vote on the proposal, but it did not go into any detail on what the future corporate structure would look like. That vote is expected in December.The merger, as it was announced by the companies, also is contingent on receipt of required regulatory approvals and other normal closing conditions, according to the release.Booz & Company does not current have a Pennsylvania presence among its 12 U.S. offices. It employs 3,000 people at 57 offices around the world, according to its website. Earlier this year, it acquired international consulting company Management Engineers.PwC has more than 184,000 employees in 157 countries.Both companies are privately held.
Michael Sadowski
Mike Sadowski covers Lebanon County, banking and finance, law and the legal community, and technology. Have a tip or question for him? Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter, @MikeCPBJ. Circle Michael Sadowski on Google+.
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/17592
|
» CRAIN'S HOME | CRAIN'S BLOGS | ALL SCOTT SUTTELL POSTS SMALL BUSINESS BLOG -- SCOTT SUTTELL
TOA Technologies makes a 'most-promising private companies' list
There's a Cleveland company, as well as a California firm with a growing Cleveland office, on this year's Forbes.com list of the country's 100 most promising privately held companies.To identify the companies, Forbes.com says it took six months to review “thousands of applications from businesses across the country. The final assessment is based on growth (both in sales and hiring), quality of management team and investors, margins, market size and key partnerships.” (You can read more about the methodology here.)At No. 80 on the list is TOA Technologies of Cleveland, which sells software that tracks mobile workers and builds individual profiles based on performance. Forbes.com's short profile of TOA notes that collected information is used to notify customers about deliveries, reduce shipping times and coordinate appointments.Clients include Virgin Media and Dish Network, according to Forbes.com. The company has raised $35 million to date from Draper Triangle Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and Intel Capital. Forbes.com lists TOA with 400 employees and sales last year of $41 million.A much smaller company, San Francisco-based Phizzle, which runs interactive mobile marketing campaigns for corporate clients including Fox Sports and the YES Network, in on the list at No. 55.Phizzle in November 2011 established a Cleveland office led by three former Cleveland Cavaliers executives.CEO Ben Davis, who played professional basketball in Europe, previously founded Pixiem, a mobile gaming startup, in 2004 and sold the company a year later, according to Forbes.com. Phizzle raised $3 million in venture capital from Alsop Louis Partners in 2011.Two other companies on the list have a retail presence in Northeast Ohio: No. 14 Anytime Fitness of Hastings, Minn., and No. 49 Menchie's Frozen Yogurt, based in Encino, Calif. Slowly but surely
Reuters reports that borrowing by small U.S. businesses “rose marginally in December, eking out a tiny gain for the year and suggesting headwinds for economic growth for the first few months of 2013.”The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, which measures the overall volume of financing to small U.S. companies, rose to 112 from an upwardly revised 111.1 in November, PayNet said. Borrowing was up just 1% from a year earlier.PayNet founder Bill Phelan tells Reuters that the index suggests small businesses "haven't come out of their shell." PayNet's lending index typically correlates to overall economic growth one or two quarters in the future, according to the news service."It's underwhelming," he said. "The next two to five months are going to be pretty slow."Reuters notes that separate PayNet data show financial stress “at near-record-low levels.” Accounts overdue by 30 days fell to 1.2% of the total from 1.21% the previous month. A "normal" rate of delinquency is 1.5% to 1.6%, Mr. Phelan says. This and that
A deeper applicant pool: A Wall Street Journal story offering social media tips for small businesses includes comments from the owner of Hastings Water Works in Brecksville.When it comes to using social media, many small business owners “struggle to figure out what works and what doesn't,” the newspaper says.In a bullet point titled “It isn't all about sales,” The Journal notes that social media can be a low-cost way for a small firm to staff up quickly.Hastings Water Works, a pool-maintenance and lifeguard-staffing firm, uses Twitter and Facebook to find and hire summer employees."We used to put ads in the paper and fliers in the high school, but now we can tweet, 'Here's a great summer job' and link to the application page," says David Hastings, who founded the company in 1992. Freshly hired employees “often keep the buzz going by touting their new jobs on their own social media profiles,”The Journal says.Other suggestions for small businesses on social media: show your personality, target your audience and don't be too promotional.The need for mead: A Mogadore startup, Crafted Artisan Meadery, has signed a distribution deal with Cavalier Distributing to make its meads — honey wines — available in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Florida.“Partnering with a trusted distributor such as Cavalier that has a firm understanding of the craft beverage market makes all the difference” said Crafted Meadery owner Kent Waldeck, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. He added, “We pride ourselves on our approach to making mead, and Cavalier reflects a similar hands-on, local approach to their business.”Crafted Artisan Meadery opened last June and has seen dramatic growth since, Mr. Waldeck says.In case you missed this on Tuesday … Count Steve Case, founder of AOL, as a believer in the entrepreneurial power of the Midwest and cities such as Cleveland.In a post for The Accelerators, a Wall Street Journal blog, Mr. Case writes that in the last year, “I've had the opportunity to spend much of my time on the road meeting with entrepreneurs, investors and policy makers in more than two dozen cities.”Based on those conversations, along with a confluence of factors and trends, “I'm convinced that we're beginning to see a regional 'rise of the rest' as cities like Washington D.C., Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, Raleigh, Cleveland, Detroit and many others experience unprecedented growth in startups,” Mr. Case writes. While Silicon Valley will continue to be the nation's most vibrant entrepreneurial hub, “a growing number of companies will start up in these often overlooked places.”This is a good development, according to Mr. Case, because tech entrepreneurs no longer feel they have to move to Silicon Valley or Boston to receive financing.“Today, they can form just about anywhere and over the next decade the 'rise of the rest' will play a key role driving economic growth and creating new jobs,” he notes.He credits these developments to “an ever-widening network supporting the next wave of startup activity, innovation and job creation.”Mr. Case writes that D.C. policymakers “have begun to recognize the significance of entrepreneurs” with the passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, making it easier for entrepreneurs to raise capital through crowdfunding and other means.Also a big help: wider adoption and decreasing cost of mobile and cloud computing, which “are making it easier and cheaper for entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses anywhere in the nation.”You also can follow me on Twitter for more news about business and Northeast Ohio. Reader Comments
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/17736
|
TAXPAYERS AT RISK
Economy-Minded Legislators Should Block Further Bailouts of Individual Nations
FEBRUARY 01, 1998 by DOUG BANDOW
Doug Bandow, a nationally syndicated columnist, is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author and editor of several books, including Tripwire: Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World.
It was too good to last. For several weeks Washington stayed aloof from the economic problems recently besetting Southeast Asia. Officials who normally intervene at the drop of a stock market were surprisingly restrained, seemingly allowing countries like Indonesia and Thailand to bear the consequences of their own economic mistakes.
But then Washington announced its backing for a $33 billion bailout of Indonesia led by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The United States will indirectly provide much of those funds through its support for the IMF and allied institutions. The administration also unilaterally committed $3 billion in backup credit through the Exchange Stabilization Fund. Explained Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin: “Financial stability around the world is critical to the national security and economic interests of the United States.”
Well, yes, but the financial stability of every nation around the globe? The United States bailed out Mexico three years ago; the reason, explained the administration, was that Mexico was unique. Its economy was intimately tied to that of America—the two nations had only recently inked the NAFTA trade accord—and refugees might flood across the border if prosperity was not restored. America’s southern neighbor could not be allowed to fail.
The argument was never convincing—the slump in an economy a tenth the size of America’s in no way threatened U.S. prosperity—but at least the contention had some surface plausibility. And there was only one Mexico. No other developing state could make a similar claim to U.S. aid.
Then along came Indonesia. Jakarta has been liberalizing, but its economy remains bedeviled by inefficient monopolies, insolvent banks, harmful trade barriers, wasteful food subsidies, and political favoritism. Being a relative, or married to a relative, of President Suharto is the surest way to wealth. “The Suharto crowd,” notes Holman Jenkins of the Wall Street Journal, “has laid its hand on every good thing the country has to offer, making themselves impossibly rich and, also, just impossible.” Indeed, Indonesia is a prime example of what National Review’s Richard Brookhiser was referring to when he observed that “Asian capitalism, to the degree that it is different from plain old capitalism, is weaker, bleeding money to the politically connected, cushioning the powerful from their business blunders.”
Thus, the Suharto government has no one to blame but itself for its problems. The collapse of Indonesia’s currency and stock market forced the regime to inaugurate serious economic reform. The resulting “structural reforms are more important than the size of the [aid] package,” observed Indonesian business analyst Pablo Zuanic.
Notably, the changes were necessitated by Indonesia’s problems, not purchased by the promise of Western loans. Jakarta acted because it had to act.
Unfortunately, the bailout package will reduce the Suharto government’s incentive to reform by relieving the pain of financial failure. Warns economist Mari Pangestu, “There are still some untouchables among banks and their customers, and you can’t do anything with the untouchables.” The regime certainly won’t do anything about them—particularly the boondoggle aerospace and auto programs—unless forced to do so. When the government shut down 16 insolvent banks, Bambang Trihatmodjo, a son of President Suharto, warned threateningly: “I see it as an effort to sully our family name in order to indirectly topple my father, so that father won’t be chosen as president again” later this year.
Yet today Indonesia is likely to do only the minimum necessary to receive aid. For a time it maneuvered to avoid any conditionality, attempting to arrange loans from Malaysia and Singapore rather than the IMF. Although that strategy failed, were Jakarta simply left to its own devices, it would have to adopt all of the reforms necessary to recondition its economy and reassure foreign investors, who tend to be more careful with their own cash than are international aid bureaucrats with tax monies from industrialized states.
Now that Washington has intervened to prop up a country with only a small economic connection to America (Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand collectively account for less than three percent of U.S. exports), what nation cannot expect help? One administration official told the New York Times: “We can’t step into every economic mess.” But what standard says yes to Indonesia and no to other nations suffering severe financial distress? On a single day last fall the Wall Street Journal ran articles with the following headlines: “South Korea Economy Feels the Pressure,” “Russia’s Finances Worsen, Imperiling Large IMF Loan,” “Mexico Expects to Withstand Turmoil,” and “After a Bad Week, Brazilians Wonder What Comes Next.” Shortly thereafter Seoul requested an even bigger bailout than that received by Indonesia. Estimates of bad bank loans in Southeast Asia range upwards of $73 billion, or 15 percent of outstanding credit. Economists forecast lower growth throughout Latin America. How stable will the U.S. economy be if Washington continually underwrites economic failure around the globe?
Moreover, the administration’s proclivity to bail out the profligate creates a danger of what economists call “moral hazard.” The expectation of a subsidy encourages people to behave irresponsibly, as did many owners of federally insured savings and loans. International aid has similar effects. Warns economist Allan Meltzer, “banks and financial institutions can now act safe in the knowledge that the IMF will provide a safety net to protect them from some, or even most, of their losses.”
Of course, if U.S. taxpayers are lucky, Indonesia and South Korea won’t need their money, and if they do, like Mexico they will repay their loans. But even such a best case won’t be costless, since credit isn’t free. When Washington channels billions of dollars to a foreign kleptocracy like that in Indonesia, it diverts resources from other uses, such as investment by entrepreneurs in America. We will never know how much we have lost in order to promote “stability” in other nations.
The only other argument for American bailout is to maintain Washington’s international clout. Weirdly, some Southeast Asians acted like a woman scorned after the United States failed to jump in at the first sign of economic trouble. “Americans musn’t forget that the Asia-Pacific region is their largest trading partner,” argued Karim Raslan, a Malaysian politica
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/17812
|
Federal retirees will get 1.7 percent COLA next year
Advice From a TSP Millionaire
What Happens to Your Life Savings?
Retirement Quiz: The Basics
Pay Raises and COLAs
Susan Law Cain/Shutterstock.com
Federal retirees will receive a 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment in 2013, according to the latest government figures.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics early Tuesday released September’s inflation figure, the final data point needed to calculate the 2013 COLA. Inflation stayed relatively low over 2012, resulting in a 2013 COLA that is much less than this year’s 3.6 percent bump.
The government publishes the annual cost-of-living adjustments typically in late October, based on the percentage increase (if any) in the average Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the third quarter of the current year over the average for the third quarter of the last year in which a COLA became effective. The CPI-W measures price changes in food, housing, gas and other goods and services. The 3.6 percent boost in 2012 was the first COLA increase since 2008.
The average of the July, August and September numbers along with the average figure from the third quarter of 2011 are used to calculate the 2013 COLA.
All federal retirees -- whether they are covered by the Civil Service Retirement System or the Federal Employees Retirement System -- will receive the full 1.7 percent. According to the formula, if the full COLA increase is 3 percent or higher, as it was for 2012, then FERS retirees receive 1 percent less than the full increase. So FERS retirees received a 2.6 percent boost for 2012. If the COLA falls between 2 percent and 3 percent, then FERS retirees would receive 2 percent. If the increase is less than 2 percent, as it will be in 2013, FERS retirees receive the same as CSRS retirees.
The increase will result in about $21 more per month for retirees, according to an Associated Press report.
This year's increase takes effect on Dec. 1 and will be reflected in retirees’ first annuity payments in January 2013. The salaries of federal employees are not affected by the COLA announcement.
The COLA amount that recipients actually end up with is affected by Medicare Part B premiums, since those premiums are deducted from Social Security payments. The government will announce the 2013 premiums, expected to increase between 5 percent and 10 percent over 2012 rates, later this fall. That means recipients likely will see less than the 1.7 percent expected increase.
Joseph A. Beaudoin, president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, said his organization was pleased that retirees will receive “some relief” from inflation. “This is welcome news for retirees who have seen the cost of living continue to increase over the past year,” he said. “As Congress debates ways to avoid the ‘fiscal cliff,’ NARFE is prepared to oppose any changes to the COLA formula that would have an adverse effect on retirees.” Want to contribute to this story? Share your addition in comments.
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/18085
|
The Mission of the Manhattan Institute isto develop and disseminate new ideas thatfoster greater economic choice andindividual responsibility.
Gotham Corp: SellJune 24, 2002By E.J. McMahonConsider the Gotham Corporation - a multibillion-dollar service conglomerate given up for dead in the mid-1970s and widely written off as an Old Economy dinosaur just a decade ago, only to emerge as one of the great turnaround stories of the 1990s. When the national economic slowdown began to erode Gotham's revenue outlook in the spring of 2001, the outgoing CEO made a fateful decision not to curb expenses. Instead, gambling on a strong rebound, he balanced the books by drawing down a $3 billion pile of cash accumulated during the boom years. A year later, Gotham's cash cushion is almost gone and red ink is spreading in the wake of 9/11. A new CEO and board chairman have agreed to cope with the situation by raising some prices, selling some assets, refinancing some debt, cutting expenses slightly and borrowing $1.5 billion to keep the lights on. The CEO has taken direct control of a troubled, strategically crucial Gotham subsidiary, but he has yet to produce a long-term plan for returning the overall enterprise to solvency and growth. Meanwhile, Gotham's payroll is nearly as large as ever, and its unionized workforce has yet to make a single cost-saving concession. With losses mounting, big price hikes are rumored to be just around the corner - which can only help Gotham's already lower-priced competitors. Sound like a good investment to you? If Gotham Corp. actually existed, its finances would look a lot like New York City's - and its once high-flying stock would now be tumbling down to single digits. Fortunately for Mayor Bloomberg, New Yorkers and their employers aren't nearly as mobile as investment capital. While some businesses relocated after the attack on the World Trade Center, even the most footloose of New York's 8 million residents aren't pulling up stakes in the face of the city's fiscal problems - not in noticeable numbers, not yet, anyway. The city continues to benefit from a huge store of post-9/11 goodwill and civic patriotism. But last week's budget agreement between Bloomberg and the City Council provides plenty of grounds for added worry about the future of New York's economy. If there's any good news in this deal, it's that it could have been much worse. The council had been pushing for a job-destroying combination of tax hikes and spending increases that would have cast a much darker shadow on the city's recovery prospects than Bloomberg's plan, which relied heavily on gimmicks and new debt to close a $5 billion gap, while holding the line on (most) taxes this year. But because the adopted budget cuts spending by even less than Bloomberg had proposed, the city still faces a shortfall of at least $3.7 billion in fiscal 2004. That potentially huge budget gap will form the backdrop for the mid-July meeting of the state Emergency Financial Control Board, a sort of supercharged corporate audit committee for the city government. Chaired by Gov. Pataki, the board also includes the governor's would-be Democratic opponent, state Comptroller Carl McCall, along with city Comptroller William Thompson and Bloomberg. Three additional gubernatorial appointees effectively put Pataki in charge of the show. The purpose of the board's yearly summer meeting is to confirm that the city isn't close to any of the tripwires that would require a state takeover of its finances. The board's staff is expected to answer a set of basic questions. Is the city failing to meet any of its debt service obligations? The answer will be no. Did it run a deficit of more than $100 million in fiscal year 2002? Likewise, no. Will the city run a deficit of more than $100 million in fiscal year 2003? Uh . . . well, barring an unforeseen disaster, no. This is not because anyone thinks the new budget is solidly balanced, but because the mayor is expected to do everything in his power to stop a deficit from developing if his revenue or spending projections prove overly optimistic. As it now stands, Bloomberg intends to cover $1.5 billion in operating expenses with proceeds from long-term bonds - the municipal equivalent of taking out a second mortgage to pay for groceries. It's a temporary stopgap, permitted this year under an emergency borrowing statute passed in the wake of 9/11. If the governor and the two comptrollers abide by the usual unwritten election-year protocols (that is, if they behave like most corporate audit committees), they'll react to this unpretty fiscal picture by intoning some platitudes about the challenges of the post-9/11 environment and telling CEO Bloomberg to keep up the good work. But if they take their jobs as the city's fiscal overseers seriously, they will use next month's meeting as a chance to press Bloomberg to get a jump on next year's problems, before it's too late. He'd probably consider it a favor. Say this much for government finance, New York-style: The city may not be subject to the same sort of market discipline as a private company, but the accounting, at least, will take place out in the open. E.J. McMahon is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. His work can also be found at nyfiscalwatch.com. ©2002 New York Post About E.J. McMahon: articles, bio, and photo Home | About MI | Scholars | Publications | Books | Links | Contact MI
City Journal | CAU | CCI | CEPE | CLP | CMP | CRD | ECNY
Thank you for visiting us. To receive a General Information Packet, please email [email protected] and include your name and address in your e-mail message.
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017phone (212) 599-7000 / fax (212) 599-3494
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/18196
|
Tags: LIBOR
EURIBOR De Borchgrave: LIBOR Investigation Marks Latest Wave in Financial Tsunami
Monday, 09 Jul 2012 03:21 PM
By Arnaud De Borchgrave
Print | A A Arnaud de Borchgrave’s Perspective: If women are reshaping the economy, politics and the world — as the National Journal says will be borne out in its "Women 2020" conference July 18 — it won't be soon enough. The men have made a real hash of it.
Former Barclays Bank Chief Executive Bob Diamond is seen after giving evidence to the British Treasury Select Committee in London, (Getty Images)
Hardly a day goes by without another financial scandal that has made the rich richer and the poor poorer.
London Interbank Offered Rate — LIBOR — is what British and international banks come up with every business day or a key global interest rate for 10 currencies supposedly based on a common appraisal of market forces.
What a bank would pay to borrow dollars for three months from another bank is the LIBOR fix.
LIBOR is then used by millions of businesses worldwide to set interest rates for contracts, loan commitments, derivative products, even more important than the overnight Fed funds rate.
From mortgages to derivatives, LIBOR sets rates for some $800 trillion in financial instruments.
For months, rumors and gossip led to investigations about LIBOR manipulation — and to Barclays Bank, a much respected, 300-year-old global British institution.
Systemic corruption on a massive scale and a bonus culture coupled with what is tantamount to a rigged roulette wheel spawned a new moneyed aristocracy.
Barclays admitted that its traders had manipulated rates hundreds of times. Former employees said the practice was at least 15 years old.
The weekly Economist said this could be the biggest securities fraud in history that is "affecting investors and borrowers around the world."
The scope of this institutional corruption can be gauged by the size of the fine imposed on Barclays — almost half a billion dollars — for confessing to shady practices in the LIBOR casino.
The resignation of Bob Diamond, Barclays chief executive, a U.S. citizen, came after he made almost $155 million since he joined the bank's board in 2006 and is in line for another $34 million under contractual entitlements.
Jerry del Missier, Barclays chief operating officer, resigned a few hours after Diamond.
Next day, a British parliamentary investigating committee questioned Diamond for three hours. He called the LIBOR casino reprehensible and that he was "physically ill" when he read the e-mail of culprit traders.
But he didn't feel ill when asked about rates submitted to LIBOR that were lower than the true cost of borrowing, a move designed to lower the temperature in the rapidly evolving crisis.
The investigation is still in its infancy. The new trail of vandalism stretches round the globe.
Barclays' admission of guilt is but the first tear in a global fabric of deceit. The biggest names in banking are under investigation.
LIBOR's global fixed roulette wheel is now under investigation from London to Hong Kong to Beijing to New York and back to Europe's trading capitals.
The suspicion is growing that EURIBOR — based on the Euro in Brussels — is part of the same transnational cartel.
"All major global banking players . . . are likely involved," says Hans Black, a leading global financial authority in Toronto, and "we will hear a great deal more about this fiasco in the coming months as not only British authorities but also many other countries' regulatory bodies have admitted to being in the midst of extensive investigations in these matters."
"Back in 2008 and early 2009," Black adds, "few understood what a credit default swap was and even less, the extent of the use of derivatives and how they brought the global banking system to its knees. Most politicians were simply not equipped to engage bankers on the sophisticated debate turf . . . of complex credit instruments."
Richard McCormack, a former executive vice chairman of the Bank of America, served in five U.S. administrations, including undersecretary of state for economic affairs and is currently senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. On June 19, he told an audience in Budapest:
"We are now in the middle of a global economic and political crisis, the intensity of which is unprecedented in the post-World War II era . . . The strains . . . have spread throughout the world. Many governments have already fallen, and more will do so . . . because of persistent unemployment and popular anger and distrust."
And this was before LIBOR hit the fan — and the headlines.
Noted editor and journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave is an editor at large for United Press International. He is a founding board member of Newsmax.com who now serves on Newsmax's Advisory Board. Read more reports from Arnaud de Borchgrave — Click Here Now.
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/18513
|
Aug 16, 2013 (10:08 AM EDT)
Dell's Ugly Earnings: 5 Takeaways
On Thursday, Dell announced an undisputedly ugly earnings report that included a 72% year-over-year drop in profits. To most companies, this sort of performance would be perceived as a disaster, flat out. But Dell is in a unique position, nearing the end of CEO and founder Michael Dell's six-month quest to take the company private. As a result, the earnings speak not only to Dell's current competitive prospects, but also to whether Michael Dell will be in charge long enough to turn things around. What do the company's financial statements reveal about these topics? Here are five key takeaways from Dell's rocky earnings. 1. Dell slightly outperformed expectations.
Dell recorded $14.5 billion in revenue in its second fiscal quarter, which is actually basically flat compared to the same period in 2012. This exceeded analyst estimates, which were closer to $14.2 billion. Even though more than three-quarters of Dell's profits evaporated relative to last year, its $204 million in net income translated to 25 cents per share, one cent more than expected, according to Thomson Reuters. [ For the latest on Dell's bid to go private, see Michael Dell Sweetens Buyout Bid. ]
2. Dell is selling more PCs but is still getting killed in the PC market.
In July, research firms Gartner and IDC released separate reports that suggested Dell's PC sales had begun to pick up. Indeed, Dell's computer business accounted for $9.1 billion, a 5% year-over-year drop that's not nearly as bad as it could have been, given the overall market. Unfortunately, Dell maintained its PC business largely by cutting prices. This tactic led to lower margins, and to overall profit of only $205 million. More than half of Dell's revenue comes from PCs and accessories. 3. The Enterprise Solutions Group is making progress, but not fast enough to compensate for the PC's business free-fall.
Dell's reliance on the floundering PC market is due in part to the fact that the company has largely missed out on the move toward mobile devices. That said, Dell has spent the last several years expanding beyond its PC base, with billions spent to acquire various companies and technologies. Last December, Michael Dell declared that the effort had turned the company into an end-to-end enterprise service provider. That was before the PC market had fully unraveled, however. The CEO now wants to take the company private to further develop this persona. The Enterprise Solutions Group was the lone bright spot in the earnings report. Its revenue was $3.3 billion, up 8% from a year ago. Dell noted strong sales of networking hardware and server equipment. The company singled out demand for hyper-scale products, a new category of highly scalable data center technologies in which Dell has been an early leader. Still, the Enterprise Solutions Group also testified to Dell's challenges. Though revenue was up, income slid 9%, to $137 million. That means Dell's enterprise business generated even less profit than its struggling PC business. 4. Dell's software business is coming along more slowly.
Software is another important element of Michael Dell's plan to make Dell a major enterprise services player. But unlike the Enterprise Solutions Group, which showed progress, the company's software projects are still finding their way. Dell's software business posted a $62 million operating loss. The company said it is working to enhance its software capabilities with investments that increase R&D and sales capacity.
5. Increases Michael Dell's chance of winning.
All in all, this was the kind of earnings report that shows why Michael Dell wants to take the company private in the first place. The company has valuable assets, but a turnaround is going to take time. Most investors won't have the patience to endure additional quarters like this one, and Michael Dell doesn't want to deal with oversight and scrutiny as he retools the company. Still, Dell's plan has been challenged by activist investor Carl Icahn, who thinks the CEO's buyout offer cheats investors out of future profits. After months of sniping and a recent series of maneuvers that included a sweetened offer and a change in the shareholder voting procedures, Michael Dell finally seems poised for victory. Icahn is still fighting Michael Dell in court, but for many investors, the earnings report is probably the last straw. There are several clear reasons for shareholders to accept the buyout, according to a research note written by Cindy Shaw, managing director at investment analytics firm Discern. She noted that declining enterprise profits reinforce doubts that Dell can compete in a crowded market, and that the company's falling PC sales and struggles in the mobile market are also significant concerns. Discern expects Dell to go private, but says if it doesn't, the company's stock -- which was trading around $13.76 on Friday -- could fall below $10.
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/18515
|
Nasdaq's SuperMontage Finally Cleared To Operate Aug 28, 2002 (08:08 PM EDT) Read the Original Article at http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=6502926
There's nothing like spending $100 million on an IT initiative designed to revolutionize your business only to see it held up for months by politics and bureaucracy. But Wednesday, the Nasdaq Stock Market finally secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to officially launch its electronic trading platform, SuperMontage, as early as Sept. 17 and no later than Oct. 11. The platform will let investors see five price levels of stocks, rather than the currently accessible best price. Beyond giving traders more information on which to base transaction decisions, Nasdaq hopes the move will make transactions faster and more efficient by consolidating trades through a single architecture.
SuperMontage has been ready to go live and has been used on test trades of more than 30 stocks since July. But the regulatory battle launched by competing electronic communications networks, or ECNs, has stymied the project. Getting the final nod from the SEC is a relief for Nasdaq execs. "From a technology and operations point of view, the project is fully implemented and complete," CIO Steve Randich says. Now it's just a question of whether or when the ECNs will link to the system.
The ECNs, which electronically match stock buyers and sellers, were originally opposed to SuperMontage, as they believed it would give Nasdaq a monopoly over order-executions and erode their execution market share in an already intensely competitive environment. To resolve that issue, the SEC a year ago required that Nasdaq build an alternative display facility managed by its parent company (the National Association of Securities Dealers). It also mandated that the Nasdaq exchange be spun off as a for-profit company. But resistance from the ECNs to SuperMontage has kept the project from going live.
The SEC put an end to the stalling by requiring ECNs to either link to SuperMontage or declare that they will use the alternative display facility as their primary trading facility within the next four days. Should all ECNs link to the new platform, it could go live as soon as Sept. 17. If the ECNs decide to use the alternative display facility, as their primary platform, they will get 45 days to link to and test their trading capabilities, pushing the opening of SuperMontage to Oct. 11. Yet that's not a terrible consequence, says Sang Lee, an analyst at Celent Communications. "The biggest win for Nasdaq is that the SEC has told the ECNs directly that they need to make up their minds," he says. "Ultimately, the decision was a win-win for the Nasdaq because they finally got through the delays, got the approval, and have an official launch date." Already, Bloomberg ECN has declared it will use the alternative display facility, so Randich says the October date is more realistic. "We're happy even with an Oct. 11 rollout," he says. "Obviously, we'd prefer to start it in mid-September, but we're OK if we have to wait."
While each day that SuperMontage idles takes away from projected revenue gains for Nasdaq, Lee says that the exchange should be able make up those losses relatively quickly. As for the rest of the ECNs, they have four days to come up with a final decision. While some of the larger ones, such as Island ECN, have expressed their intentions to join SuperMontage, they may still use take advantage of this final opportunity to push back the launch and possibly resort to using the alternative display facility. But for the smaller competitors, there's not much choice but to join the big guys. Says Lee, "You can't justify having the best system if you're not linked to the largest pool of liquidity."
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/18528
|
U.S. Default Is Possible: Treasury May Not Prioritize Debt Payments
Daniel Indiviglio Jul 28 2011, 9:41 AM ET
If this isn't a bluff, then Washington's failure to strike a deal should deeply disturb the rating agencies, the market, and everybody elseSurely, the Obama administration will not allow the U.S. to default. Even if Congress fails to pass a resolution by the Treasury's August 2nd deadline (which is this coming Tuesday, by the way), surely the President will direct Treasury Secretary Geithner to prioritize debt payments above others so that the U.S. doesn't miss an interest payment. This has been a commonly held assumption of many following the debt ceiling fiasco -- and this is also what the rating agencies think. A new report, however, suggests that they could all be wrong. Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times reports today that the Treasury will explain how it will pay its bills with insufficient funds later this week. But he also writes that we may already know the answer: Officials have said repeatedly that Treasury does not have the legal authority to pay bills based on political, moral or economic considerations. It cannot, for instance, set aside invoices from weapons companies to preserve money for children's programs. The implication is that the government will need to pay bills in the order that they come due. President Obama has warned as a result that the government "cannot guarantee" payments of Social Security benefits or other popular programs. Officials also have disputed the assertion of some Republicans that the government could prioritize interest payments.Indeed, earlier this year one Republican, Sen. Pat Toomey introduced a bill that would have required the Treasury to prioritize debt payments above all others, in order to insure that the nation's pristine AAA-rating is preserved. The Treasury will have plenty of revenue to cover interest payments -- it just won't have enough to cover everything else as well without issuing more debt. Toomey's bill never passed. But that didn't matter to the rating agencies. In June, I asked Moody's and Standard and Poor's whether or not a bill like Toomey's would ease their fears of default. They said no, because they already implicitly assumed that the Treasury would prioritize debt payments to preserve the U.S.'s rating. And yet, the report above suggests that the agencies' assumption is incorrect. If the debt ceiling is not raised and the Treasury uses its consequently insufficient funds to pay bills as they come due in August, then before long an interest payment will be missed. Is this a bluff by these Treasury sources or will the Treasury really shrug and default in a few weeks if no deal is reached? We'll know for sure in a few days when it releases an official statement. But this possibility shows how high the stakes are for the debt talks. This makes Tuesday, August 2nd a pretty important date. Although some have suggested that the deadline isn't real, Treasury has repeatedly insisted that it is. Discussions I had with Treasury officials in May indicated that it would be illegal for them to fib about this date. That's why they were forced to extend it last spring from July 8th to August 2nd when higher-than-expected tax receipts came in. Obviously the administration would have found it convenient to instead leave the initial drop-dead date intact to provide a little extra cushion for Washington's politics, but the law wouldn't allow it. If the law similarly doesn't allow the Treasury to prioritize interest payments, then it won't. If the rating agencies observe the Treasury state in an official capacity that it will not prioritize debt payments, then they should downgrade the nation's debt once it becomes clear that the U.S. will not reach a deal by its Tuesday deadline. A downgrade would be bad, but a default would be much worse. And unless some weird action is taken, like the Federal Reserve allowing the Treasury to carry a negative balance on its account for a time, a default may be unavoidable if Congress doesn't reach an agreement in time. If the Treasury really can't prioritize payments, and it's pretty hard to believe that it wouldn't if it could, then a bill like Sen. Toomey's might be a good short-term solution to tide the markets over until Congress finds a way to compromise on a longer-term debt limit and deficit reduction plan. A default would be disastrous. If the Treasury doesn't have the legal authority to prioritize debt payments, then Congress needs to provide it the ability to do so. Image Credit: Jim Young/Reuters
Daniel Indiviglio was an associate editor at The Atlantic from 2009 through 2011. He is now the Washington, D.C.-based columnist for Reuters Breakingviews. He is also a 2011 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow through the Phillips Foundation.
Indiviglio has also written for Forbes. Prior to becoming a
journalist, he spent several years working as an investment banker and a
consultant. All Posts
Follow @indiviglio
Dominic Tierney Apr 18, 2014 Will the Robots Kill Us?
Patrick Tucker Apr 19, 2014 There's a Caucus for That
Sarah Mimms Apr 18, 2014 'Heaven Is for Real': Does It Matter?
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/18598
|
Here’s How We Value Green Mountains And Coca-Cola’s Partnership
Cliffs’ Earnings Preview: Lower Iron Ore And Coal Prices Likely to Impact Results
on TREFIS
The Stem Cell Revolution Can Jump-Start Your Portfolio: Jason Kolbert
March 18th, 2013 by The Life Sciences Report
| votes
Submitted by The Life Sciences Report as part of our contributors program.
This interview was conducted by George S. Mack of The Life Sciences Report (3/14/13)
No single solution will emerge from the growing realm of stem cell technology and regenerative medicine. Instead, multiple innovations will succeed in a field that promises to forever change the practice of medicine?innovations generated by the recognition that living cells are capable of performing a platform of functions that present-day drugs simply cannot. In this Life Sciences Report interview, Jason Kolbert, senior vice president and biotechnology analyst with Maxim Group, provides a detailed analysis of the industry and names companies that investors should be aware of now, while valuations are remarkably low.
The Life Sciences Report: It was curious and interesting to find out that you speak Japanese.
Jason Kolbert: Hai, so desu [Yes, that's so]. Japan is a big part of my life. I think it’s a fascinating country.
I was in Japan in the early 1990s, working for Schering-Plough Corp. (acquired by Merck & Co. Inc. [MRK:NYSE] in November 2009) and launching Intron A (interferon alfa-2b) for hepatitis C (HCV). What I discovered during my time in the country was that the Japanese have the highest incidence and prevalence in the world of hepatitis C. My experiences in Japan showed me what an insidious disease HCV is, because it’s asymptomatic. You don’t know you have it, but later in life – 10, 20, 30 years later – it kills you by causing liver failure and liver cancer. We saw interferon sales go from nominally tens of millions for hairy cell leukemia to well north of $1 billion ($1B) once Intron A was approved for HCV treatment.
When I returned to the States many years later, I became acutely aware of the opportunity in HCV. Companies like Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX:NASDAQ), Pharmasset (acquired by Gilead Sciences Inc. [GILD:NASDAQ] in January 2012), Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACHN:NASDAQ) andIdenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (IDIX:NASDAQ) were all emerging as leaders in direct antiviral therapies, and driving a paradigm shift.
I don’t follow the Japanese stock market, nor do I follow Japanese companies. The nuances of following a company, especially in Japan, require an analyst to be, essentially, in country and exclusively focused. On the other hand, when a company I do follow, like Gilead Sciences, announces its intention to build Gilead Japan and not go through a Japanese marketing partner, that tells me Gilead is very serious about penetrating the HCV market – and that the company is intent on realizing and enhancing a return on its $11B acquisition of Pharmasset. It will do this is by making sure its oral, pan-genotypic nucleoside sofosbuvir (formerly GS-7977), which it got in the Pharmasset deal, not only does well in Japan but also that it doesn’t split the profits with a Japanese national.
TLSR: I know you follow Melbourne, Australia-based Mesoblast Ltd. (MSB:ASE; MBLTY:OTCPK), a Pacific Rim company. Tell me about it.
JK: Australia is definitely emerging as a biotechnology powerhouse. I am interested in covering Australian companies, but I am very aware of the differences between Australia and the U.S in terms of biotech and stem cell business development. It was no accident that Dr. Silviu Itescu founded Mesoblast in Australia. It was Dr. Itescu’s goal to avoid some of the problems that micro-cap biotechnology stocks have seen in the U.S., where if companies go public early, and are initially plagued with failures, it hurts valuations. Geron Corp.’s (GERN:NASDAQ) departure from the stem cell space is a great example; it made 10 years of investments only to see its programs fail. It is interesting that Geron’s programs have been acquired by BioTime Acquisition Corp., a subsidiary of BioTime Inc. (BTX:NYSE), and Dr. Tom Okarma, the former Geron CEO, is now at BioTime.
On the other hand, in the world of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, it’s almost a misnomer to think of a company as Australian, Japanese or American. Investors have to think of companies as global. That’s very much in evidence with Mesoblast, in that it’s moving forward with a global, 1,700-patient congestive heart failure (CHF) trial that will be paid for and run by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA:NASDAQ). When you think about the implications of running that kind of trial, you can understand how Mesoblast is not merely an Australian company. It’s a global company.
TLSR: What were some of the issues that Dr. Itescu wanted to avoid by founding the company in Australia?
JK: Dr. Itescu looked at the market capitalizations of the U.S. cell therapy companies. He was very keenly aware of what his benchmarks would be if he founded Mesoblast in the States.
For example, how do you differentiate what Mesoblast is doing versus what Athersys Inc. (ATHX:NASDAQ) is doing? As someone who has studied those two companies in great detail, I could walk you through that differentiation process, but the reality is that both programs are allogeneic, meaning they use other people’s cells, and they both represent the pills-in-a-bottle or cells-in-a-bottle pharma model. They both have the potential to treat local disease, like heart disease or bone defects, as well as systemic disease. In addition to heart disease, Mesoblast is pursuing degenerative disc disease (DDD) and spinal fusion, both local indications, and systemically, type 2 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, all with its mesenchymal precursor cells (MPCs). Athersys is pursuing ischemic stroke in the framework of a systemic disease, graft versus host disease, which is systemic, and acute heart disease. Athersys is partnered with Pfizer Inc. (PFE:NYSE) in an ulcerative colitis program, and Mesoblast is partnered with Teva. In many ways, Athersys and Mesoblast look similar.
What’s different is that Mesoblast was incorporated in Australia, and the initial funds were raised there. What drove the valuation in Mesoblast was the partnership it was able to make with Cephalon Inc. (which was acquired by Teva in October 2011). Being an Australian company made the capital-raising process easier because a dynamic exists in Australia that does not exist in the U.S.: Retail shareholders are able to invest directly in the company. They can literally mail checks to the company. I’ve seen o
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/18683
|
HFT and Big Data: Not a Technology Barrier, but a Cultural OneBATS Attracts 2 Private Equity Investors: What Does it Mean?Outages at BATS and Direct Edge: Are Technical Mishaps the New Normal?The New Finance Era: From HFT to Big Data The Compliance Risk of Social Media The guidelines recently issued by the FFIEC on risk management and the use of social media for financial institutions only scratches the surface of this burgeoning issue. By Bryan Yurcan , Bank Systems & Technology
January 31, 2013 Tweet
Last week, the FFIEC released proposed risk management guidelines for financial institutions using social media. The guidelines did not delve too much into specifics, offering more of a broad outline of the potential risk and compliance issues that can arise in the burgeoning social media channel. "Financial institutions may use social media in a variety of ways, including marketing, providing incentives, facilitating applications for new accounts, inviting feedback from the public, and engaging with existing and potential customers, for example, by receiving and responding to complaints, or providing loan pricing," reads a portion of the FFIEC paper. "Since this form of customer interaction tends to be informal and occurs in a less secure environment, it presents some unique challenges to financial institutions."
... Read full story on Bank Systems & Technology
Post a comment to the original version of this story on Bank Systems & Technology
7 Unusual Behaviors That Indicate Security BreachesCyber Risk Is World’s Third Corporate-Risk PriorityCommunity Chatter: Most Commented Articles of 2013Tis The Season For Hacks: 5 Tips to Combat Holiday FraudMore Slideshows» More Insights
White Papers The Future of IT: A Customer First Approach Data Quality Issues in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) More >> Webcasts How to Improve Customer Analytics: Best Practices How to Really Put Big Data to Work More >> Wall Street & Technology encourages readers to engage in spirited, healthy debate, including taking us to task. However, Wall Street & Technology moderates all comments posted to our site, and reserves the right to modify or remove any content that it determines to be derogatory, offensive, inflammatory, vulgar, irrelevant/off-topic, racist or obvious marketing/SPAM. Wall Street & Technology further reserves the right to disable the profile of any commenter participating in said activities.
Ivy Schmerken, Editor at LargeIvy is Editor-at-Large for Advanced Trading and Wall Street & Technology. Ivy is responsible for writing in-depth feature articles, daily blogs and news articles with a focus on automated trading in the capital markets. As an industry expert, Ivy has reported on a myriad number of topics including high frequency trading, algorithmic trading strategies, market structure, electronic trading in fixed income , colocation in data centers, Dodd-Frank regulation and the new derivatives landscape. Ivy meets with software companies and other innovators and writes about cloud computing, OMS/EMSs and other financial technologies.Citi Launches Block Pricing Tool on Bloomberg App Portal+ moreMarc J Firenze, Chief Technology Officer, Eagle Investment SystemsAs chief technology officer of Eagle Investment Systems, Marc Firenze drives the software, technology and architecture decisions across Eagle's investment management suite and ensures that development directly supports the firm's corporate vision. With more than 20 years of experience in the design, development and implementation of financial technology solutions, he oversees a world-class team of technical and functional talent responsible for the software development, delivery, engineering and enterprise architecture for Eagle's suite of products.
Mr. Firenze began his career with Eagle in 1997 and has been intimately involved in many facets of the build-out of its products including new feature design, analysis and quality assurance.
During his tenure at Eagle, he was responsible for launching the enterprise technology platform, which underlies Eagle's product suite. He was instrumental in the development and delivery of Eagle's data management and of Eagle's alternative investment accounting solution.
Prior to joining Eagle, Mr. Firenze worked for State Street Corporation, where he worked on the development of portfolio management and accounting systems. Mr. Firenze earned his Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his M.B.A from Northeastern University.The Pursuit of IBOR+ moreDr. John Bates, CTO, Intelligent Business Operations & Big Data, Software AGDr. John Bates is a Member of the Group Executive Board and Chief Technology Officer at Software AG, responsible for Intelligent Business Operations and Big Data strategies. Until July 2013, John was Executive Vice President and Corporate Chief Technology Officer at Progress Software. John was responsible for creating, evolving and evangelizing Progress' market strategy and technology vision. Previously, John was General Manager of Progress Software's Apama Division. John was responsible for Divisional P&L including sales, marketing, products and consulting services. In 3 years John grew revenue by over 300%.Fast and Furious: High Frequency Trading Raises Hackles+ moreAndrew Waxman, Thought LeaderAndrew Waxman writes on operational risk in capital markets and financial services. Andrew is a consultant in IBM's US financial risk services and compliance group. The views expressed her are those of his own. As an operational risk manager, Andrew has worked at some of the leading investment banks and consulting firms in Wall Street and the City of London. He writes on topics such as: rogue and insider trading, technology and markets, disaster planning, regulatory responses and risk management strategies. Andrew has a first class degree in history from Kings' College London and an MBA in finance from NYU.Are Banks on a Collision Course with Data Privacy Laws?+ moreJennifer L Costley, Ph.D, Principal, Ashokan AdvisorsJennifer L. Costley, Ph.D. is a scientifically-trained technologist with broad multidisciplinary experience in enterprise architecture, software development, line management and infrastructure operations, primarily (although not exclusively) in capital markets. She is also a non-profit board leader recognized for talent in building strong governance and process. Her current focus is in helping companies, organizations and individuals with opportunities related to data, analysis and sustainability. She can be reached at www.ashokanadvisors.comLEI Definitions: Closer to a Common Data Specification+ moreMichael J. Levas, Founder, Senior Managing Principal, Director of Trading, Olympian Group of Investment Management CosMichael J. Levas has been in the investment management business for over twenty years and is the founder,senior managing principal & director of trading at the Olympian Group of Investment Management Companies. Prior to Olympian, he was a VP and Portfolio Manager in the Private Client Group at Lehman Brothers Inc. Prior to that, he was a VP with SG Cowen, UBS PaineWebber and Bear Stearns where he managed in excess of $250 million in both institutional and retail portfolios.
Mr. Levas is the former founder and managing member of Olympian Securities LLC, and is a licensed Series 24 general securities principal, Series 7 general securities representative, and a Series 65, 66 investment adviser representative with (FINRA). Mr. Levas is also the former founder and principal of Olympian Futures LLC, a former (NFA) registered introducing broker, and a licensed Series 3 associated person. Mr. Levas currently holds the Chartered Portfolio Manager (CPM) designation from the American Academy of Financial Management. Mr. Levas completed investment management studies at Harvard Business School and additionally, Mr.Levas has completed the Hedge Fund Programme at The London Business School. He is a current member of the CFA society of South Florida, Securities Traders Association of Florida, The National Association of Active Investment Managers, and formerly served on the 2008/2009 board of directors of The Hedge Fund Association.
Mr. Levas is a frequent conference speaker, and commentator on the financial markets & asset management industry.He has been featured throughout the U.S.,Canada, Latin America, Europe, Asia and in numerous publications, and media outlets including BusinessWeek, Dow Jones Newswires, The Financial Times,Smart Money,Hedge Fund Manager Week, Wall Street Letter, Euromoney, Wall St.& Technology,The Economic Times, Securities Industry News, Alternative Investment Review, Advanced Trading, Markets Media Magazine, TradeTech , Reuters, Bloomberg and National Public Radio.Market Correction Is Short Lived+ moreVamsi Chemitiganti, Chief Architect, Red HatAs Chief Architect of Red Hat's Financial Services Vertical, Vamsi Chemitiganti is responsible for driving Red Hat's technology vision from a client standpoint. The breadth of these areas range from Platform, Middleware, Storage to Big Data and Cloud (IaaS and PaaS). The clients Chemitiganti engages with on a daily basis span marquee names on Wall Street, including businesses in capital markets, core banking, wealth management and IT operations. The other large component of his role is to work with Client CXOs and Architects to help them on key business transformation initiatives. Chemitiganti hold a BS in Computer Science and Engineering as well as an MBA from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is also a regular speaker at industry events on topics ranging from Cloud Computing, Big Data, High Performance Computing and Enterprise Middleware.Building AML Regulatory Platforms For The Big Data Era+ moreDr. Howard A. Rubin, President and CEO, Rubin WorldwideDr. Howard A. Rubin is a Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at Hunter College of the City University of New York, a MIT CISR Research Affiliate, a Gartner Senior Advisor, and a former Nolan Norton Research Fellow. He is the founder and CEO of Rubin Worldwide.
Dr. Rubin is a pioneer in the area of technology economics and has built the world's largest database in the field consisting of business, national, and technology data. He is personally retained by many of the world's largest enterprises as a strategic advisor to provide them with continuous competitive calibration via benchmarking and to advise them on business-technology strategy and trends. His current portfolio of client companies in total generate more than $1.5T in revenue to the global economy annually and account for almost $100B in yearly Information Technology (IT) spending.
Dr. Rubin has also worked directly with heads of state or their key ministers around the world in the development of national competitive technology strategies - Canada, India, the Philippines, South Africa, and in the United States with former President Clinton. He currently is an informal advisor assisting President Obama's Council on Job Creation and Competitiveness.
Dr. Rubin possesses a Ph.D. from the City University of New York in Computer Science and Oceanography.
Outside the world of technology Dr. Rubin is Chairman of the Board of Riverkeeper, a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, a Leadership Council member of the RFK Foundation, a major support of student development programs at the Tribeca Film Institute, and a supporter of the Rainforest Foundation. Datacenters: The Future Is Not What It Used To Be+ moreSang Lee, Co-Founder, Managing Partner, Aite GroupSang Lee is a co-founder of and currently serves as managing partner. Mr. Lee's expertise lies in the securities and investments vertical and has advised many global financial institutions, software/hardware vendors, and professional services firms in sell-side and buy-side electronic trading technology and market structure. Prior to joining Aite Group, Mr. Lee was a founding member of Celent Communications and served as the Manager of the Securities & Investments Group as well as the Operations Group.Market Structure Recipe For Success+ moreAlexander Fleiss, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, Rebellion Research Partners LPAlexander Fleiss serves as Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Rebellion Research Partners LP, a Global Macro hedge fund and financial advisory that invests across all asset classes and is based in New York. Mr. Fleiss also oversees the firm's institutional research division, Rebellion Economics, which offers coverage of 44 countries. Mr. Fleiss has spoken about Artificial Intelligence investing at conferences, colleges and in the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, BusinessWeek, Bloomberg News, Geo Magazine and Institutional Investor. Prior to co-founding Rebellion Research in 2007, Mr. Fleiss served as a Principal at KMF Partners LP, a long-short US equity fund. While at KMF, he was primarily responsible for investments in the financial service, technology and consumer industries. Mr. Fleiss began his investment career as an analyst for Sloate, Weisman, Murray & Co which was acquired by Neuberger Berman. Mr. Fleiss developed investment algorithms with the firm's CEO, Laura Sloate who is now a partner at Neuberger Berman. Mr. Fleiss received a BA Degree from Amherst College.Has Copper been the Victim of an Overly Pessimistic View on China ?+ moreBrooke Allen, 30-Year Industry VeteranBrooke Allen is a 30-year industry veteran who most recently founded a quantitative trading desk now celebrating its 17th year in continuous operation. For years he wrote a monthly piece for International Family Magazine, in 2009 he founded NoShortageOfWork.com to discuss work life, and in 2011 he created Questions For Colleges (Q4Colleges.com) to discuss issues facing higher education. Now he is beginning a series for us here on his beloved Securities Industry. Before you decide to trust him or collaborate with him, look at BrookeAllen.com where you will find his Personal Disclosure Statement.Want a Job? Stop Complaining and Start Problem Solving+ moreSean Owens, Director, Fixed Income and Derivatives, Woodbine AssociatesSean Owens is Director, Fixed Income at Woodbine Associates, Inc. focusing on strategic, business, regulatory, market structure, and technology issues that impact firm’s active in and supporting global fixed income and derivative markets.Volcker on the Mind, But Will it Deliver?+ moreJoe Saluzzi, Partner and co-head of equity trading, Themis TradingJoseph Saluzzi is partner, co-founder and co-head of equity trading of Themis Trading LLC, a leading independent agency brokerage firm that trades equities for institutional money managers and hedge funds. He is also the co-author of Broken Markets -- How High Frequency Trading and Predatory Practices on Wall Street are Destroying Investor Confidence.
Mr. Saluzzi is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on issues involving market access, algorithmic trading and other sell- and buy-side concerns. He has provided expert commentary for media outlets such as CBS's 60 Minutes, BBC Radio, Bloomberg Television & Radio, CNBC, Fox Business, BNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Reuters, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg News. Mr. Saluzzi also has authored articles for Traders Magazine, Dow Jones and Journal of Investment Compliance.
Prior to Themis, Mr. Saluzzi headed the team responsible for equity sales and trading for major institutional accounts at Instinet Corporation for more than nine years. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with an MBA in Finance and received a Bachelor's Degree in Finance from New York University.FINRA's Dark Pool Proposal Needs A Brighter Light+ moreSean O'Dowd, Capital Markets Program Director, TeradataSean O'Dowd leads the Global Capital Markets program at Teradata for Industry and Marketing Solutions. In this role Sean focuses on industry strategy, marketing and field enablement. Areas of focus span financial market structure, regulations and technologies that impact the business models and strategies of financial markets firms (buy-side, sell-side, wealth management, custody, exchanges, and retail brokers). Topics include many of the large transformational technologies impacting capital markets, such as cloud services, mobility, information management and big/fast data, unstructured data and analytics. Additionally, Sean covers many industry specific trends and technologies including electronic trading, investment management operations, wealth management and personal finance, oversight infrastructure (Government agencies and SRO's). Sean's personal area of expertise lies within investment management, derivatives securities and trading technology.Is Wealth Management Missing the Message?+ moreStephen Davenport, Director Equity Risk Management, Wilmington Trust CompanySteve is responsible for developing risk-managed investment strategies for high-net-worth clients. He has a strong background in quantitative investment analysis, and a sophisticated approach to asset allocation and the use of derivatives. In particular, he has managed a call writing strategy for clients seeking additional income for the last six years.
Steve began his career with State Street Global Advisors and later joined Columbia Management Investment Advisors in Boston as a senior investment advisor. During his career, Steve has focused on developing comprehensive solutions for families, executives, and entrepreneurs with concentrated stock positions.
Steve holds an M.S. in Finance from Boston College's Wallace Carroll School of Management as well as bachelor's degrees in industrial engineering and mathematics/computer science from Columbia University and Providence College, respectively. Steve holds CFA designation and he is a member of Atlanta Security Analyst Society.Nasdaq Signals – Is Anyone Listening?+ more
View All Thought Leaders
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/18763
|
Follow→ GMI Ratings
Discover Key Measures of Value
ESG Analytics
AGR Analytics
Forensic Alpha Model (FAM)
Research Distribution
Academic Researchers
GMI Analyst
GMI Compliance
Global LeaderBoard
AGR®, ESG, and FAM Datafeeds
Diverse Director DataSource
Daily Viewpoint
Key Metrics Series
Independent Academic Research
Alerts and Bulletins
Social Issue: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.April 23, 2012 in Flash Reports GMI Ratings
Social Issue | Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Region: North America
Sector: Cyclical Consumer Goods / Services
Industry: Retail – Discount Stores
Market Cap: $203,489.3mm (Large Cap)
ESG Rating: F
AGR: Aggressive (12)
Wal-Mart missed the chance to clean up its alleged bribery problems in Mexico, just as it also turned a deaf ear to warnings about the mistreatment of its workers.
When Sergio Cicero Zapata emailed the retailer in September 2005 about how Wal-Mart de Mexico had paid bribes to obtain permits in its rush to build stores, Wal-Mart sent investigators to Mexico City and found a paper trail of hundreds of suspect payments totaling more than $24 million, The New York Times reported over the weekend. Wal-Mart shut down the investigation without notifying U.S. or Mexican law enforcement or disciplining leaders at the Mexican subsidiary. Senior managers including current Wal-Mart Chief Executive Mike Duke and former CEO Lee Scott knew about the situation, The Times said.
In large corporations “sometimes issues arise despite our best efforts and intentions,” said David Tovar, the retailer’s vice president in Corporate Communications, in a statement April 21. “When they do. . . we take action and work to implement changes so the issue doesn’t happen again.” For example, he said Wal-Mart started a worldwide review of its anti-corruption program in the spring of 2011. His firm has also taken steps such as establishing a compliance director in Mexico who is dedicated to the U.S. anti-bribery law the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and who reports directly to the company headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.
It’s great that Wal-Mart has compliance people on board, but when other kinds of issues have arisen in the past, the retailer hasn’t always succeeded in preventing them from happening again. For example, the labor-rights group SweatFree Communities had a Bangladeshi non-governmental research organization interview 90 Wal-Mart workers at JMS Garments between September 2007 and September 2008. They found that managers kicked the workers, forced them to stand for hours if they arrived late, and paid less than the legal minimum wage. When Wal-Mart inspectors came to visit, managers forced the workers to lie about the sweatshop conditions and wages. After SweatFree shared its report in August 2008, Wal-Mart developed a plan to make JMS Garments a “model” for others in Bangladesh. But Wal-Mart “should have long ago heeded the calls of organizations like ours to shoulder an appropriate share of the burden to prevent abuses among its factory suppliers,” SweatFree said in a statement on its website.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart’s labor rights problems have continued since. For example, the company didn’t train its workers to safely manage a large crowd, and then when 2,000 shoppers surged into a store in New York at an annual “Blitz Friday” holiday sales event on Nov. 28, 2008, they trampled one of the workers to death, according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Then on Jan. 5, 2011, 17-year-old Patrick Desjardins was electrocuted while buffing a wet floor at a Wal-Mart store in New Brunswick, Canada. And in February this year, OSHA said it found 24 alleged repeat and “serious” violations of workplace standards at a Wal-Mart store in Rochester, New York, ranging from obstructed exit routes to an unguarded grinder.
GMI Ratings gives Wal-Mart an F on the social component of its corporate governance, as well as an F overall globally and a D in the company’s home market.
Wal-Mart didn’t respond to a request for comment within press time. Hopefully the retailer will succeed in making sure that the bribery allegations that surfaced recently won’t happen again.
GMI Ratings
www.gmiratings.com
[email protected]
esg, shareholder vote, Wal-mart, WMT April 23, 2012:
© 2014 GMI Ratings. All Rights Reserved. Legal Notices
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/18780
|
No hint of LIBOR fraud in 2008: KingAAP – Tue, Jul 17, 2012 10:49 PM AEST
The governor of the Bank of England says US authorities did not show him any evidence of manipulation of a key market rate when they raised concerns in 2008.Mervyn King told a House of Commons committee on Tuesday that during the 2008 financial crisis, there was widespread concern about what the London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR, was indicating about the state of banks.However, there were no fears being voiced about misreporting.UK lender Barclays has since been fined $US453 million ($A443.57 million) by US and UK financial authorities for manipulating the LIBOR between 2005 and 2009.Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond have resigned as a result of the scandal and chairman Marcus Agius says he will go once his successor is chosen.Treasury Select Committee member Michael Fallon pressed King on why Timothy Geithner, then president of the New York Federal Reserve, in 2008 proposed "procedures designed to prevent accidental or deliberate misreporting" and "eliminate incentive to misreport"."When you design any self-reporting scheme you have rules to prevent misreporting," King said."That isn't the same as saying you've got evidence that there is misreporting, nor did the Fed or anyone else send us any evidence of misreporting."LIBOR is an average rate set by banks each morning that measures how much they expect to pay each other for loans. The rate is also used in calculating borrowing costs of hundreds of trillions of dollars in loans and investments such as bonds, auto loans and derivatives. The process is supervised by the British Bankers Association.At the height of the 2008 credit crisis, following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, interbank borrowing dried up as fear and speculation over which lender would be the next to fail gripped the markets lenders.In sometimes testy exchanges with the committee, King said the first he knew of any alleged wrongdoing during 2008 "was when the reports came out two weeks ago".Those reports by the US Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Britain's Financial Services Authority detailed rate manipulation by Barclays between 2005 and 2009."We have been through all our records. There is no evidence of wrongdoing or reporting of wrongdoing to the Bank (of England)," King said."I discussed this with your committee in 2008. Everyone was concerned about what LIBOR meant at that stage. Your committee discussed it, we discussed it, the press discussed it. That is a million miles away from saying that is the same as deliberate, deceitful manipulation of submissions in order to make financial gain," King added.An analysis published by the NY Fed in May 2008 noted that although banks "may have incentives to misreport in order to manipulate the level of the LIBOR fixing, and thereby influence their funding or derivative positions, this is not the primary driver of recent alleged misquotes."
@y7finance on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook Top Stories »Beijing auto show opensAAPGlobal and Chinese automakers are looking to the Beijing auto show to help boost sales in a slowing, intensely …Nintendo's trailblazing Game Boy marks 25th anniversaryAFPEx-Apple chief plans mobile phone for IndiaAFPVW aims for double-digit growth in ChinaAFP
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/18873
|
AgentSite Home Contact UsSite Map
Enter ZIP code: About Us
Main Office and Locations
State Auto Values Diversity
State Auto is Social
State Auto Financial Reports Impact of Storm Activity
Columbus, Ohio (February 14, 2008) – State Auto Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: STFC) today announced its preliminary estimates of 2008 catastrophe storm activity through February 8, 2008. The company expects first quarter 2008 earnings will include between $30 and $33 million in pre-tax catastrophe losses related to abnormal January and early February storm activity. STFC Chairman, President and CEO Bob Restrepo stated “Severe wind and tornado activity has been unusually harsh for this early in the year. Storms that hammered the Midwest during the first five weeks of this year are estimated to contribute significantly more losses to STFC’s first quarter 2008 results than are normal. Over the past five years, we have experienced an average of $6.7 million in pre-tax catastrophe losses during the first quarter and reported $8.1 million in the first quarter of 2007.
We have dispatched special catastrophe claims teams to two of the most heavily damaged areas in Jackson, Tennessee and Louisville, Kentucky. Our claims staff continues to work hard to provide our policyholders the overwhelming service they expect from State Auto during these difficult times,” added Restrepo.
State Auto Financial Corporation, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, is a super regional property and casualty insurance holding company. The company markets its personal and business insurance products exclusively through independent insurance agencies in 33 states and is proud to be a Trusted Choice® company partner. STFC stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, which represents the top third of all NASDAQ listed companies. The company is one of NASDAQ’s listed companies to be named a 2007 Mergent Dividend Achiever for having increased its dividends for ten or more years in succession.
The State Auto Insurance Companies are rated A+ (Superior) by the A.M. Best Company. The State Auto Insurance Companies include State Automobile Mutual, State Auto Property & Casualty, State Auto National, State Auto Ohio, State Auto Wisconsin, State Auto Florida, Milbank, Farmers Casualty, Meridian Security, Meridian Citizens Mutual, Beacon National, Beacon Lloyds, Patrons Mutual and Litchfield Mutual Fire. Additional information on State Auto Financial Corporation and the State Auto Insurance Companies can be found online at www.StateAuto.com.
Except for historical information, all other information in this news release consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied. The most significant of these uncertainties are described in State Auto Financial's Form 10-K and Form 10-Q reports and exhibits to those reports, and include (but are not limited to) legislative changes at both the state and federal level, state and federal regulatory rule making promulgations and adjudications, class action litigation involving the insurance industry and judicial decisions affecting claims, policy coverages and the general costs of doing business, the impact of competition on products and pricing, inflation in the costs of the products and services insurance pays for, product development, geographic spread of risk, weather and weather-related events, and other types of catastrophic events. State Auto Financial undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements
Enter a policy number
Kyle Anderson
AVP, Director of Corporate Communications
Investor Relations Contact
Larry Adeleye
AVP, Director of Treasury and Finance
Copyright © 2014 State Auto Insurance Companies. All rights reserved. Site Map
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/19285
|
E-mail Print Comments Share Tweet Google+ The Two-Way Occupy Wall Street: As Morning Rush Ends, Things Settle Down
By Eyder Peralta A couple of protesters dance on Wall St. Eyder Peralta
I took a walk up and down the main arteries into Wall Street and things seem to be settling down. As the protesters dispersed this morning, they made the decision to leave large groups of people at different intersections in New York's Financial District. What police have done to control the crowds is block access to certain blocks and they've also barricaded protesters in sidewalks. So what you have now is a fractured protest with, for example, 30 protesters at one intersection and 15 at another. By far the biggest gathering I've seen is at the intersection of Pine and Nassau, where Wall Street workers have been walking through a tunnel of two rows of police officers. And every time a group of them walked by, the crowd started chanting. "Whose street? Our street!" It felt very much like workers crossing a picket line. Most of the workers kept their heads down, but a few stopped to talk to protesters, who tried to convince them to go home or "join their movement." Nathan Storey, 29, was one of the protesters there. He was telling a couple of Wall Street workers that the sidewalks were occupied and that they had to turn around and be escorted by police if they wanted to get through. One of the workers looked at him and said, "I'm not part of the 1 percent." Storey said the Occupy Movement has already achieved its goal: People are talking about income inequality, he said, and "it's the first time that's happened in my entire life." Although, he talked about those big ideas. Storey was also at the protest for very personal reasons. He said he took on a bunch of student-loan debt when he was young and "didn't know any better" and in November of 2008 he was laid off from his work at a non-profit. With a degree in film and TV, he said he hasn't been able to find work ever since. His only alternative was to go to graduate school for a degree in urban planning, work four jobs to survive and still take on more debt. At the intersection of Wall Street and Pearl, a small group of people gathered with a set of drums. One police officer whispered into one of the drummer's ears, "We like the beat." A couple of women were dancing and every once in a while someone from one of the buildings towering above would come out to take in the scene. One man, who declined to give his name, but said he has worked on Wall Street for nine years, just shook his head. He was wearing a grey wool coat and his hair was neat and combed back. He stood at that corner for a while. "This is ridiculous," he said. "I just don't understand why they're not out trying to find jobs." He said he works 75 to 80 hours a week, so he deserves to be part of the one percent. He says he chose a degree in finance so he could make a lot of money. I told him what Nathan Storey had told me. He was laid off in 2008 and still couldn't find a job. The man shook his head. "He could get jobs at McDonald's," he said. He conceded however that minimum wage isn't much money and he said he was willing to pay more taxes. But he said he truly believes if you want to make money in this country, you can work hard and do that. "This is the land of opportunity," he said. We're sticking with coverage of the protests for the rest of the day. Just to give you an idea of what to expect, here's what Occupy Wall Street has planned: -- At 3 p.m. ET. protesters say they will gather at 16 subway locations across the city. We will be at Union Square, where "mass student strike" is planned. -- At 5 p.m. ET. protesters will join unions for a rally in front of City Hall. Protesters plan on marching to the Brooklyn Bridge.Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. View the discussion thread.
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/19350
|
Wall Street is a street in lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It runs east from Broadway downhill to South Street on the East River, through the historical center of the Financial District. Wall Street was the first permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange; over time Wall Street became the name of the surrounding geographic neighborhood. Wall Street is also shorthand (or a metonym) for "influential financial interests" in the U.S., as well as for the financial industry in the New York City area.
15 Recent Stories
Google Stock Hits $1,000 for First Time Ever
Written by Seth Fiegerman
Google is now part of the ultra-exclusive $1,000 club.
Twitter Could Make Wall Street the Least Money of Any Big U.S. IPO Since 2008
Written by Quartz
We’ve already explored Twitter and Facebook’s wildly divergent revenue and user-growth trajectories. But it seems the differences between the two social media giants extend to the way they treat their investment bankers. As Bloomberg reported on Saturday, Twitter is expected to pay its bankers, led by Goldman Sachs, a fee of about 3.25% to underwrite its initial public offering, expected to be $1 billion or more.
Report: Twitter IPO Will Launch Nov. 15
Written by Kurt Wagner
New information from Twitter's S-1 document has shed light on the company's expected IPO date, reports PrivCo, a business and financial research company. Updates to the document, which was released last week to the public, mention that Twitter employees can begin to sell shares of the stock on the market beginning Feb. 15, 2014. The typical lock-up period for employees is 90 days, according to PrivCo, meaning they can't sell stock for the first three months the company is on the market.
Can the Internet Replace Big Banks?
Written by Douglas Rushkoff
We have to get our money from real banks, or at least it appears that way. However, a rapidly changing digital economy is about to give banks a run for their money.
Heat Map Displays 75% of Global Stock Market on App Interface [VIDEO]
Written by Alissa Skelton
Stock traders are used to seeing important numbers in cluttered market tickers. The new StockTouch app allows you to visualize the stocks of 1,350 companies on one interface. The StockTouch app is a easy-to-read heat map that displays the top 100 U.S. and top 100 global companies in all 9 industry sectors of the market. The creators of StockTouch built this new-age stock ticker to bring data visualization to the masses.
IBM's Supercomputer Watson Gets a Second Job -- on Wall Street
Written by Tecca
It's a sign of the times — in this bad economy, even supercomputers have to take a second job. IBM's Watson, designed to conquer the TV quiz show Jeopardy!, is finding a second life. This time, though, instead of answering trivia questions, it's helping clients on Wall Street analyze investments.IBM believes that Watson can give its clients an edge on Wall Street because of the computer's ability to review large quantities of data in difficult-to-understand formats.
Apple Reveals No New Details on Business Without Steve Jobs
We now know the first rule of Apple earnings calls: you don't ask about Steve Jobs. Apple has rocked Wall Street twice in just two days. Yesterday, Apple announced that CEO Steve Jobs was taking another leave of absence from the company, citing unspecified health reasons. When the markets opened the next day, Apple stock tanked by more than 5%. Earlier tonight though, Apple wowed the markets with a record-breaking quarter, earning more than $26 billion in the most recent quarter.
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/19491
|
What does Wall Street's recovery mean to Main Street?
Oct 19, 2009 "I think it's a sign that the economy is heading in the right direction," said Boyson about the Dow breaking 10,000 points last week. Photo by Craig Bailey.
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average, among the world?s most closely watched stock indexes, closed above the 10,000-point mark last week for the first time since October 2008, a milestone that made news around the world. Here, Nicole Boyson, assistant professor of finance and the Reisman Research Professor in the College of Business Administration, talks about what the Dow's resurgence means for the economy and the markets.
Is the Dow’s breaking 10,000 points purely symbolic, or does it have real meaning for the overall economy?
I think it’s a sign the economy is heading in the right direction. Since March 9, 2009, the Dow is up nearly 3,500 points—over 50 percent—and the ride has been a pretty steady path upward, with a short breather in mid-summer.
Even though the U.S. markets have been steadily rising over the past seven months, so has unemployment. We’ve heard from President Obama and others that employment is a lagging indicator. Still, people are mystified that the markets can be rising while the economy only seems to worsen. What’s going on?
The president is correct—employment is a lagging indicator. Though some companies suffer at the first sign of an economic downturn and go out of business, companies that survive a recession often take a bit of time to figure out their strategy going forward. If this strategy involves downsizing production, it often involves downsizing the workforce as well.
Just how much an improvement in employment lags a recovery has varied from recession to recession, although the average for the 1973-1975 and 1981-1982 recessions was about 12 to 18 months. This recession has been particularly hard in that unemployment rates are near 10 percent, a level not seen since 1983, so I suspect it will take quite a while for employment to recover.
What does this milestone mean for the markets? Do you think it will continue to be a volatile market for stocks, or can investors start to believe it is stabilizing?
The VIX, a measure of the volatility of the broad stock market that has been calculated since 1990, hit an all-time high in October 2008. It is now down to about one-third that level, and quite close to its historical average. So, although the stock market should never be considered a low-volatility place to invest, volatility does seem to be returning to more typical levels.
Compared to where the Dow was last March, 10,000 points is a big number. But it’s still closer to the bottom than to last year’s peak of 14,000. Was that peak only possible because of the house of cards that was built on shaky mortgage investments?
Though the relationship between shaky mortgage investments and the value of the Dow is pretty complex, I believe that the willingness of institutions to make risky loans and the willingness of consumers to take on these loans certainly contributed to the high Dow value.
I’m quite sure the Dow will reach 14,000 again, but it’s difficult to say exactly when. Assuming a typical stock market return of, say, 7 percent per year, it would take five or six years to get back to that level. That said, when the economy recovers, we typically see much higher returns during the recovery period, so it could be much quicker than that. Of course, the jury’s still out on whether this recovery is the real deal.
Some economists have been saying the recovery isn’t real and we need another stimulus bill. Is that a good idea, and, if so, what should the target of the bill be?
A 50 percent recovery in the U.S. stock market since its lows and the improvements in many other economic indicators are strong evidence that the federal stimulus package has been helpful thus far.
I believe strongly that it is rather imprudent to attempt to manipulate the economy into a fast recovery. We didn’t get into this mess overnight, and shouldn’t expect to get out overnight.
We also need to be careful with stimulus packages that encourage consumers to borrow or spend beyond prudent levels. After all, consumer debt and imprudent borrowing were a factor in the recent economic downturn.
On the heels of the bank bailouts, the uptick in the stock market has caused many people to feel even more disconnected from, and resentful of, a Wall Street culture that seems uninterested in and immune to Main Street’s pain. Do they have a valid point?
Certainly the Wall Street culture of creating increasingly risky products and earning large bonuses based on the sale of those products contributed to the economic downturn. However, the willingness of many American consumers to take on debt well beyond levels that would be considered prudent to participate in the American dream of home ownership was a large contributing factor as well.
That said, many Americans who did not behave imprudently are still suffering as a result of this bailout, as are former Wall Street employees who were not involved with risky products.
The bailouts appear to be working to a large extent, in that many banks are enjoying healthy balance sheets and paying back government loans at a steady rate. Hence, I think the best approach for consumers is to enjoy the increase in their retirement assets attributable to a rising stock market, and to think twice before borrowing money that may be difficult to pay back.
Provided by Northeastern University (news : web)
Markets still a good litmus test for the economy, finance expert says
Don't put much stock in rumblings that financial markets are a faulty barometer of the nation's economic climate, a University of Illinois business expert says.
Subprime problems signal trouble ahead, research shows
If it seems as though sub-prime mortgage loans stirred up trouble in the financial markets, just wait until debt problems spill over onto household spending. According to economists Barry Cynamon and Steven Fazzari, America's ...
U.S. recession: Things will get worse before they get better
Economists at the University of Michigan confirmed today what many Americans already believe—that the nation is in the throes of recession.
Cisco addition increases technology clout in Dow
(AP) -- Miles per hour - out. Bits per second - in.
UCLA Anderson: Economy situation doesn't meet definition of 'true' recession
In its first quarterly report of 2008, released March 11, the UCLA Anderson Forecast remains confident that the national economy was not in a recession through January 2008 and continues to forecast weak growth but no official ...
Away from the financial bust, tech stocks boomed
(AP) -- Intel Corp. and other technology stocks helped lead the way as markets climbed out of the trough they fell into in March - even as the recession kept many big corporations and consumers sitting on their wallets instead ...
|
金融
|
2014-15/2142/en_head.json.gz/19503
|
Moderated by personal finance expert Jean Chatzky
Oprah & Friends™ money expert, financial editor for NBC's Today, award-winning journalist and best-selling author
Introductory remarks by Joe Carberry
Senior Vice President,
Corporate Relations Visa Inc.
Indiana Secretary of State
Richard Cordray
Ohio Treasurer of State
William Seidman
Chairman Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (1985-1991)
Richard Riley
U.S. Secretary of Education (1993-2001) and Governor of South Carolina (1979-1987)
Executive Director, Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy
Founder of Operation Hope and author of Banking on our Future
Chauncey Veatch
National Teacher of the Year
Steve Malin
Senior Education Specialist, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Steve Malin - Senior Education Specialist, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Steven R. Malin is New York Federal Reserve Bank of New York¹s officer responsible for the development and implementation of the bank's economic and financial education programs for teachers, students and the public, and for designing the bank's public exhibit. Mr. Malin also is responsible for developing public information materials, including cartoon-style and traditional information booklets and web- based educational materials. He leads and serves on the boards of several public-private coalitions that promote economic and financial education, and is the chairman of the New York State SAVES campaign. Steve is one of the bank's three official media spokespersons. He is an assistant vice president in the public information function where he has worked since joining the bank in 1990. He served from late 1994-1995 as the bank's corporate secretary while retaining his public information responsibilities.
Prior to joining the bank, Mr. Malin was at The Conference Board, Inc., where, for 13 years, he was executive director of the regional economics center, senior monetary and fiscal policy economist, and specialist in public policy issues. While at The Conference Board, Steve served as a consultant to 15 Fortune 500 companies and several state and local governments, testified before various legislative and executive bodies, appeared frequently on national television programs and, for three years, weekly on radio 3AW in Melbourne, Australia. Earlier, he was senior economist for CBS, Inc. in a special internal consulting group. Steve has published close to 100 articles and three monographs on economic policy matters and regional economics.
Presently, Dr. Malin is a member of the adjunct faculty of Barnard College where he is a professor of economics and coach of the Columbia/Barnard team in the College Fed Challenge, a program he developed in 1994. From 1974-2004, he was been a member of the adjunct faculty of three colleges of the City University of New York, where he was a full professor of economics.
HomeRegistrationOverviewWebcastFAQ © Visa Inc. 2007, All Rights Reserved
|
金融
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.