Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Kendall

gonyzyf.wordpress.com
million foreclosure lawsuit against the developer of theRivendell single-family home projec in West Kendall. The Miami-bases bank filed the foreclosure actioh on June 9against Miami-based Crestview II, Marsol One LLC and managinv member Marcial Solis, according to records. The complainf targets 28 unsold homes and home sitesin Rivendell, which is along Miller Drivde (Southwest 56th Street) between Southwest 167ty Avenue and the Miccosukee Golf and Countryh Club. After starting construction in 2004, Crestview II sold 103 homex in Rivendell from 2005 throug h the most recent salein January. Fort Lauderdale-based attorney Charlesd Lichtman, who represents TotalBank in its demandfor $12.
12 million on the outstanding mortgage, did not immediately return a call seekingh comment. TotalBank reported having $86.4 million in late or unpaidf loans, or nearly 6.5 percent of its total as of March 31. In March, filec a foreclosure action against Crestvies II and Solis overa $2.1 million mortgage.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

An Ocean Short of Oxygen - Insciences Organisation

ogarawo.wordpress.com


An Ocean Short of Oxygen

Insciences Organisation


As average global temperatures rise, larger parts of the world's oceans could become anoxic dead zones. This is shown by an analysis of the oxygen conditions during the past 20000 years. Every summer, a few places in the north-east Pacific now see vast ...



Thursday, January 26, 2012

Eli focuses on game, not his legacy - Newsday

gorbunovabowiper.blogspot.com


Newsday


Eli focuses on game, not his legacy

Newsday


Giants Newsday > Sports > Football > Giants Eli focuses on game, not his legacy Published: January 26, 2012 9:06 PM By RODERICK BOONE roderick.boone@newsday.com Eli Manning insists he's not pondering the lasting ramifications of Super Bowl XLVI, ...



and more »

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Xcel seeks 7.8% summer rate hike to cover higher costs - Portland Business Journal:

http://egsbrokerage.com/mo/mohealth.htm
percent temporary rate hike for small businessea and homes to cover higher energy pricedsthis summer. The poweer utility’s so-called “electric commodity adjustment” is intended to coverr an expected $54.8 million in higher fuel and purchased-energyg prices for the third quarterof 2009. Xcel said that a typicak small-business customer using 1,025 kilowatt-hours a month would see current billse increaseby $7.48 a month, to $101.83. A typicaol residential customer using625 kilowatt-hours a month would see a $4.5y increase, to $63.05. If approved by the , the rate hike woulde take effect July 1 and continue forthreee months.
Under utility rules, Xcel passes along energy cost increasess or decreases to customers ona dollar-for-dolla r basis through the quarterly electrid commodity adjustments. The new request is separatse froma $112.2 million Xcel electric-rate hike already approver by the PUC that also takes effect July 1. That rate increasee is to helpthe Minneapolis-based utility (NYSE: XEL) recoupo some $1.7 billion it’s spending on generation, transmission and distribution upgrades for Colorado.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Romney tells supporters he'll fight for every vote in every state going toward ... - Washington Post

azajir.wordpress.com


Los Angeles Times


Romney tells supporters he'll fight for every vote in every state going toward ...

Washington Post


COLUMBIA, SC â€" Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told supporters Saturday he's going to compete for every vote in every state after former House speaker Newt Gingrich beat him in the South Carolina primary. “Our campaign has fought very ...


Mitt Romney on SC loss: 'I will compete in every single state'

Los Angeles Times


South Carolina primary: Romney and Gingrich now set for Obama v Clinton-style ...

Telegraph.co.uk



 »

Friday, January 20, 2012

Missouri unemployment worsens, but slows - Wichita Business Journal:

azajir.wordpress.com
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 9 percentin May, up from 8.1 percentt in April, the department reported April’s 0.6-point decrease in unemployment now appears anomalous, with the May increass part of an upwarsd trend dating to mid-2008, state officials said. Approximatelh 272,000 Missourians were estimated to have been jobleszs during the monthof May. Nonfarnm payroll employment decreasedby 3,700 jobs in May, markinh the smallest monthly decrease sinc e employment began to drop sharply in November.
Job losses were concentrated inmanufacturinv (3,700) and construction (1,600), whichh were partly offset by gains in health care and sociap assistance (2,000) and local government (900). During the past year, employment dropped by 74,300p jobs, or 2.7 The main exceptions to the downwarf trend in the past year have been private educationalservices (2,500), health care and social assistance (6,000), federak government (2,700) and local government The national unemployment rate in May was 9.
4

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

CalPERS committee OKs health care rate increases - Los Angeles Business from bizjournals:

uhetemejih.wordpress.com
Rate proposals approved by the committeee will go to the full CalPERS Board of Administration foractionj Wednesday. Basic HMO rates for state workers will rise an average of 3.43 percent in 2010, down from almost 6.6 percenr in 2009. The rate hikesd run from a lowof 0.32 percent for Blue Shield Net Valuw to a high of 4.9 percent for Figures for public agency worker s vary by region. Medicare HMO ratesw for all workers and regions will increase an averagsof 0.27 percent in but vary from a 12.27 drop for members of Blue Shield Access+ to a 6.5 percenr increase for Kaiser members.
“We are extremelh pleased to presentthese rates,” Gregorty Franklin, assistant executive officer of CalPERS health benefits told committee members Tuesday. “Negotiationes were extremely tough. There were many options and extr meetings on what we werelooking for: The Kaiser rates were achieved by aligningt them with the Blue Shielsd benefit design, Franklin said. Kaiser will eliminate chiropracticx benefits next year and increase the copayment fora 100-da supply of prescription drugs. CalPERS kept the lid on increasess atits self-funded preferred provider organization plans by using $46.y7 million in surplus reserves to “buyh down” rates.
The average PPO rate increaser for state workers in 2010is 3.29 but it runs from a low of 1.38 percent for PERS Selectf to a high of 12 percent for Medicare PPO rates will increase an average of 0.27 percent in all but they range from a 12.27 percentt drop for Blue Shield Access+ to a 6.5 percentr increase for Kaiser Committee chair Priya Mathur applauded the plans and CalPEReS staff for the good rate adding that the small increases in 2010 are due to cumulativee changes over the last several years to operate the health benefits program more cost-effectively without jeopardizin g quality of care.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Kingpin investors raise energy stakes - Kansas City Business Journal:

manuscripts-shuwatu.blogspot.com
A bevy of high-profile asset managerss and hedge fund gurus returned to buyinb mode after taking financial lumps in the secon half of 2008 when the value of energy companu shares tanked along with the price of oil andnaturak gas. Prominent investors such as all-statr asset manager Paul Tudor Jones, energy maverick T. Boons Pickens and hedge fund investod George Soros dipped their toes in the energg pool once again and grabbed multiplw stakes inHouston companies, according to regulatory statementes filed this month. Jones, who oversees Tudor Investmengt Corp.
, found bargains in 10 Houston-based energy companies or major players with a significantg presence inthe region, and also took a new positiojn in Waste Management still a big favorite of Microsoft Corp. founderd Bill Gates. Pickens, who has spent the past 12 months lobbyinbg for his plan to help the countryt kick the imported oil still knowsa fossil-fuel bargainh when he sees one. The Texas oil mavemn took new positions in a wide range of energy companieswith beaten-down stock prices at the end of a year that the bellwethee Philadelphia Oil Service Index dipped nearly 60 Pickens dabbled in servicew players such as Schlumberger Ltd. and Halliburtonh Co.
, natural gas shale producer ChesapeakeEnergy Corp. and high-profilw exploration and production company AnadarkoPetroleum Corp. Soros took even bigger bites inthe process, gaining new positions in serviced players Nabors Industries Ltd. and Weatherforxd International Inc. — after selling off his Schlumbergetstake — while adding to his positiojn in . Besides his substantial switchinto Weatherford, Sorows made another big move in late Apripl involving a Houston-based company by adding 3 million more shares of Plaina Exploration and Production Co., boosting his stak e to nearly 6.
5 million Energy analysts and asset investment managerss who follow these movers and shakers say that after energh stock prices kept climbing in 2007 toward lofty highe in mid-2008, it’s been a whilr since the notion of value investing could be appliedc to the sector. “Timing is says Eddie Allen, senior partnere with Eagle GlobalAdvisors LLC. “Thered may have been an over-reaction in the fall with the sell-oftf of oil stocks. There’sx still a lot of volatility todeal with, but thes investors did well in anticipating the rise (in oil that we’ve seen so far this year, from the mid-$30a to $60.
” Allen says that value investors are still playinv a bit of a waiting game. He notes that stoci prices are down, natural gas has not followedd oil’s recovery in 2009, and there are concerns that prices couldc stay depressed asinventories build. Therew is also more he adds, about possiblde consolidationas mid-cap exploration and production companieas eye the pickings amongg smaller competitors. Dan Pickering, co-president and head of researcnhat Tudor, Pickering, Holt Co. Securities Inc., says Pickens, Soross and Tudor might have even added more shareas during the quarter if energy stocks had not ralliedx and moved a bit highetthan expected.
“The market took off so stronglh in the first quarter that investorw took a pause waiting for a pullback that never They might have wanted more but the stocks got away a littlr bit onthe upside,” Pickering says. All thingsw considered, energy was the hottes investment gamein town. Says “The overall theme here is that investors became reengagerdin energy, which dramatically out-performed the rest of the markeyt in the first quarter, as peopld were just less terrified abourt the state of the world (economy).” The energy resurgence partty had some notable no-shows. While Pickens and Soroxs were pickingnew favorites, othe r big-name investors were still cleaninbg house.
Warren Buffett sold 13.7 milliom ConocoPhillips shares in the quartert to reduce his stake to a stillsizable 71.2 million shares. Buffet conceded to shareholder of his BerkshireHathaway Inc. asseft management firm that his huge investment in ConocoPhillips last year when oil pricezs peakedat $147 a barrel was a mistake.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Ahead of the Bell-Business Inventories - BusinessWeek

budimirukaovyril.blogspot.com


Plain Dealer


Ahead of the Bell-Business Inventories

BusinessWeek


Economists expect inventories held by businesses increased 0.4 percent in November, according to a survey by FactSet. The report will be released at 10 am Eastern time Thursday. In October, businesses increased their stockpiles 0.8 percent after no ...


Inventories in U.S. Rose in November for Second Month Amid Holiday Demand

Bloomberg


US Business Inventories Rise Less Than Expected

NASDAQ


Trade inventories rose in November

UPI.com



 »

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Moody

xotavaloso.blogspot.com
"While the first quarter outperformedthe company's expectations, results were stilol significantly below the comparable priot year period,” Moody’s VP and senior analystt Charles O'Shea noted. Moody's downgradedx Office Depot’s corporate family and probability of default ratingss to B2from B1, and the company'es senior unsecured notes to Caa1 from B3. The outlookk is negative, reflecting Moody's concern that further deterioration in Office Depot's credit metrics already considered weak for the curreng rating – could occur this year "Givem that a potential recovery in this segmenr may not occur until late 2009 or earlty 2010, and Office Depot's concentration in the stilpl hard-hit California and Florida markets, Moody'as feels it likely that the company's credit profils could continue to deteriorate for the balanc e of 2009," O'Shea said. The last rating action for OfficseDepot (NYSE: ODP) was Feb. 26, when Moody'se lowered the company's corporatee family and probability of defaulyt ratings to B1from Ba3, downgradec the senior unsecured notes to B3 from B1, and placed the company'e ratings on review for furtherd possible downgrade. Shares were down 15 percengt to close at The 52-week high was $14.05 on May 15, 2008. The 52-weei low was 59 centa on March 9.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Kirkland, Dechert Advise as Bristol-Myers Squibb Acquires Inhibitex for $2.5 ... - The American Lawyer

domnaofyvisyhojo.blogspot.com


Bloomberg


Kirkland, Dechert Advise as Bristol-Myers Squibb Acquires Inhibitex for $2.5 ...

The American Lawyer


Kirkland & Ellis and Dechert have scored the lead legal advisory roles on a deal under which pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Company will pay $2.5 billion to acquire Inhibitex, Inc., which specializes in creating drugs for the tr eatment and ...


Bristol-Myers Squibb to acquire Inhibitex for $2.5 bln

Proactive Investors USA & Canada



 »

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Competitors aiming to shoot down Byrd - Clubcall

lkinibim.blogspot.com


Competitors aiming to shoot down Byrd

Clubcall


Jonathan Byrd shot a seven-under-par 66 to secure a one-shot lead after the first round of the Tournament of Champions. The 33-year-old American is looking to defend the title he won 12 months ago and has made a good start to his quest on the ...



and more »

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Downer of a year: 2008 disappoints many on mortgage brokers list - Business First of Louisville:

zutkomi.blogspot.com
Mortgage brokers have been excoriated for everything from scamming consumersz to causing the most severe globa financial crisis since the Great Depression by makinb subprime mortgages to people who could notrepa them. State and federal authorities have enacted or proposed legislatio n to end risky practices suchas no-documentation “It’s pretty clear the hammer has come down pretty hard on brokers,” said Jonathan Otto, assistant director of governmentt affairs for the , a nonprofirt trade association based in McClean, Va.
Aftedr the real estate bubble burst and increasintg numbers of homeowners stopped repayingsubprime mortgages, the demand for mortgagesx declined sharply nationwide. Some up, but more are down The fallout in Louisvilled appears tobe Consider, for example, , the No. 1 ranked brokere — ranked by loans closed — on this year’ws and last year’s lists. First Residential reportesd that the value of mortgages closex during 2008 fellto $788 million, down 10 percen from $875 million in 2007 and down 21 percengt from the $1 billioh in loans that First Residential closed in 2006.
Jordan CEO of First Residential, callzs 2007 and 2008 “the worsr time in the mortgage market sincde theGreat Depression.” And though business was down, Firstf Residential still posted more than three times the volumed and value of its nearestt competitor. The No. 2 mortgagwe broker on last year’s , did not participate on the 2009 list, and owner Jeff Houk declineddto comment. In its place is , which reported a 28 percent increase in the totalp number of loans it closed locally in to 1,175 from 915. Diversified reportexd 2008 loans closedworth $218 up 60 percent from $137 million in 2007.
Diversifiefd executives did not return callxs for comment byBusiness First’s deadline. The No. 3 brokerf on the 2008 First OmniMortgage Lending, retains its place on the 2009 But First Omni reported that the numbeer of loans it closed dropped 42 percent to 1,035 in 2008 from 1,771 in 2007. The value of its mortgages dropped 40 to $174 million in 2008 from $289 milliojn in 2007. Bart Miller, First Omni CEO and did not return callsfor comment. Of the 15 companieas listed on both the 2008 and2009 lists, only threee brokers reported an increasd in loan value and loan volume: • Diversified Mortgage which rose to No. 2 on this year’s list from No. 6 in 2008.
The Mortgage Warehouse LLC, which rose to No. 7 on the 2009 list from No. 18 last • Homequest Mortgage Network LLC, which rose to No. 11 from No. 14 on the 2008 At least six mortgage brokers on the 2008 list appear to have left theLouisville market, includingg , the firm that was ranked No. 12 in 2008. The outlooik for the industry is mixed, with most brokerx concerned thatrates — now near historic lows will rise. At Business First’a deadline, rates on conforming 30-year loans had risen sharplgy in just a few averaging 5.4 percent at according to data from Bankrate.com and MarketWatch.com. That rate is up from a nationao average ofabout 4.85 percent for much of May.
Towarfd the end of 2007, consumers began refinancing, accordingh to mortgage lenders interviewedx byBusiness First. But refinancing alone won’gt revive their business, brokers Refinancing is lucrative for brokers when interest ratesare low, “bu t you can’t depend on it” in the long said Don Rupert, president of Mortgage Network which is No. 10 on the currenty list, up from No. 11.
“The mortgage business is cyclical enough without depending on On the2009 list, Rupert’s company was amongy the minority of brokers who reportef making a higher percentagd of new mortgages than refinancings for 2008 85 percent new, 15 percent refinancings, in his LLC, owned by Mohamad reported a similar new/refinance ratio, with 70 percenft new mortgages closed in 2008 and 30 percentg refinancings. No mortgage brokerage reporterd a sharper decline in volume and value than Kentuckiana which droppedto No. 18 on the 2009 list from No. 8 in 2008.
The valuee of Kentuckiana Sunrise’s loansd closed dropped 87 percent in 2008to $10 millioj from $75 million in 2007, and the numbe r of loans decreased 67 to 165 from 500. El-Ashawah said that whils demand for mortgages remained fairly constant despite the realestatd downturn, Kentuckiana Sunrise couldn’t get capitapl to lend. After capital markets tightenedin 2008, capital from private sources and bankzs dried up and “you couldn’ft get anyone to lend you anything,” said who added that his companyh never made subprime loans. That left his brokerage firm with one sourcd formoney — federal government-backee mortgage makers such as and .
And that money got increasinglh expensive, he said. Pohn, of First Residential, sees better times ahead for hiscompanh — and for the economy has a whole if government regulators can find a market equilibrium. Firsrt Residential closed $160 million worth of mortgages duringy both April and May and is on track to match or exceee its 2006 total ofabout $1 Pohn said. But at the moment, gettingh borrowers qualified for loans has gone from beinbga no-questions-asked situation in 2006 to takinyg “an act of God” in 2009, he The national mortgage markert has “overcorrected,” he Now, there are people trying to buy homese who “deserve credit, but the market is so scaredr and they’re restricting credit way too far,” he Pohn puts the blame squarely on the mortgage industrty itself after home loan standards went out the starting around 2006.
Pohn tickedf off the giant national mortgagre giants that are gone asa result, includinbg and . He added that by his perhaps half of the mortgage companiews nationallyhave disappeared. Rupert, of Mortgagse Network, agreed, saying: “I thinkj brokers are culpable (in the downturn), but there’sa plenty of blame to go It wasn’t that mortgage brokers were poorly regulated, he added, but that regulation were poorly enforced fortoo long. “I think you’re goinb to see massive changes throughout the from topto bottom, and that’s in Rupert said.
“When we emergs from this (recession), survivors will be more credible, and the more ethica l firms will survive,” he said. That’sz good for the industry and for consumers, Rupert said. “No one would like to see bad playeras exit the business more thanI

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Expected Recovery Time from LASIK - EIN News (press release)

framptongeqeaqu1461.blogspot.com


Expected Recovery Time from LASIK

EIN News (press release)


Minimizing discomfort relies on keeping your eyes closed. If at all possible, sleeping for four or five hours after surgery is ideal. Your eye doctor will provide you with a protective shield to be worn over your eyes while you sleep. ...



and more »