Clipmarks | Equity Clips

US Economy Rebounds

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:09:01 GMT

clipped by: RecordSage
clipper's remarks: According to Democrats - we have a terrible economy. So this surge must be due to... let's see what would work here well... Obama's acceptance speech tonight... and in the immortal words/voice of Jon Lovitz, "yeah, yeah, that's it!"

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

US GDP rebounds with 3.3% growth

The US economy grew at a revised 3.3% annually in the second quarter of 2008, the Commerce Department said, much higher than its first estimate of 1.9%.

The rebound was linked to strong US exports, helped by the weak dollar, while government tax rebates also boosted consumer spending.

GDP grew at a rate of 0.9% in the first quarter, after a 0.2% contraction in the last three months of 2007.

The Federal Reserve has warned the economy will remain weak this year.

"While we're not out of the woods yet, maybe we're beginning to see some sunlight," said John Wilson, equity strategist at Morgan Keegan.

"At some point, the market will begin to look through the trough and gauge the strength of the coming upturn."

'No recession'

The data showed that exports grew at an annualised rate of 13.2%, higher than the government's initial estimate of 9.2%.

Tags: usa, economy, improvement

Insight: The global spending spree has hit a brick wall

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:30:55 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.ft.com

The US consumer is not the only one feeling down and out. Since the start of the year, higher food and energy prices have undermined consumer confidence not only in Detroit but also in Dusseldorf, Delhi and Dalian. The upshot: a global slump in personal spending is unfolding, portending rockier times for the global economy and world financial markets.

At best, global private consumption expenditures – roughly $32,000bn in nominal dollars in 2007 – are expected to rise by 2-4 per cent this year. That compares with an 11 per cent jump in 2007, and contrasts sharply with the boom in personal spending this decade.

Global consumption surged 63 per cent between 2001 and 2007, a bonanza fuelled by easy global credit conditions and soaring equity and housing prices.

consumer spending in developing nations doubled between 2000 and 2007, from $4,500bn to $9,000bn last year

Lost on the “decouplers” is this – the mood among many consumers in the developing nations is just as foul as it is in the US.

Tags: economy, consumers, i-spending, i-decrease

The Price of Putin

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:33:19 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: when Russia defaulted, and the amount of cash leaving the country in the second week of August was the highest on record.

Russia's central bank, which reported the $16.5 billion decline last week, still reckons to have $581 billion in reserves, money being stored away when the oil runs out and the gas flow starts to falter. This may come somewhat sooner than many think.

Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin spoke after the Cabinet approved the draft federal budget for the next three years, which assumes that Russia's main oil blend, Urals, will sell for at least $95 a barrel. (Russian government's own budget estimates, oil is expected to drop to $90 in 2010 and $88 in 2011.)

At current rates of extraction combined with rising national consumption, Russia's known oil reserves will start to run out in the 2020s, and a lack of investment in maintenance and development means the two main gas fields expected to maintain Russia's export income are falling ominously behind schedule.

Clip Source: www.metimes.com

But there are intriguing signs in Russia that those whose jobs and markets and investments are most integrated with Europe and the global economy are starting to count the cost of Vladimir Putin

Russian officials have sought to explain away the $16.4 billion outflow in foreign reserves in the week of the invasion of Georgia and also the 32 percent drop in Moscow's stock market since Putin began expressing his displeasure with the Mechel coal group in May. Mechel shares alone lost $8 billion after Putin's first remarks.

But Russian debt and equity markets also have gone into decline since the conflict with Georgia began Aug. 8, with yields on domestic ruble bonds increasing by up to 150 basis points over the last month. That is the equivalent of a 1.5-point jump in interest rates, the kind of panic measure that few central banks would risk taking except in extreme circumstances.

The pace of capital flight from Russia has been the highest since the 1998 collapse of the ruble,

Tags: putin, georgia, 32% drop in moscow's stock market, decline in debt/equity markets, capital flight

Destination Clubs

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:41:22 GMT

clipped by: TimothyB

Clip Source: realestate.halogenguides.com

Select a destination club below to view its profile with member reviews, recent news, and more. Highlighted items indicate enhanced profiles, which include photos and detailed information.

Ultra Luxury ($500,000+)

Deposit

Yellowstone Club World

$3,000,000

Solstice

$975,000

Everlands

$585,000

Exclusive Resorts

Luxury ($200,000 to $500,000)

Deposit

$459,000

$434,373

$425,000

$425,000

—

$410,000

$395,000

$390,000

$350,000

$299,000

$285,000

$200,000

$120,000

Distinctive Holiday Homes

The Markers

Elite Shares

Banyan Tree Private Collection

Premium ($200,000 or less)

Deposit

Spring Ridge Club

$90,000

High Country Club

$80,000

Capricorne Villas

$4,000

2008 Democratic Convention Schedule

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 05:43:38 GMT

clipped by: zizzy
clipper's remarks: Additional details of the program to precede Barack Obama’s acceptance speech will be announced later this week.

Clip Source: www.demconvention.com

Monday, August 25 – One Nation

Monday’s headline prime-time speaker will be Michelle Obama.

Tuesday, August 26 – Renewing America’s Promise.

Senator Hillary Clinton will be the headline prime-time speaker and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner will deliver the keynote address on Tuesday night. Pay Equity pioneer Lilly Ledbetter will also address the Convention on Tuesday.

Wednesday, August 27 – Securing America’s Future.

The headline prime-time speaker on Wednesday will be Barack Obama’s Vice Presidential Nominee.

Thursday, August 28 – Change You Can Believe In.

On Thursday night, the DNCC will throw open the doors of the Convention and move to INVESCO Field at Mile High so that more Americans can be a part of the fourth night of the Convention as Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination. Obama will communicate the urgency of the moment, highlight the struggles Americans are facing and call on Americans to come together to change the course of our nation.

Mortgage company that offers the lowest rates around

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:23:15 GMT

clipped by: mortgageAug
clipper's remarks: I found this site which is very easy to use and also has a great mortgage calculator.

Clip Source: absolutemortgageco.com

Tags: home equity loan, mortgage company, mortgage loan, fixed rate mortgage, interest rate, home loan, mortgage rate

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Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:37:19 GMT

clipped by: DANDUX

Clip Source: finance.yahoo.com

OVERALL PORTFOLIO COMPOSITION (%)

Cash:

0.17

99.83

Stocks:

Bonds:

N/A

0.00

Other:

TOP 10 HOLDINGS ( 28.49% OF TOTAL ASSETS)

CompanySymbol% AssetsYTD Return %EXXON MOBIL CPXOM7.05-13.40CHEVRON CORPCVX4.22-8.15CONOCOPHILLIPSCOP3.16-5.28PFIZER INCPFE3.12-15.36GEN ELECTRIC COGE2.58-22.13OCCIDENTAL PETOXY2.072.73AT&T INC.T1.68-23.42WALT DISNEY-DISNEY CDIS1.59-5.98ALLSTATE CPALL1.52-10.00INTL BUSINESS MACHIBM1.5019.33

EQUITY HOLDINGS

AveragesMDLVXCategory AvgPrice/Earnings12.5613.47Price/Book2.001.96Price/Sales0.981.14Price/Cashflow8.758.29Median Market Cap25.02B38.29B3 Year Earnings Growth21.98%16.70%

Chinese bank now world's most profitable

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:14:54 GMT

clipped by: LoPhatt

Clip Source: www.reportonbusiness.com

Chinese bank now world's most profitable

HONG KONG — Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world's biggest bank with a market value of $235-billion (U.S.), posted a 41 per cent increase in second-quarter profit, buoyed by widening interest margins and fee income growth.

Like most Asian banks, ICBC's subprime-related holdings in the West are small relative to its size, leaving the sector relatively unscathed by the fallout from the U.S. subprime crisis that has battered western peers.

The bank also said it held bonds related to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the troubled U.S. mortgage agencies, totalling $2.7-billion, or a fifth of 1 per cent of its total assets.

ICBC's Hong Kong shares have fallen 8.6 per cent so far this year, outperforming a 26.7 per cent drop in the benchmark Hang Seng Index amid a rout in global equity markets.

U.S. Buyout Money Heads Abroad

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:06:37 GMT

clipped by: Forbes Markets

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

As the credit crunch continues to dog their financing markets, U.S. buyout firms are investing an increasing proportion of their capital overseas.

So far this year, more than half the takeovers announced by U.S. private equity firms involved foreign targets, up from 35 percent in all of 2007, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Tags: capital markets, buyout funds, credit crunch

"The Next Big Thing"

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:33:41 GMT

clipped by: ld_casa

Clip Source: allbestofphilippines.blogspot.com

The "next big thing" in Philippine agriculture. That is how the agriculture department considers malunggay. "Malunggay can save lives, increase incomes, generate millions of jobs, utilize vast tracts of idle agricultural lands, make the Philippines globally competitive, impact local and international market, and help attain socio-economic equity," explained Alice Ilaga, director of the DA's Biotechnology Program.

Tags: agriculture, health, business

Exploration investments - 14 August 2008

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:15:00 GMT

clipped by: amesliz

Clip Source: media.cleantech.com

Leawood, Kan.-based Tortoise Capital Resources announced that it has invested an additional $1.5 million of equity in Mowood, a portfolio company with interests in gas distribution and landfill gas collection systems. Tortoise said the investment will be used by Mowood's subsidiary, Timberline Energy, to complete landfill gas to energy projects in Nebraska and Florida.

SAIC Conflict Case

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:38:31 GMT

clipped by: Andrew Gillies
clipper's remarks: Another story playing up the government's vulnerability as contractors gain clout. Pair this together with last week's reports (http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/cbo-iraq-contracts-close-to-hitting-100-billion-mark-2008-08-12.html) on the military's startling reliance on contractors in Iraq (190,000 there now). An equity analyst (ex-military) I spoke to last week on the topic mentioned that, even if political pressure mounts to rein in contractors, it would be very difficult and expensive for the government to do so.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Potential for Conflict Grows With Government's Use of Contractors

By Robert O'Harrow Jr.

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 18, 2008; Page D01

For years, Science Applications International Corp. served as an adviser to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the development of rules for when radioactive materials could be released from nuclear facilities for recycling.

At the same time, SAIC worked as a contractor on just such a recycling project at a Department of Energy facility, but it did not disclose the conflict as required by federal regulations, according to evidence gathered by the Justice Department. A company executive also helped run an association that advocated for favorable recycling standards, and the firm was planning a business that could have been affected by rules it was helping to write, Justice documents show.

Property prices are slashed but sales head for new low

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:38:29 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

Having previously tried to resist market forces, property sellers have begun aggressively to cut the asking prices for their homes, according to the online estate agency Rightmove.

householders slashed the asking price of the average British home by 2.3 per cent last month – a drop of £5,403. In London, the discounting has become even more marked, with asking prices down by 5.3 per cent last month alone, representing a reduction of £21,000 in the four weeks to 9 August

The number of new mortgage approvals, says the Bank of England, is down 70 per cent on last year.

The number of transactions this year is in danger of being the lowest since 1959. This raises serious questions as to whether any short-term incentives by the Government or the Bank of England would be effective

more than £18bn of equity tied up in buy-to-let properties will be cashed in over the next few years, as Britain's private landlords sell out of the sector in their droves.

separate survey

found

Tags: economy consumers, housing, i-prices, i-decrease, i-record

The ads that made a second mortgage seem okay

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:44:40 GMT

clipped by: Joshua Zumbrun
clipper's remarks: Behind all these dangerous second mortgages were a couple of ad guys? Do I smell a plot line for season 39 of "Mad Men"?

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Home Equity Frenzy Was a Bank Ad Come True

By LOUISE STORY

Since the early 1980s, the value of home equity loans outstanding has ballooned to more than $1 trillion from $1 billion, and nearly a quarter of Americans with first mortgages have them. That explosive growth has been a boon for banks. Banks’ returns on fixed-rate home equity loans and lines of credit, which are the most popular, are 25 percent to 50 percent higher than returns on consumer loans over all, with much of that premium coming from relatively high fees.

However, what has been a highly lucrative business for banks has become a disaster for many borrowers, who are falling behind on their payments at near record levels and could lose their homes.

None of this would have been possible without a conscious effort by lenders, who have spent billions of dollars in advertising to change the language of home loans and with it Americans’ attitudes toward debt.

Tags: home, equity, danger, advertising

Home Equity rates from IFC

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:40:46 GMT

clipped by: mom22twins

Clip Source: insightfinancialcu.mortgagewebcenter.com

7 Year Fixed Home Equity

Interest Rate	6.990%
APR	7.007%
Payment	$301.76
Term	7 years
Balance Due at End of Loan Term	$0.00
Closing Fees	$145.00

15 Year Fixed Home Equity

Interest Rate	7.990%
APR	7.999%
Payment	$191.01
Term	15 years
Balance Due at End of Loan Term	$0.00
Closing Fees	$145.00

20 Year Fixed Home Equity

Interest Rate	8.490%
APR	8.498%
Payment	$173.44
Term	20 years
Balance Due at End of Loan Term	$0.00
Closing Fees	$145.00

10 Year Fixed Home Equity

Interest Rate	7.490%
APR	7.503%
Payment	$237.30
Term	10 years
Balance Due at End of Loan Term	$0.00
Closing Fees	$145.00

Tags: mortgage