Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, Fergus Falls, Minn.
Fergus Falls, Minn.—Country Inns & Suites By Carlson recently announced the opening of the 96-key Country Inn & Suites By Carlson in Fergus Falls, Minn., located off Interstate 94 at 925 Western Avenue.
The hotel offers a variety of amenities, including free Wi-Fi, a fitness center and an indoor pool, which is uniquely shaped as the state of Minnesota. Guests can enjoy the brand’s complimentary hot Be Our Guest breakfast, served daily on classic dining ware…
Hanspeter Brunner.
Photographer: Dale de la Rey/Bloomberg
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More than 100 staff followed Brunner to BSI from Coutts
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‘Pattern of non-compliance’ doomed Singapore private bank
He was the leader of one of the largest mass defections in private banking history, with more than 100 staff following him from RBS Coutts Bank Ltd. in the thick of the global credit crisis to create a financial phenomenon in Singapore at a little-known Swiss bank.
A small pool of offshore renminbi trades more freely in Hong Kong, above, than in mainland China. After a two-day rally, the offshore renminbi rose as much as 2.5 percent to 6.7853 against the dollar on Thursday, an exceptional gain for a currency that is usually subject to staid trading.CreditAnthony Wallace/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
HONG KONG — Global markets spent most of 2016 adjusting to the reality of a slow but steady weakening of China’s currency.
Now, Beijing appears uncomfortable with that state of affairs.
Equus Buys $22M Office Asset in Metro Seattle
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Quadrant Willows B and D
Seattle—In an approximately $22.3 million deal, an affiliate of Equus Capital Partners Ltd. has acquired Quadrant Willows B and D in Redmond, Wash., a two-building Class B office property totaling 118,058 square feet. The acquisition was made on behalf of Equus Investment Partnership X, a discretionary fund managed by Equus.
Building D includes 50 underground parking spaces, a unique and attractive feature for this submarket. Universal Avionics, a leading manufacturer of innovative avionics systems for business jets, turboprop aircraft, transport aircraft, helicopters, regional and commercial airliners used by corporate, military and airline operators, completely occupies building B…
The new railroad tunnel into New York City moved a small step closer to reality.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey proposed a $32 billion capital plan for the next decade that includes $2.7 billion to build a tunnel under the Hudson River and rehabilitate the century-old one damaged by Superstorm Sandy.
The sum set aside for the tunnel is a fraction of the $24 billion project’s cost, which also involves replacing bridges and adding high-speed rail lines. New York and New Jersey are splitting the cost with the federal government. The two states haven’t identified other funding sources, for the project, known as Gateway, apart from the Port Authority’s share…
Blackstone’s Latest Move Has the Look of a Hit
By · CommentsBlackstone is going long on music. For its first venture into buying and holding companies for extended periods of time, the private equity firm is taking over Sesac, a group that manages song rights for the likes of Bob Dylan and Mariah Carey. The growth of streaming provides a steady outlook. With some financial improvisation, it’s easy to come up with a healthy return.
The deal for Sesac, a for-profit Nashville-based operation that competes with the larger nonprofits Ascap and BMI, is the first from Blackstone’s new $5 billion fund that plans to hang on to acquisitions for at least a decade, far longer than a typical leveraged buyout. It also is the firm’s first jump into the music business, which is enjoying a bit of a renaissance…
Iconic Downtown LA Office Building Commands $336M
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Citigroup CenterThe company received a $230 million loan for the acquisition held by the Bank of China.
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U.S. mortgage settlement included $4.1 billion consumer relief
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Bank looking to make loans to PE funds buying distressed loans
Deutsche Bank AG is supposed to give relief to subprime mortgage borrowers as part of a $7.2 billion settlement with the U.S. government. It is considering an unusual approach to meeting that requirement: lending money to private equity firms and hedge funds.
Jon S. Corzine, a former senator and New Jersey governor, ran MF Global when it collapsed into bankruptcy in 2011 and lost more than $1 billion in customer money. CreditBryan Thomas for The New York Times
After more than five years of investigations and negotiations, the curious case of MF Global is finally closed.
On Thursday, federal regulators announced a $5 million settlement with Jon S. Corzine, who ran MF Global when it collapsed into bankruptcy in 2011 and lost more than $1 billion in customer money. The settlement, reached unanimously at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the waning days of the Obama administration and approved by a federal judge this week, caps a long-running spectacle that derailed Mr. Corzine’s career and spurred a number of congressional, criminal and regulatory investigations…
Li Ka-shing.
Photographer: Justin Chin/Bloomberg
Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing expects property prices in the city will rise “a little bit” this year, even as the government takes steps to cool the world’s costliest real estate market.
The government in November increased the stamp duty to 15 percent for all residential purchases, excluding first-time buyers who are permanent residents. The curbs initially sent developer stocks tumbling — including shares of Li’s Cheung Kong Property Holdings Ltd. — as investors assessed the effect the new rules would have on turnover and value…
Colliers Completes Merger
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Dylan Taylor, president & COO, Colliers International
Toronto—Colliers International Group has announced the completion of its merger with affiliate Colliers Parrish International. This merger increases Colliers International’s scale and coverage in Northern California and Nevada with the addition of offices in San Jose, Stockton, Redwood City, Mountain View, Walnut Creek, Oakland, Fairfield and Gilroy, Calif., as well as Las Vegas and Reno, Nev.
Toronto Housing Has a Record Year Amid Supply Shortages
By · CommentsToronto’s housing market posted a record year in 2016 that saw double-digit price gains, tightening supply and the cost of an average home surpass C$700,000 ($526,355) for the first time.
Sales figures released Thursday by the Toronto Real Estate Board show the city’s realtors sold C$82.6 billion worth of homes last year, an increase of almost C$20 billion from 2015. Unit sales rose 12 percent and prices increased by more than C$100,000 to an average C$729,922. That’s up 17 percent from last year — the largest annual gain since 1989…
Toronto Housing Has a Record Year Amid Supply Shortages
Morgan Stanley, Wall Street’s biggest stock-trading firm by revenue, is cutting its global bonus pool for the equities division by as much as 4 percent after the industry’s results flagged last year, according to people with knowledge of the plans.
The firm, which is set to pay annual bonuses to employees next month, has been fine-tuning calculations for pay packages since November, according to the people, who asked not to be identified describing the deliberations…
Morgan Stanley Said to Cut Equities Traders’ Bonus Pool Up to 4%
Brennan Sells Prime Windy City Warehouse
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1780 Birchwood Ave., Des Plaines, Ill.
Des Plaines, Ill.—Brennan Investment Group LLC knows when to let go. Roughly one hear after opening the suburban Chicago warehouse at 1780 Birchwood Ave., developed in partnership with DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, the private real estate investment firm has sold the 140,000-square-foot industrial facility to Morgan Stanley’s Prime Property Fund.
It’s that time of year when financial advice sites issue their lists of the “Stocks to Buy for 2017.”
Before you take them up on their suggestions, let’s look at how well such portfolios did in 2016.
The portfolios of stocks they were telling you to buy generally did much worse than the stock market over all. The results underline what many personal finance experts recommend: Invest in a broad, low-fee mutual index fund. (The Times’s “Your Money” columnist wrote more on this here.)…
It’s Time to Ignore Advice About Which Stocks to Buy in 2017
Andrews Square Welcomes New Tenant in Atlanta
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56 E. Andrews Drive NW, Atlanta, Ga.
Atlanta—EDENS, a private operator and developer of retail real estate has announced that Henri’s Bakery & Cafe is relocating to Andrews Square. The bakery will be located on Cains Hill Place, on the east side of Andrews Square. Henri’s will continue operations at its current location at 61 Irby Avenue and will transition into the new location in the spring.
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Bond market is confronting the ‘perfect’ storm: Schmelzing
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Debt investors face a multi-year period of sustained losses
If you thought you had already read the gloomiest possible prognosis for bonds, wait until you read this one.
Paul Schmelzing, a PhD candidate at Harvard University and a visiting scholar at the Bank of England, said if the latest bond market bubble bursts, it will be worse than in 1994 when global government bonds suffered the biggest annual loss on record…
Harvard Academic Sees Debt Rout Worse Than 1994 ‘Bond Massacre’
WASHINGTON — Timothy G. Massad, the top United States derivatives regulator, said on Tuesday that he would step down as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission when Donald J. Trump becomes president on Jan. 20.
Mr. Massad is the latest Obama administration financial supervisor to announce a departure. Mary Jo White, the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees investor protection and financial markets, said in November that she planned to leave when the Obama administration ends…
Massad Resigns as Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman
Meridian Acquires 105KSF CA Office Building for $29M
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1000 Marina
Brisbane, Calif.—Meridian has purchased 1000 Marina, a six-story, 105,000-square-foot office building in San Mateo County, Calif., from Boston-based equity firm TA Associates. The company purchased the 90 percent-leased building for $29 million. The 1983-built asset is LEED-certified, offers 396 parking spaces, common area Wi-Fi and was owned by TA Associates since October 2007, according to Yardi Matrix.
The region of Trondelag is the cradle of Norway’s Winter Olympic dominance, with 14 gold medals over the past two events alone.
Now, Jomar Kilnes, a former hedge fund manager who has come home after more than a decade in the Bahamas and the U.S., is showing that delivering outsized investment returns is the area’s real forte. His Forte Tronder fund, which mainly invests in companies with local links or production, returned 51 percent in 2016, making it the top performer of all Norwegian funds…
Ex-Hedge Fund Manager Generates 51% Return From Skiers’ Paradise
CrownBio Reveals Plans for Louisiana Research Facility
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401 W. Admiral Doyle Drive, New Iberia, La.
New Iberia, La.—Crown Bioscience Inc. announced that the company will develop a pharmaceutical research and development facility at the New Iberia Research Center, located at 401 W. Admiral Doyle Drive, in New Iberia, La. The company will invest $1 million in the facility that will enable CrownBio to advance treatments for cardiovascular and metabolic disease research.
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Median for previously owned apartments drops 6.3% to $900,000
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Era of ‘no shame’ in overpricing may be over, appraiser says
Manhattan resale home prices tumbled by the most in more than four years, a sign that sellers are lowering their expectations in a slowing market where buyers have the option to walk away.
The median price of previously owned condominiums and co-ops fell 6.3 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier to $900,000, according to a report Wednesday from appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. It was the first annual decline since the beginning of 2015, and the biggest since the third quarter of 2012, when resale prices dropped 8.1 percent…
Self-Storage Development Site Sells for $11M
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5204 River Road in Bethesda, Md. Sells for $11MPAC Buys Atlanta Trophy Office Tower
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Three Ravinia
The new owner, Preferred Apartment Communities Inc., an Atlanta-based company which acquired the property through its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Preferred Office Properties LLC, did not disclose the sales price. When it was sold in May 2013 by Colonial Properties Trust to CBRE Global Investors, the 31-story office building went for $144.3 million.
No One Questioned This Hedge Fund’s Madoff-Like Returns
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Red flags abounded while hedge fund claimed 17% annual gains
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Platinum was embroiled in rogue trades, Florida Ponzi scheme
In the years before Mark Nordlicht was arrested for what’s alleged to be one of the biggest investment frauds since Bernie Madoff’s, U.S. authorities had plenty of reasons to suspect something might have been fishy about his hedge fund, Platinum Partners.
Lincoln Selected to Market Georgia Campus
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180 Technology Parkway
Atlanta—Lincoln Property Co. Southeast has announced that the company was selected to market 180 Technology Parkway, a 10.9-acre corporate headquarters campus located in Peachtree Corners, Ga. Lincoln has been retained to lease and/or sell the property.
Vancouver housing prices climbed 18 percent last year and sales were the third highest on record, a gain that prompted governments to set tougher rules to prevent a crash.
Residential prices reached C$897,600 ($673,400) in December, according to a report Wednesday from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, based on a composite benchmark price. The price gains were driven by buyer demand outpacing supply, with a mere 0.6 percent increase in new listings, the group’s report said…
Vancouver Home Prices Climb 18% in 2016 on Meager New Listings
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Officers confiscate large banner with words ‘Government Sachs’
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Participants say they plan to return to bank later this month
Protesters yelled chants and waved signs in the lobby of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s New York headquarters Wednesday in opposition to the firm’s growing influence in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
About 40 protesters entered Goldman’s lobby and were ejected, in some cases physically, according to a statement from New York Communities for Change, a social- and economic-justice advocacy group. Roughly half that number can been seen in a video of the rally posted on Facebook…
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said two credit-reporting agencies, TransUnion and Equifax, had lured consumers into enrolling in credit services advertised as free or costing only $1, but which could cost more than $200 a year. CreditKatherine Taylor for The New York Times
The nation’s consumer watchdog agency on Tuesday ordered the credit-reporting agencies TransUnion and Equifax to pay more than $23.2 million in fines and restitution for deceiving customers about the usefulness of credit scores and the cost of obtaining them.
Historic VA-Leased MOB in Baltimore Sells
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Baltimore VA Annex
Baltimore—Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of the Baltimore VA Annex, a 74,000-square-foot medical office building that is fully leased to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the company announced late last week. The approximately $12.3 million sales price equates to nearly $180 per square foot.
The identities of neither the seller, described as a regional investor with a diverse group of assets, nor the buyer, a Seattle-based entity investing in the Baltimore market for the first time, were disclosed.
$150M Resort Opens in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
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Grand Velas Los Cabos
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico—Grand Velas Los Cabos has opened its doors in Mexico’s Baja peninsula. The $150 million resort marks the fifth property developed by Velas Resorts.
The resort features 304 ocean-view units averaging from 1,180 to 3,412 square feet, with private terraces and personal plunge pools in select rooms. The property features the signature facilities and services of Grand Velas resorts, such as duplex wellness suites with juice bars and all-inclusive amenities. The curved, half-moon-designed property also includes a Michelin-starred restaurant, four bars, a 16,370-square-foot convention center, a 35,000-square-foot spa with 16 treatment rooms, a leading hydrotherapy facility and three pools. Grand Velas Los Cabos is located 35 minutes away from Los Cabos International Airport…
Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons user slowburn
Early numbers on retail sales during the 2016 holiday season are coming in, and at least one organization reports that U.S. consumers decided to loosen their purse-strings just ahead of Christmas. Retail research firm Customer Growth Partners is now estimating that holiday sales were up 4.9 percent over last year, to $637 billion. If so, that would be the largest increase since 2005.
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Familiy offices instead opt for private equity investments
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Asian funds set for biggest outflows in 4 years: Eurekahedge
For Michael Preiss, whose firm oversees $1.9 billion mainly for wealthy Asian families, adding hedge funds to his clients’ portfolios was an easy sell some years ago. Not anymore.
The executive director at the Singapore-based Taurus Wealth Advisors Pte multi-family office said his clients are disappointed with mediocre hedge fund returns and are balking at high fees, prompting them to shift to private equity…
Asia’s Richest Families Are Abandoning ‘Complacent’ Hedge Funds
Cincinnati Startup Joins Historic Mixed-Used Property
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The Gantry Apartments in Cincinnati
Cincinnati—Milhaus, a developer that specializes in Class A urban infill, mixed-use and multifamily residential buildings, recently announced that Cincinnati startup Higher Gravity has filled commercial space in Gantry Apartments for a craft beer and wine retail bar. The new location will occupy a small part of the nearly 8,000-square-foot commercial space available in the apartment community. The location is slated to open in spring 2017.
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Trump Treasury pick ran OneWest Bank during California probe
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Memo leaked to the Intercept urged suit that was never filed
A bank run by Steven Mnuchin, President-Elect Donald Trump’s pick to be Treasury secretary, may have engaged in “widespread misconduct” while foreclosing on homeowners, according to a leaked 2013 memo written by lawyers in the California attorney general’s office.
The memo urged top officials in then-Attorney General Kamala Harris’s office to sue OneWest Bank over the allegations, which included backdating mortgage documents to speed up foreclosures and manipulating the results of home auctions. Harris didn’t pursue the case, according to the Intercept, which published the memo on Tuesday. The memo doesn’t say Mnuchin took part in or even knew about alleged misconduct…
Bardin Square Acquires Office Property in Arlington
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801 E. Border St., Arlington, TexasThe two-story building is located at 801 E. Border St., within walking distance of the University of Texas at Arlington. The property features about 12,000 square feet of office space on the second floor, which serves as a cover for 56 parking spaces and a vestibule with stairs and elevator at the street level.
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Bridgewater founder says WSJ portrays firm as ‘oppressive’
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Manager says turnover exceptionally low after first two years
Ray Dalio
Photographer: Peter Foley/Bloomberg
Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s biggest hedge fund, lambasted inaccuracies in the mainstream media as a threat to society, citing what he says are distortions about his firm in a Wall Street Journal story last month.
Why German Banks Took Stand Against Basel Capital Floors
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Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank would be among most affected
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‘Setting floors is not the right way,’ says one lobbyist
The twin tower skyscraper headquarter offices of Deutsche Bank AG, right, stand at dusk in Frankfurt.
Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg/Bloomberg
No wonder Germany is on the warpath against a proposed global standard for how banks calculate the capital they need: Its largest lenders rank among the worst when it comes to how they assess risk.
Financing Arranged for Brooklyn Office Building
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57 Willoughby St. in BrooklynSquare Mile Capital Management LLC secured the loan, which was brokered by Aaron Appel, Jonathan Schwartz, Michael Diaz and Matt Collins of JLL’s New York City office.
Miami’s developers are accelerating construction of rental apartment buildings downtown as demand for new condominiums weakens. The number of completed rentals will more than triple this year to 3,575 from an estimated 1,038 in 2016, the Miami Downtown Development Authority said in a report Tuesday. The condo market is cooling as a strong U.S. dollar spurs South American investors to sell their units, while rentals are attractive to a growing population of young workers who want to live downtown…
Miami’s Building Boom Shifts to Rentals After Condos Cool: Chart
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Private equity firms snapped up homes after real estate bust
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In Atlanta, companies up to twice as likely to file evictions
On a chilly December afternoon in Atlanta, a judge told Reiton Allen that he had seven days to leave his house or the marshals would kick his belongings to the curb. In the packed courtroom, the truck driver, his beard flecked with gray, stood up, cast his eyes downward and clutched his black baseball cap.
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‘Exceptionally high demand’ prompts delay in car-price push
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Automaker extends U.K. order deadline to middle of January
Tesla Motors Inc. customers in the U.K. may find their Christmas cash goes a little further than expected after the carmaker postponed a price increase by two weeks.
The U.S. electric-auto manufacturer’s plans to raise prices 5 percent in the U.K. have been put off until Jan. 15 from the original beginning-of-the-year deadline, Tesla said Monday in an e-mailed statement. Vehicles ordered by then and built by mid-April will continue to have free access to the company’s Supercharger battery network that’s otherwise subject to new fees, it said…
Black Swan Investing and the breakup of Europe
By · CommentsThis isn’t going to be a thematic post on how to profit from Europe’s breakup, despite the sinister title. Instead, it’s a potpourri post – a mashup of different ideas I have right now and want to run by you to organize my thinking about them. I used to do this a lot more in the past – and I found it useful; I hope you did too. So for lack of a coherent theme, I chose the title above. Here goes.
ANZ Bank to Sell Shanghai Rural Stake for A$1.84 Billion
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China Cosco, Shanghai Sino-Poland to each take 10% stake
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Sale is latest by CEO Elliott to reduce ANZ’s presence in Asia
Australia & New Zealand Banking Corp. sold its 20 percent stake in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank for A$1.84 billion ($1.32 billion), Chief Executive Officer Shayne Elliott’s latest move to unwind an Asian expansion that sapped profits.
China Cosco Shipping Corp. and Shanghai Sino-Poland Enterprise Management Development Corp. will each buy a 10 percent stake in the Chinese bank, the Melbourne-based company said in a statement Tuesday. The stake was valued at A$2 billion in ANZ’s 2015 annual report…
The Repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act: Myth and Reality
By · CommentsThe Glass-Steagall Act was enacted in 1933 in response to banking crises in the 1920s and early 1930s. It imposed the separation of commercial and investment banking. In 1999, after decades of incremental changes to the operation of the legislation, as well as significant shifts in the structure of the financial services industry, Glass-Steagall was partially repealed by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
When the United States suffered a severe financial crisis less than a decade later, some leapt to the conclusion that this repeal was at least partly to blame. Indeed, both the Republicans and the Democrats included the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall in their 2016 election platforms…
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Home prices fell 0.4% last quarter, yielding 3% yearly decline
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Residential values have tumbled 11% from September 2013 peak
Singapore home prices fell 3 percent in 2016, the third straight year of declines as the government held steadfast on property cooling measures.
An index tracking private residential prices fell 0.4 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31 from the previous quarter, according to preliminary data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority released Tuesday. Prices fell for a 13th straight quarter, the longest streak since the data was first published in 1975…
The IEA says that in the third quarter of 2016, the U.S. shale industry became cash flow neutral for the first time ever. That isn’t a typo. For years, the drilling boom was done with a lot of debt, and the revenues earned from steadily higher levels of output were not enough to cover the cost of drilling, even when oil prices traded above $100 per barrel in the go-go drilling days between 2011 and 2014. Even when U.S. oil production hit a peak at 9.7 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2015, the industry did not break even. Indeed, shale companies were coming off of one of their worst quarters in terms of cash flow in recent history.
Neel Kashkari has been President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis since January 1, 2016. Prior to that, he was brought over from Goldman Sachs to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Stability from October 2008 to May 2009. His job was to hand out money to the banks as bailout.
I believe the first time first time he was mentioned at this blog was right after he was appointed to give away our money:
Neel Kashkari and the Minneapolis Plan to End Too Big to Fail
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State Bank of India cuts MCLR by 90 basis points on Jan. 1
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Surge in deposits post cash ban allows banks to cut loan rates
State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, is predicting an acceleration in loan growth from a 25-year low after slashing borrowing costs to the lowest level in at least six years.
The state-run lender cut lending rates based on the marginal costs of funds by 90 basis points across all tenures on Sunday. Other banks including Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and IDBI Bank Ltd. also cut their MCLR rates after a surge in deposits following a cash ban in the country brought down the cost of funds…
Beware the $52 TRILLION $USD Debt Bomb
By · CommentsWhat is Janet Yellen thinking?
The Yellen Fed raised interest rates again in December 2016.
More than this, Yellen has promised the Fed will be raising rates THREE times in 2017.
This is astounding when you consider that the Fed is promising this at a time when the $USD is at a 13-year high…
Beware the $52 TRILLION $USD Debt Bomb
Deutsche Bank Flew and Fell. Some Paid a High Price.
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Anshu Jain was a force behind Deutsche Bank’s appetite for risk. The bank has agreed to pay $7.2 billion to settle a claim that it pushed toxic mortgages on investors.CreditHenry Leutwyler/Contour by Getty Images
In 2005, Deutsche Bank, then a powerhouse in the selling of risky derivatives on a global scale, was minting money.
To mark the moment, the bank’s profit engine — its global markets division — commissioned a book about itself. The remembrance would celebrate how Deutsche Bank, once a sleepy lender to German car companies, had transformed itself in just 10 years into a force in financial engineering, selling interest-rate swaps, credit derivatives and opaque tax-slashing investment vehicles to the world’s wealthy elite…
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Bond matures in 2036 and has coupon rate of 6.5 percent
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Central government last sold dollar debt in October 2011
Venezuela’s central government has issued new dollar debt for the first time in more than five years, selling $5 billion of the notes to state bank Banco de Venezuela SA and the central bank, according to a senior government official.
The bond, which was issued Dec. 29, matures in 2036 and has a coupon of 6.5 percent, according to data complied by Bloomberg. The government official, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the issuance publicly, didn’t provide additional details…
The dollar bull market will eventually break something
By · CommentsWith the Fed having raised interest rates for the second time in ten years, in an environment in which US growth looks pretty good, we should expect more hikes to come. The question is whether the economy can withstand the hikes and what they would mean for markets. I have five asset classes to watch: Treasuries, the US Dollar, Emerging Markets, the Japanese Yen, and Gold.
Dealbreaker 2016: The Year In Bill Ackman
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It was the best of times: The FTC called Herbalife a pyramid scheme without actually using those words. The Herbalife movie. Burritos. Fancy new Hell’s Kitchen digs.
But mostly, for Bill Ackman, Pershing Square Asset Management and its investors, it was the worst of times: The FTC called Herbalife a pyramid scheme without actually using those words. Valeant. Swingeing losses (mostly Valeant-related). Valeant. Having to skip the Sohn Conference (because of Valeant). Valeant. Charlie Munger throwing shade (about Valeant). Valeant. The on-and-off friendship with Carl Icahn going decidedly off once again. Valeant. Divorce. Valeant. Valeant. Valeant…
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Even if profits surge, analysts say banks will keep automating
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‘It’s hard for me to imagine a job expansion in finance’
Bank stocks are on a tear after Donald Trump’s victory drove up expectations for the industry’s profits. Here’s the catch for many people working there: Holding onto their jobs won’t be any easier.
While lower taxes, higher interest rates and lighter regulation under Trump could help boost U.S. banks’ earnings by a median 22 percent in 2018, firms will keep chipping away at costs by using technology to replace traders and branches, analysts at Morgan Stanley said this month. And though rising rates may fatten lenders’ profit margins, they can slow demand for new mortgages and corporate debt issuance. Again, that means fewer staff needed…
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Huang Yiping speaks in interview with Xinhua News Agency
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The 6.5% target is just an average rate, economist says
China should set a more flexible 2017 economic growth target to give policy makers more room to enact reform, according to Huang Yiping, an adviser to the People’s Bank of China.
He proposed a range of 6 percent to 7 percent for this year, compared with the 6.5 percent to 7 percent objective in 2016, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Last year’s target, the first range in two decades, was down from 7 percent for 2015.
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Money managers’ net-long position is triple end-2015: CFTC
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OPEC, non-OPEC crude production reductions start in January
Investors are showing no sign of turning their backs on oil heading into 2017.
Money managers’ wagers on rising West Texas Intermediate crude prices are triple what they were at the end of 2015, and are the highest since the start of the crude market crash 2 1/2 years ago. Crude futures settled at the highest in almost 18 months on Dec. 28, with investors now eyeing the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers to see who complies with agreed output cuts…
The last year homes were this unaffordable to American families was back in 2008. If you remember in 2008 the market was in full on implosion mode. Of course that is now a distant memory and those 7,000,000+ foreclosures are simply a distant nightmare. The nightmare now turned dream of purchasing a $750,000 or $1 million crap shack is the ultimate goal in this manic market. While this is a dream for most the housing market is incredibly unaffordable. Housing affordability has dropped to an 8-year low because first, home prices are surging without wages keeping up and mortgage rates recently surged. Many families had been leveraging up in this low inventory market and locking into mega mortgages for a piece of the crap shack pie. With rates going up getting a piece of that action is now more expensive…
NYC Garment District Office Property Commands $108M
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New York—ATCO Properties & Management has acquired 240-246 West 35th St., an 18-story Class A office building in Manhattan’s Garment District, from the RPW Group for $108 million.
“It is one of the garment center’s best mid-block office buildings, with great light and air, better elevators and lobbies than other properties, and excellent floor plans,” Damon Hemmerdinger, ATCO’s co-president, told Commercial Property Executive. “While we are happy to own this property at today’s market rents, we believe that this will be the next neighborhood in Manhattan to see significant rent growth.”
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Bank to pay $35 million to about 500 black financial advisers
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Wells Fargo says it still disagrees with brokers’ claims
Wells Fargo & Co. settled a dispute with a group of black brokers claiming the bank failed to give them the same career opportunities as their white colleagues.
The bank will pay $35 million to more than 500 financial advisers and trainees, according to a settlement agreement filed Friday. Wells Fargo also agreed to add employees tasked with recruiting and coaching black brokers, and to set up a $500,000 business-development fund…