Europe’s leading stock markets nudged higher on Wednesday as traders awaited key US economic data and assessed the latest batch of company results.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index added just 0.09 percent to 5,5607.24 points, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 gained 0.25 percent to 5,900.79 points and in Paris the CAC 40 was up 0.32 percent to 3,922.62 [...]
Archive for the ‘real estate’ Category
European stocks edge ahead as investors await data
March 10th, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
Tags: european stocks, eurozone, investors, us economic, wall street
more...Google millionaires spreading their wealth
March 9th, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
Angel-watchers say the Google group has more in common than just pedigree. Unlike many venture capitalists, the Googlers like to swap investment ideas and back startups together. They’re also willing to take big chances.
During the holidays last year, Aydin Senkut and Elad Gil gathered 50 of their friends at a health-food restaurant in Palo Alto. [...]
Tags: finance service, financing young companies, market leader, silicon valley, substantial business
Mortgage rates fall below the 5 percent mark
March 5th, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
Mortgages rates have dipped below 5 percent again, four weeks before a government program that is helping keep rates low is scheduled to run out.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 4.97 percent this week, down from 5.05 percent a week earlier, mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said Thursday.
Rates dropped to a [...]
Tags: home loan, homebuying, loans, mortgage finance, mortgage rates
Lone holdout gives in, Senate OKs jobless benefits
March 3rd, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
Putting a lone senator’s cantankerous challenge behind it, the Senate is back to work on a $100 billion-plus bill reviving popular tax breaks and extending longer and more generous jobless benefits through the end of the year.
Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning relented on Tuesday evening, freeing the Senate to approve stopgap legislation extending for another month [...]
Tags: america's working, barack obama, putting, senate, small businesses, unemployment
Global factories enjoy bumper February
March 1st, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
Factories around the world enjoyed a bumper February with business surveys showing the manufacturing sector in major economies continued to lead an economic recovery, despite a slowdown in some growth rates.
Factory activity expanded across Asia last month, although powerhouse China showed some signs of weakening, while in Europe growth rates hit 30-month highs despite contraction [...]
Tags: asian economist, global factories, hsbc, manufacturing sector
Strong growth in Q4 likely to slow throughout 2010
February 26th, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
Don’t count on the economic growth spurt at the end of 2009 to carry into this year.
The economy grew at a blistering 5.7 percent pace in the final quarter of last year, according to a preliminary government estimate. And an updated estimate due out Friday is expected to produce the same figure, according to Wall [...]
Tags: businesses, conomic activity, economy grew, home foreclosures, q4, unemployment, wall street
Economists React: Bernanke Has ‘No Interest in Surprising Markets’
February 25th, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
* Bernanke’s prepared testimony reaffirmed that an expected backdrop of low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation, and stable inflation expectations is consistent with a low for long stance on policy interest rates. –David Hensley, J.P. Morgan Chase
* This is Bernanke reinforcing that rates are not moving in the near term, the Fed will need [...]
Tags: bernanke, congressional testimony, economists, federal reserve, jp morgan chase, surprising markets
Bernanke to outline exit path to skeptical Congress
February 24th, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
Ben Bernanke may have cleared the hurdles to his confirmation for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman, but that does not mean lawmakers will be any friendlier to him at high-profile hearings on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Fed chief’s semiannual report to Congress should feature both impassioned debate over financial regulation and lots of questions [...]
Tags: ben bernanke, central bank's, federal reserve, financial services, great depression, macroeconomic
Banks report small profit but ‘problem’ list jumps
February 23rd, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
America’s banks eked out a small profit in the fourth quarter as the economy recovered, but the number of banks considered troubled jumped to more than 700, the government reported Tuesday.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said banks essentially broke even in the October-December period. They earned $914 million, compared with a $37.8 billion loss in [...]
Tags: america's banks, economy recovered, FDIC, federal deposit, real estate loans
GE’s work force fell by 6 percent in 2009
February 20th, 2010 by Mortgage Writer
General Electric’s overall work force fell by about 6 percent worldwide in 2009 as it struggled to deal with the effects of the deep recession and financial crisis, according to a company regulatory filing Friday.
GE’s annual report shows the industrial and financial heavyweight reduced its overall employee head count by about 19,000 jobs to 304,000 [...]
Tags: capital lending, commercial real estate, financial companies, financial crisis, general electric, global downturn