Space in the city

Sales of existing homes showed another gain in May, benefiting from favorable affordability conditions and a first-time buyer tax credit, according to the National Association of Realtors®. May's increase was the first back-to-back monthly gain since September 2005. Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate 1 of 4.77 million units in May from a downwardly revised level of 4.66 million units in April, but remained 3.6 percent below the 4.95 million-unit pace in May 2008.

Dollar stays up as ongoing jobless claims improve - MarketWatch Posted using ShareThis

Initial Claims of unemployment up by 0.49%  better than average analyst estimate of 610K (bloomberg est). In the week ending June 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 608,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 605,000. The 4-week moving average was 615,750, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised average of 622,750.

As per bloomberg the Jobless claims to rise to 610K (concensus est). Read more...

Mortgage Housing series update Though housing construction make up 3% of US economy, but acts as a economic bellwether. So what does housing start jump in May 2009 reflect. To understand more about it read the article " Are housing starts a sign of the bottom ? " Bloomberg report that U.S. MBA Mortgage Applications Index Fell 16 Percent Last Week - Mortgage applications in the U.S. fell last week to the lowest level since November as the jump in borrowing costs over the last month caused refinancing to plunge further. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index of applications to purchase a home or refinance a loan dropped 16 percent to 514.4 in the week ended June 12, from 611 the prior week. The group’s refinancing gauge declined 23 percent, while the purchase index fell 3.5 percent. Futures & CPI Marketwatch reports U.S. stock futures were trading in a tight range Wednesday, with FedEx's gloomy outlook keeping markets under pressure after two sessions of heavy loss

U.S. May housing starts jump 17.2% to 532,000 rate - MarketWatch Posted using ShareThis

June 15 (Bloomberg) -- The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index may limp on its way toward a so-called golden cross as trading volume decreases, according to a technical analyst at RBC Capital Markets. The major stock indexes “are back above their 200-day averages, and it’s increasingly tempting to conclude that a new bull market is underway,” Toronto-based Ray Hanson wrote in a report dated June 12. However, the S&P 500 “has not yet achieved a golden cross” and “the steadily declining volume since early May suggests caution,” he said. Read More at Bloomberg

Bloomberg Reports : Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in September decreased 1 percent to 931 at 8:44 a.m. New York time, after the benchmark index climbed 40 percent from a 12-year low March 9. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 1.1 percent to 8,643 and Nasdaq- 100 Index futures fell 0.8 percent to 1,473.5. Stocks also retreated in Europe and Asia. “There is general concern that the three-month rally in equities means that stock prices have got ahead of reality,” said David Morrison, a London-based market strategist at GFT. “Oil and metals are sharply lower this morning and there is a growing realization that China is not yet ready to drag the global economy out of recession.” Marketwatch Reports In G8 meeting over the weekend - Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin reportedly said Russia has confidence in the U.S. currency. Upbeat dollar comments deflated commodity prices, hitting markets across Europe and Asia. Crude-oil futures fell 70 cents a barrel and silver and platinum futu

Summary 321,480 properties in May 2009 had foreclosure filing initiated (default notice or auctions). As of May, one (1) in every 398 Mortgage got a foreclosure filing Foreclosure filings dipped 6 percent in the month but increased 18 percent from May 2008, marking the third highest month on record. one million foreclosure filings in a three-month period (March, April & May) Temporary freezes on foreclosure activity ended in March. RealtyTrac forecasts about 4 million foreclosure filings will be made this year on about 3.1 million households with loans. Last year, there was a record 3.1 million filings on about 2.4 million households. Read complete report... In another article titled "Mortgage Rates Head for 6 percent: 5 Reasons They Might Retreat" , you can sense that the next week's job numbers is going to decide the trajectory of the market. Data dive: The relative improvement of recent economic data--which has fueled optimism for a recovery--is also partly respon

Fortune.com has posted its list of 40 stock that you can retire with. link to the list of stocks

Consumer sentiment rises to 69 in June - MarketWatch WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. consumer sentiment rose in June, but remained at relatively low levels, according to media reports of a survey released Friday by the University of Michigan and Reuters. The consumer sentiment index rose to 69 in mid-June from 68.7 in May. Economists were looking for a June result of 71. The index hit a 28-year low of 55.3 in November, and has averaged 88.2 over the last 10 years. Recent readings have been boosted by consumers' expectations that the end of the recession is approaching. Posted using ShareThis

U.S. stock futures signal slightly weaker start - MarketWatch Posted using ShareThis

Third-party business fuels Amazon's overall growth - MarketWatch Posted using ShareThis

Low price/earnings ratios are usually easy to find, even when the broad market seems expensive. For example, the S&P 500-stock index has climbed more than 30% in three months and now trades at 22 times trailing earnings, well above stocks' 137-year average trailing P/E of 15. Still, one out of every eight index members has a P/E in single digits. Not all low-P/E stocks are bargains, though. Modest valuations often mean earnings are expected to decline, and some declines suggest long-term decay. Others are simply temporary swings in consumer spending or raw materials prices. Shares of companies that trade cheaply because of expected, temporary earnings stumbles might be just the thing for investors worried that the broad market is priced for disappointment. For the humbly priced stocks to follow, a certain amount of anticipated disappointment is already priced in. Chevron 's earnings are expected to plunge this year but rebound sharply next year. My sympat

Bloomberg Reports that "Treasuries fell, pushing 10-year yields to the highest level since November, as the government prepared to sell $19 billion in the securities and Russia said it may switch some of its reserves from U.S. debt. Thirty-year bond yields reached the most in a year after a Russian central bank official said the nation may buy International Monetary Fund bonds. The Federal Reserve bought $3.5 billion in debt maturing in 2019 through 2026. Today’s auction is the second of three sales this week that will raise $65 billion, part of the U.S.’s record borrowing program." Read More ...

U.S. and China optimism lifts stock futures - MarketWatch Posted using ShareThis

-- Read More at Bloomberg... June 8 (Bloomberg) -- American common equity is increasing for the first time in five years, threatening to dilute corporate profits as companies sell a record amount of stock and cut dividends the most since 1938. Wells Fargo & Co., ProLogis and more than 150 other companies raised $82.2 billion this quarter, beating the record pace at the height of the technology bubble in 2000, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The combination of adding shares and restricting dividends will reduce annual equity returns as much as 4.1 percent, the data show. Offerings since March 31 will increase outstanding shares in the S&P 500 by 3.4 percent on an annualized basis, adjusting for the market values of companies selling stock, data from Bloomberg and S&P show. The rise is based on S&P’s calculation of shares added or removed from the index through sales, buybacks and takeovers, known as the divisor. The annualized increase in the S&P 500’s shar

U.S. stock futures point to weaker start - MarketWatch Posted using ShareThis

U.S. chicken producers on the mend - MarketWatch Posted using ShareThis

No chemicals just tap water - Bottle costs $300 The Activeion hand-held sprayer transforms tap water into a powerful cleaner that works as well as or better than other general-purpose, commercial chemical and "green" cleaning products. Using an advanced technology, the Activeion hand-held sprayer is a general-purpose, daily-use cleaner that can be used on both hard (i.e., marble/granite and stainless steel) and soft surfaces (i.e., carpet and clothing), freeing consumers and professionals from harmful chemicals and toxins. The versatility of the product allows the user to replace many of today's most common daily-use cleaners. More video The science of Activeion The science that now frees you from chemicals has been used for decades in the food processing, industrial technology, and health-related industries. We’ve just taken the technology and integrated it into a sprayer for the cleaning industry. 1. Charging A water cell applies a slight electrical charge to the tap w

Ran Lerner Design PSM (HK) Co Ltd Plastarch Material ("PSM") , which is a revolutionary ecological material; is a combination of "plastic functional characteristics and starch biodegradable advantages"; and can be use for a large variety of manufacturing processes such as film blowing, injection molding, sheet extrusion, thermoforming and foaming. PSM has become part of the substitution products on plastic in which it has a very competitive price and excellent product performance in terms of durable and totally degradable under compost conditions and by incineration as well. PSM is a polymer that is derived from the natural source of corn starch. Corn starch is a kind of polysaccharide polymer which consists of glucoses. It has two separate forms of linear and branched molecules, named as amylose and amylopectin respectively. During the modification process, corn starch is mixed with cellulose and enzymes in a large stirrer where condensation and polymerization hap

Using Moving Averages to Find Winning Stocks Shared via AddThis

US Stock Rally Evaporates After Commodity Prices Turn Lower - MarketWatch Posted using ShareThis

A number of highly leveraged firms are now breaching the leverage ratios, fixed-charge coverage ratios, and net-worth minimums that were set in stronger, more-liquid markets. According to Standard & Poor's Leveraged Commentary & Data, there were 98 covenant amendments (publicly disclosed ones, that is) to high-yield corporate loan agreements in the first quarter of 2009, up from 62 in the previous quarter. Experts expect just as many, if not more, in the second quarter. Other, less-leveraged companies will also be talking to their lenders about amending covenants. (According to one academic study, between a quarter and a third of all public companies will trip a loan covenant over a 10-year period.) And the conversations may not be pleasant. When credit was abundant, many banks felt they were taken advantage of, says Steven Bavaria, managing director of leveraged finance at credit-rating agency DBRS. "The gun was at their heads to reduce fees and spreads," he says

U.S. stock futures waver as recovery debated - MarketWatch Posted using ShareThis

A little-noticed Federal Housing Administration program will let first-time home buyers use their $8,000 tax credit for down payments or closing costs The days of home buying with little or no money down may be back—this time thanks to Uncle Sam. Blamed for contributing to the housing bubble, zero-down-payment loans largely vanished when the market crashed and Congress blocked seller financing for government-backed loans. Now the federal government will be forking over cash at closing. Read more

Worse-than-expected data on factor orders (orders rose just 0.7 percent in April when analysts had called for a 0.9 percent increase) and services industry triggered a sell-off in stocks following 4 weeks of gain. There was also profit booking transaction that move the market. Keep a close eye on any rise in Treasury yields and a sign of weakness in dollar On Tuesday stocks extended a rally into a fourth day following an unexpectedly big spike in pending home sales, the latest sign that the battered housing market is starting to turn around. U.S. stocks slipped early Wednesday as new jobs data beat expectations but neverthelesss showed a continued hemorrhage of jobs in the U.S. economy. Read more ...

U.S. stock futures pause after Monday's rally - MarketWatch Posted using ShareThis

US Stocks Higher On Global Data Pointing To Recovery - MarketWatch Posted using ShareThis

June 1 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock futures advanced, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index may extend gains from the first-three month winning stretch since its 2007 record, as growth in Chinese manufacturing boosted confidence the global economy is recovering. Alcoa Inc. , the largest U.S. aluminum producer, Freeport- McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and Barrick Gold Corp. climbed with higher metals prices. Exxon Mobil Corp. , the biggest U.S. oil company, and ConocoPhillips gained as crude rallied and China increased prices of gasoline and diesel by as much as 8 percent. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in June added 1.6 percent to 932.5 at 9 a.m. in New York, even after General Motors Corp. filed for bankruptcy. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 1.3 percent to 8,598. Nasdaq-100 Index futures climbed 1.1 percent to 1,451. “Investors are reacting to increased optimism surrounding economic numbers,” sai