Home sales and prices dropped

Home builders might not anymore build houses because the prices had dropped. Nor the future-home owners will not proceed on buying due to financial instability.

The latest data gave a fuller picture of the distress in housing-related industries, where the subprime mortgage crisis has led to turmoil in the broader credit market and to increases in foreclosures. On Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors reported a 4.3 percent drop in August in sales of existing homes, and another large home builder, Lennar, recorded the largest quarterly loss in its history.

Last month’s drop-off in new-home sales was focused primarily in the South and the West, areas particularly hurt by subprime-lending problems. The seasonally adjusted pace of new-home sales is now down more than 21 percent from last year.

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IMF to answer identity queries

Issues of relevance and legitimacy are the two main concerns that the International Monetary fund has to answer, after the world markets had almost collapsed. Will IMF defends its cause to assure it could stabilize the world economy?

“What might be at stake today is the very existence of the I.M.F. as the major institution providing financial stability to the world, a global public good,” Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister, told the fund’s directors last week. “In sum, the two main issues are relevance and legitimacy.”

On Friday, Mr. Strauss-Kahn was named the new managing director of the I.M.F., succeeding Rodrigo de Rato of Spain, who is resigning. He arrives at a time when the Bush administration, which backed him for the job, has joined a global chorus calling on the fund to rethink its priorities and its governance.

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Stocks will regain its composure comes july

Expectations had already been uttered, that after the series of issues and controversies over the stocks ups and downs records, comes July will be another record breaking for the stock market, as if the recovery is just an inch away from its recent problem.

Since Aug. 15, when the stock market hit its lowest point in five months, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index is up 8.5 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average 8 percent. The increase has erased much of the decline from late July and early August and left the indexes up modestly for the third quarter, which ended yesterday.

“It’s kind of amazing how well equities have held up,” said Roger M. Parker, chief market strategist at Macmar Investment Corporation, an investment firm in Ohio.

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Foxtons stops its operations

Real Estate Agency in London, Foxtons has recently shut down its operation. was it already bankrupt?

Find out.

“The plain fact is that we have been battling against a real estate market that recently has turned into a sharp decline, and the company no longer has the liquidity to operate,” John D. Blomquist, the company’s senior vice president and general counsel, said in a statement.

The National Association of Realtors is forecasting the first national decline in the median house price since the Great Depression.

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Fidelity Chair appoints daughter to new high post

The Chairman of Fidelity Investments, as he is retiring, has recently appointed his daughter to a much higher position, even closer to his post. Would this action not lead to the management succession?

The revamping combines Fidelity’s retirement services and personal investing units into a new entity, Personal and Workplace Investing, to be led by Ms. Johnson, 45, a Fidelity spokeswoman, Anne Crowley, said. The changes do not affect Fidelity’s main money management business.

Fidelity, which manages $1.5 trillion in assets, is struggling to revive its image as a top-performing fund company and to stanch the turnover in its executive ranks after losing market share in mutual funds to rivals like American Funds and Vanguard Group in recent years.

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Freddie Mac to pay $50m settlement

Just because this mortgage financing company has allegedly misstated its revenues for four year period, Freddie Mac is summoned to pay $50million US dollar as payment for federal charges against the company.

An accounting scandal erupted at the government-sponsored company in June 2003 when it disclosed that it had misstated earnings by some $5 billion for 2000-2, to smooth quarterly volatility in earnings and meet Wall Street expectations.

The company’s top executives — Mr. Glenn, Mr. Clarke and Leland C. Brendsel, then chairman and chief executive — were ousted. The events shocked Wall Street, where Freddie Mac, the nation’s second-largest buyer and guarantor of home mortgages, long had enjoyed a reputation as a steady performer and reliable corporate player.

Freddie Mac paid a $125 million civil fine in 2003 in a settlement with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, which blamed management misconduct for the faulty accounting.

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Sugar magnet leads in FTSE 100 lower

Sugar is no longer sweet for Tate and Lyle as it is reported to sharply slided down that cause a weaker market performance in London.

Tate & Lyle added that an oversupply of corn gluten in the U.S., which has depressed margins, and the continued weakness of the dollar could also weigh on its results in the second half of the year. See full story.

The losses from Tate & Lyle pressured the FTSE 100 index (UKX), which

closed down 0.3%, or 19.60 points, at 6,466.80 on the last trading day of the third quarter. The FTSE 100 is showing a loss of about 3% for the quarter.

More food sector decliners in London included Unilever (ULVR), down 3%, and Cadbury Schweppes (CBRY), down 1.1%.

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Canada records slight decline of stocks

There are some reasons behind the slight fall of Canadian Stocks. As it partakes in the world markets, the recent dramatic decline of US dollar and the upwards oil prices contribute to its fall.

The energy sector, which accounts for 25% in the overall index, lost 0.2% after gaining 0.3% earlier. November crude-oil futures retreated from the day's high of $83.76 a barrel and closed down $1.22 to $81.66 in New York.

Petro-Canada (PCA), the country's biggest oil producer by revenue, fell 0.2%. Suncor Energy Inc. (SU), the third largest, sank 1.3%.

The No. 2 energy producer EnCana Corp. (ECA) climbed 0.3%. EnCana said it will cut its 2008 capital investment in the Alberta province by about C$1 billion ($999 million), or 30% to 40% of the C$2.5 billion to C$3 billion it has planned, if the Alberta government raises oil and gas royalties as proposed in a report, Dow Jones Newswire reported.

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Stocks ups and downs: must go with transparency

Because of the unpredictable trend of stock markets, its flow should never be under secrecy. Stockholders, in a way, are concern with what is happening in the market.

Last week, the government brought criminal charges against former stock loan employees at a number of brokerage firms, among them Morgan Stanley and A. G. Edwards. Because the market prices were so obscure, the government says, the employees could rip off their own

firms by arranging for the firms to overpay when they borrowed shares.

The S.E.C., which also filed civil fraud allegations, says the actions brought in $12 million for the traders. This is a $700 billion market, according to calculations by Vodia Group, a research firm, but one that is so hidden from view that this suspected fraud could go on for more than five years without being detected.

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Australia gets new high record as japan gets lower

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.5% to set another record closing peak, as resource stocks such as BHP Billiton and Woodside Petroleum got a boost from strong metal and oil prices.

In markets still trading, Hong Kong blue chips rose and China plays jumped 1.7% amid massive turnover, as investors snapped up commodity stocks on the back of high crude and metal prices and chased underplayed China power producers. Newcomer and Chinese property developer Sino-Ocean Land Holdings, the morning's most active stock, settled 43% higher.

Singapore's Straits Times Index swung back into positive territory with shares of China-based companies such as Synear Food and China Hongxing Sports rose after a launch of Chinese global stock fund led market speculation that these stocks will be candidates for other soon-to-be launched funds.

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US house prices record biggest drop

Housing Sector in the US is facing problems on the biggest slide of the house costs. There would have reasons behind it. Find out...



"For the Fed, the question is whether this is worse than they really expected and whether it might well be a reason for them to do more preemptive easing," economist Pierre Ellis at Decision Economics in New York said of the home sales decline.

Sales of new, single-family homes dropped 8.3 percent last month to an annual rate of 795,000 -- the slowest rate in seven years -- and median prices also were down 8.3 percent to $US225,700, ($A256,477) the lowest since January 2005.

Not only were the home sales figures worse than the 830,000-a-year pace forecast by analysts but they also largely reflect conditions before mid-August market turmoil set in that has led to stiffer lending standards for future loans.

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Banks contributes to higher european stocks

The banks stocks are going stronger nowadays, resulting to much stable European stocks. Would this mean stability in the world market?



"A number of banking stocks with low exposure to the U.S. subprime mortgage market are quite interesting at this point," said Pierre-Alexis Dumont, fund manager at OFI Cible, in Paris.

"These stocks' recent slump has been exaggerated. They have suffered more than their U.S. peers, which are much more exposed to the troubled subprime market," he said.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 0.78 per cent higher at 1,551.49 points, its highest close since Aug. 8.

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Worthington Industries' negative profit might close shops

The number one steel processor in US has a negative sales record in the first quarter. Insider said, shops might be closed. Would this mean layoffs for the employees?


In its steel processing division, operating income fell on lower volumes and a narrower spread between selling prices and material costs compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2007. Worthington recorded a loss in its metal-framing division as the spread narrowed sharply between selling prices and material costs.

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As banks regained, european shares soar high

Europe's market has been doing good this week with a little bit recovery from its banks controversies.

Northern Rock has been under fire this week for deciding to go ahead with its dividend payout. The bank was propped up by the Bank of England less than two weeks ago after recent tighter credit markets made conditions difficult for the bank. The lender is the most exposed of Britain's banks to the money markets.


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Beverly Hills is Again the most expensive homes in USA

Perhaps, everybody is dreaming to live in Beverly Hills, the most expensive home in USA. But, how can one afford a luxurious living in BH?


Those are the most-expensive and least-expensive U.S. real estate markets in Coldwell Banker's annual home price survey of nearly 400 cities, being released Wednesday. Beverly Hills is again No. 1, and California has eight cities in the top 10. Jumping from seventh place to No. 2 was Greenwich, Conn., where huge Wall Street bonuses have helped drive up property values. Boston also made this year's top 10 list.

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US stocks closed higher; home sales still unpredictable

US stocks is gaining good record this week led by Nasdaq. Would this mean good signs of recovery?


At the New York Stock Exchange, nearly 1.3 billion shares were exchanged, with declining stocks topping advancers about 10 to 7. At the Nasdaq, more than 1.8 billion shares traded, and declining issues ran ahead of advancers 4 to 3.

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Mercedes' Core program helped increase its revenue

In 2005, DaimlerChrysler, the maker of mercedes benz , launched a program specifically made to restore the company's competitiveness and revenues. Good thing, said program was effective as they claimed it!




"The fact that we are able to complete CORE ahead of schedule -- and, most importantly, with such success -- is a testimony to the tremendous effort made by our employees and demonstrates that our organization has what it takes to get the job done," said Rainer Schmueckle, chief operating officer of the Mercedes Car Group responsible for production, quality and purchasing and director of the CORE program.


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European Banks may drop 20% value next year

Prediction has it that some of the European Banks could possibly drop a 20% of its value in the next year. What will be reason of the possible collapse of these banks?



Following forecast-beating profit from Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS 210.9 0.47 +0.22%

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[GS 210.9 0.47 (+0.22%) ] last week, Gauthier pointed out that the stark prediction is limited to the European banking sector, due in part to sophisticated investment practices used by the giant U.S. financial houses.

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Euro hits high record against US dollar

How would the dramatic slide of US dollar end up? Would the trend continue until the preceeding months?




The euro

Euro Spot EUR-TN 1.4144 0.0008 +0.06%

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[EUR-TN 1.4144 0.0008 (+0.06%) ] rose to $1.4163 on electronic trading platform EBS in early Tokyo trade as the dollar extended losses from the previous session, when data showed that U.S. consumer confidence fell to its lowest in nearly two years on growing concerns about jobs and financial market turmoil.

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David Jones of Australia hits 35% anual income

One of the biggest department store chain in Australia, David Jones, has recorded an unexpected full year profit of 35%, a profit even beyond its targets.



The department store chain said underlying profit rose to A$109.5 million (US$96 million) for the year to July 28, from A$81.1 million in the previous year, excluding a gain on the sale and leaseback of stores.

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Japan Trade Surplus records strong exports to Asia and Europe

Despite political chaos in Japan, it is still hitting a good record in export industries to Europe and Asia, especially in its exports trade. But how about its surplus trade in America?


"It was an upside surprise and the rise is mainly due to stronger-than-expect ed growth in exports," said Kiichi Murashima, an economist at JP Morgan. "The key is whether overall exports will rise in the coming months and early next year as exports to the United States remain soft," he added.


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General Motors and its Union to settle final contract

The General Motors and its Auto Union Workers will soon be working the finishing touches of its labor disputes after months long struggle. they would be discussing the final details of the new four-year labor contract. Would this contract benefits both?



The breakthrough came at the end of the second day of a national strike by the UAW against GM

General Motors Corp GM 34.42 -0.32 -0.92%

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[GM 34.42 -0.32 (-0.92%) ]. The 2-day-old nationwide strike spilled across borders, threatening production in Mexico and shutting down Canadian plants, as both sides resumed bargaining in Detroit.

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US Fed to cut rates again before new year!

The plan of US Fed to lower rates again before new year next year would be another phase in the US economy.



``The U.S. economy needs to grow at 2.5 to 3 percent or else it stalls,'' said Bill Gross, manager of the $104.4 billion Total Return Fund, the world's biggest bond fund. ``Historically every time we get close to stall speed the Fed lowers short rates.''

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Dell will invade China

Dell Inc. will soon sell personal computers in China as part of its company's strategies to reach out the world through low cost pc specifically designed to rural consumers. Will Dell can do a big deal?


"Our market share in China is obviously well below our global average. So we hope to be successful here and get our rightful share of the business," said Michael Tatelman, vice president of marketing and sales for Dell's global consumer business."

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Currency Swap Agreement between Japan and China, renewed!

China and Japan had recently renewed its currency Swap Agreement.




The agreement was signed on Thursday during a visit to Tokyo by People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank said in a statement on its Web site (www.pbc.gov.cn).
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Bank of England, source of borrowings of UK top Banks?

To gain back confidence in banking system, some of the UK top banks are considering options of borrowing billion of dollars, while BoE is reportedly offering them with a much wider range of collateral.




Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland are informally discussing a collective move where the banking giants would all borrow an agreed amount from the emergency facility in an attempt to encourage smaller financial firms that may be holding back, the paper said.

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Economists: nothing to worry on dollar decline

Despite the dramatic decline of dollar, some economists are still at ease with the present economic situation of America. The decline, according to them is just short term responses to interest rates cuts.




"It is at or close to the lows we saw in 1995," adds Ram Bhagavatula, an economist by training, who’s now managing director of the hedge fund Combinatorics Capital. "What you’re seeing is short term responses to interest rate cuts. These kinds of knee-jerk things get washed over."

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