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STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 23 February 2012
[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 23 February 2012[font color=black][/font]
SMW for 22 February 2012
AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 22 February 2012
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Dow Jones 12,938.67 -27.02 (-0.21%)
S&P 500 1,357.66 -4.55 (-0.33%)
Nasdaq 2,933.17 -15.40 (-0.52%)
[font color=green]10 Year 2.00% -0.05 (-2.44%)
30 Year 3.15% -0.05 (-1.56%) [font color=black]
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[font size=2]Market Conditions During Trading Hours[/font]
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[font size=2]Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold[center]
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
Marketwatch Data
Bloomberg Economic News
Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Bank Tracker
Credit Union Tracker
Daily Job Cuts
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Economic Blogs:[/font][/font]
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The Big Picture
Financial Sense
Calculated Risk
Naked Capitalism
Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong
Bonddad
Atrios
goldmansachs666
The Stand-Up Economist
The Automatic Earth
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
Open Government
Earmark Database
USA spending.gov
[/center][font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
William Black: This Economic Disaster
Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn
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Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = [/font][font color=red]12[/font]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]
60 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
http://www.wbur.org/npr/147160871/with-banks-as-landlords-some-tenants-neglected
?t=1329942762&s=4
Luz Escamilla's bedroom walls are stained with the blood of bedbugs. She says she doesn't want to bleach them until reps from CW Capital, her landlord, pay an in-person visit to her Maryland home. (Aarti Shahani / NPR)
Across the country, big banks and other large investors are buying up tens of thousands of foreclosed rental properties. They're not always model landlords, according to tenants and regulators. Some banks are failing to follow local and state housing codes, leaving tenants to live in squalor — without even a number to call in the most dire situations.
Pedro Jimenez signed the lease for his second-floor apartment in 2006. Since then, he says, "Here was leaking water. Part of the ceiling [fell]. See all the windows crack." The panes are completely shattered; vandals broke them, he says.
East Oakland, Calif., is a rough city. It's known for abandoned buildings and a high crime rate. Still, it's home for Jimenez, a single dad with four kids.
His 7-year-old son, David, plays handyman. While his father patches the walls with plywood, David covers holes with sticky notes. There are yellow squares in every room but one: a bathroom that has been nailed shut.
"It's dirty and it's nasty," David warns. That's code for "dangerous." It has broken plumbing, splintered wood and exposed electrical wires. The original landlord was renovating when he lost the place in foreclosure, back in 2007.
Jimenez recalls a real estate agent coming by one day to collect rent for the new owner, Deutsche Bank. Soon after, the water stopped running altogether because no one paid the bill. The utility company wouldn't let Jimenez pay just his part; it accepts only full payment for all units in a building.
?t=1329942762&s=4
Luz Escamilla's bedroom walls are stained with the blood of bedbugs. She says she doesn't want to bleach them until reps from CW Capital, her landlord, pay an in-person visit to her Maryland home. (Aarti Shahani / NPR)
Across the country, big banks and other large investors are buying up tens of thousands of foreclosed rental properties. They're not always model landlords, according to tenants and regulators. Some banks are failing to follow local and state housing codes, leaving tenants to live in squalor — without even a number to call in the most dire situations.
Pedro Jimenez signed the lease for his second-floor apartment in 2006. Since then, he says, "Here was leaking water. Part of the ceiling [fell]. See all the windows crack." The panes are completely shattered; vandals broke them, he says.
East Oakland, Calif., is a rough city. It's known for abandoned buildings and a high crime rate. Still, it's home for Jimenez, a single dad with four kids.
His 7-year-old son, David, plays handyman. While his father patches the walls with plywood, David covers holes with sticky notes. There are yellow squares in every room but one: a bathroom that has been nailed shut.
"It's dirty and it's nasty," David warns. That's code for "dangerous." It has broken plumbing, splintered wood and exposed electrical wires. The original landlord was renovating when he lost the place in foreclosure, back in 2007.
Jimenez recalls a real estate agent coming by one day to collect rent for the new owner, Deutsche Bank. Soon after, the water stopped running altogether because no one paid the bill. The utility company wouldn't let Jimenez pay just his part; it accepts only full payment for all units in a building.
To Tansy for keeping the proud tradition of the SMW going... Nice job!
and to the usual contributors! Keep up the great effort!
(Nice 'toon today. 
)
I'm only sorry that I have not been able to contribute more!
There are many thoughts and questions going around in my head, but alas, not sufficient time. . . .
y'know?
But it's good to see you again. Drop in more often! (and maybe you can get sparkly hearts, too!)
thank you to the SMW gang for being my cyber friends. Drinks all around. 
What is wrong with people who hear something out of a politician, and don't realize it's total BS.
Can't plant a garden yet in Ohio, but can you believe, I spotted a dandelion blooming in my yard...in February!
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0223/breaking21.html
?ts=1330006128
The annual rate of inflation eased to 2.2 per cent in January, new data from the Central Statistics Office showed today.
The dip comes after a reading of 2.5 per cent in the year to December, and compares to a fall of 0.2 per cent in January 2011.
The decline was driven in part by a fall in the price of household furnishings and equipment, which was 1.9 per cent lower than a year earlier. Clothing and footwear also showed a decline, with prices dipping by 1.1 per cent. The cost of recreation fell by 1 per cent.
The declines were offset in part by an 8.9 per cent rise in the cost of education compared to last year, and a 6.7 per cent rise in housing and utility prices. In the latter case increased in mortgage interest repayments contributed to the rise.
?ts=1330006128
The annual rate of inflation eased to 2.2 per cent in January, new data from the Central Statistics Office showed today.
The dip comes after a reading of 2.5 per cent in the year to December, and compares to a fall of 0.2 per cent in January 2011.
The decline was driven in part by a fall in the price of household furnishings and equipment, which was 1.9 per cent lower than a year earlier. Clothing and footwear also showed a decline, with prices dipping by 1.1 per cent. The cost of recreation fell by 1 per cent.
The declines were offset in part by an 8.9 per cent rise in the cost of education compared to last year, and a 6.7 per cent rise in housing and utility prices. In the latter case increased in mortgage interest repayments contributed to the rise.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/02/the-next-5-emerging-economies-that-will-change-the-world/253463/
About 20 years after the Soviet Union collapsed, China opened, India liberalized, and Brazil saved its economy with the Plano Real, and 10 years after a banker at Goldman Sachs labeled them the BRICs, those four economic rising powers have transformed how we think about the developing world. The centuries-old idea that there is an uncrossable gulf between powerful, rich countries and everyone else has been disproven not just by BRICs' economic power but by their use of that power to help shape world events.
You might say that the glass ceiling has been broken. China, once the "sick man of Asia" and one of the world's poorest places, now boasts the world's second-largest economy and may someday soon even surpass the U.S. in wealth. Now that we understand the global hierarchy to be less fixed than it once was, who will rise next? The conditions for a rising power are so complicated and so reliant on outside factors beyond any one country's control that accurately predicting them would be impossible. Still, some countries seem better positioned and better managed than others. Here are five of our choices for the next emerging economies, plus one outlier that could do well, if only it would pull itself together.
TURKEY
When the Brookings Institute ranked the ten fastest-growing cities last month, three were Turkish (four were Chinese, but we can't all be China). The country's strong democratic institutions and entrepreneurial culture are driving booms in finance and construction, which are in turn growing cities that could become centers of manufacturing for export to Europe. Even as the rest of the continent declines, Turkish growth is surging; it famously hit 11% last year, surpassing China. And, a century after the end of the Ottoman Empire, the country is renewing its assertive foreign policy in the Middle East and Central Asia, positioning itself as a leader of the Muslim world if (or perhaps when) these regions develop.
INDONESIA
The world's fourth-largest country with 238 million people, Indonesia's economy has been growing rapidly since 1997. Unlike China, which depends heavily on exports, Indonesia sells mostly to its own people, meaning that it can better endure the U.S. and European crises. Debt is low, foreign direct investment is high, democratic institutions are young but solid, and the once-troubled country is stable after successfully curbing terrorism. A combination of China-style development and state-run enterprises, Brazil-style good governance, and an India-style rise from poverty means that Indonesia is well positioned to continue rising.
KAZAKHSTAN
Long perceived as a global backwater and a post-Soviet satellite that never quite abandoned such Stalinist ticks as lifelong presidents who build statues of themselves, Kazakhstan is doing better than Borat would have you believe. Filthy rich in resources and sandwiched between China and Russia, the country is well positioned to profit off of Asia's rise, especially as Middle Eastern turmoil makes this sparsely populated and stable country an attractive energy source. The mostly benevolent government is investing the revenue wisely, growing infrastructure and non-energy industries such as transportation and pharmaceuticals, while still avoiding overheating. As long as Asia grows, so will Kazakhstan.
About 20 years after the Soviet Union collapsed, China opened, India liberalized, and Brazil saved its economy with the Plano Real, and 10 years after a banker at Goldman Sachs labeled them the BRICs, those four economic rising powers have transformed how we think about the developing world. The centuries-old idea that there is an uncrossable gulf between powerful, rich countries and everyone else has been disproven not just by BRICs' economic power but by their use of that power to help shape world events.
You might say that the glass ceiling has been broken. China, once the "sick man of Asia" and one of the world's poorest places, now boasts the world's second-largest economy and may someday soon even surpass the U.S. in wealth. Now that we understand the global hierarchy to be less fixed than it once was, who will rise next? The conditions for a rising power are so complicated and so reliant on outside factors beyond any one country's control that accurately predicting them would be impossible. Still, some countries seem better positioned and better managed than others. Here are five of our choices for the next emerging economies, plus one outlier that could do well, if only it would pull itself together.
TURKEY
When the Brookings Institute ranked the ten fastest-growing cities last month, three were Turkish (four were Chinese, but we can't all be China). The country's strong democratic institutions and entrepreneurial culture are driving booms in finance and construction, which are in turn growing cities that could become centers of manufacturing for export to Europe. Even as the rest of the continent declines, Turkish growth is surging; it famously hit 11% last year, surpassing China. And, a century after the end of the Ottoman Empire, the country is renewing its assertive foreign policy in the Middle East and Central Asia, positioning itself as a leader of the Muslim world if (or perhaps when) these regions develop.
INDONESIA
The world's fourth-largest country with 238 million people, Indonesia's economy has been growing rapidly since 1997. Unlike China, which depends heavily on exports, Indonesia sells mostly to its own people, meaning that it can better endure the U.S. and European crises. Debt is low, foreign direct investment is high, democratic institutions are young but solid, and the once-troubled country is stable after successfully curbing terrorism. A combination of China-style development and state-run enterprises, Brazil-style good governance, and an India-style rise from poverty means that Indonesia is well positioned to continue rising.
KAZAKHSTAN
Long perceived as a global backwater and a post-Soviet satellite that never quite abandoned such Stalinist ticks as lifelong presidents who build statues of themselves, Kazakhstan is doing better than Borat would have you believe. Filthy rich in resources and sandwiched between China and Russia, the country is well positioned to profit off of Asia's rise, especially as Middle Eastern turmoil makes this sparsely populated and stable country an attractive energy source. The mostly benevolent government is investing the revenue wisely, growing infrastructure and non-energy industries such as transportation and pharmaceuticals, while still avoiding overheating. As long as Asia grows, so will Kazakhstan.
AND YOU KNOW WHERE THAT LEADS...
