Real Estate Daily News Buzz – November 25, 2013
Real Estate Daily News Buzz is designed to give news snippets to readers that our (yet to be award winning) editors thought you could use to start your day. They come from various business perspectives, real estate, government, the Fed, local news, and the stock markets to save you time. Here you will find the headlines and what the news buzz for the day will be.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed higher on Friday, logging a seventh straight week of gains. The Dow rose 54.78 points, or 0.3%, to close at 16,064.77. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 8.91 points, or 0.5%, to 1,804.76. The NASDAQ composite rose 22.49 points, or 0.6%, to 3,991.65.
For the week: The Dow gained 103.07 points, or 0.7 percent. The S&P 500 index fell 6.58 points, or 0.4 percent. The NASDAQ composite declined 5.68 points, or 0.1 percent.
For the year: The Dow is up 2,960.63 points, or 22.6 percent. The S&P 500 is up 378.57 points, or 26.5 percent. The NASDAQ is up 972.14 points, or 32.2 percent.
J.C. Penney DROPPED FROM S&P 500 AFTER STOCK LOSES MORE THAN HALF ITS VALUE
NEW YORK, N.Y. – J.C. Penney is getting booted from the Standard & Poor’s 500 index after losing more than half of its market value this year. The retailer is being replaced by Allegion Plc, a provider of security for homes and businesses, according to a statement released Friday by S&P Dow Jones Indices, which runs the S&P 500 index. The retailer’s downward spiral began during an ill-fated transformation under former CEO Ron Johnson, who was fired in April after 17 months on the job.
US GOV’T LOSES $139M IN SALE OF LOAN MADE TO FISKER
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration said Friday it will lose $139 million on a loan to struggling electric car maker Fisker Automotive Inc. after selling part of the loan to a private investor that immediately took the company into bankruptcy. Hybrid Technology LLC, the California car marker’s new owner, said it plans to keep Fisker operating after it emerges from bankruptcy. The $139 million loss is the largest in the Obama administration’s green energy loan program since the 2011 failure of solar panel maker Solyndra. The government lost $528 million in the Solyndra collapse, triggering sharp Republican criticism of the loan program and President Barack Obama’s investments in green energy.
COMPROMISE ON CLIMATE TARGETS BREAKS DEADLOCK AT UN
WARSAW, Poland – Developed countries and fast-growing economies have reached a last-minute compromise to avert a breakdown of U.N. climate talks in Warsaw. China and India had clashed with the U.S. and other developed countries Saturday over the wording of draft decisions with guidelines on when countries should present commitments for a new pact to fight global warming. The talks were deadlocked after China and India insisted on wording that would keep a firewall between rich and poor countries that the U.S. and other developed countries want to get rid of. However, a compromise was reached in which the word “commitments” was replaced by the weaker “contributions,” allowing the talks to continue Saturday.
ANTI-AUSTERITY PROTESTS IN 55 SPANISH CITIES OVER THE WEEKEND CALL ON GOV’T TO RE-THINK BUDGET CUTBACKS
MADRID – Trade unions and anti-austerity groups angry at the effects of the financial crisis have held protest marches in 55 Spanish cities, calling on the government to re-think its policy of cutbacks in public services, education and health care. Thousands marched to Madrid’s Puerta del Sol Square — many wearing white medical scrubs — carrying banners reading “Health care is not for sale.” Saturday’s peaceful protests coincided with anti-fascist gatherings, including one outside El Valle de los Caidos, a giant mausoleum north of Madrid where dictator Gen. Francisco Franco is buried. Many protesters carried tri-color republican flags in commemoration of the democratically-elected government that Franco overthrew with the help of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in an internecine 1936-1939 civil war.
SWISS REJECT PLAN TO LIMIT TOP MANAGERS’ PAY TO 12 TIMES THAT OF LOWEST-PAID WORKER
BERLIN – Swiss voters soundly rejected on Sunday a proposal to limit the pay of companies’ highest-paid managers to 12 times that of their lowest-paid workers, a plan that business leaders had warned could weaken the prosperous nation’s economy. A projection by the gfs.bern polling agency based on partial counting showed voters shooting down the plan by a margin of 66% to 34. The new “1:12 initiative” from Switzerland’s Young Socialists calling for a fixed legal cap on pay appeared to be a step too far for centrist and conservative voters. Switzerland is home to global business players such as pharmaceutical companies Novartis and Roche; insurance groups Zurich and Swiss Re; and banks UBS and Credit Suisse. Backers of the “1:12 initiative” argued that imposing a legal limit on salaries would ensure greater fairness while still giving top bosses the chance to earn more money than, for example, government ministers.
NEW RESEARCH AT PA. UNIVERSITY AIMS TO TEACH COMPUTERS COMMON SENSE THROUGH MAKING CONNECTIONS
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Researchers are trying to plant a digital seed for artificial intelligence by letting a massive computer system browse millions of pictures and decide for itself what they all mean. The system at Carnegie Mellon University is called NEIL, short for Never Ending Image Learning. In mid-July, it began searching the Internet for images 24/7 and, in tiny steps, is deciding for itself how those images relate to each other. The goal is to recreate what we call common sense — the ability to learn things without being specifically taught. It’s a new approach in the quest to solve computing’s Holy Grail: getting a machine to think on its own using a form of common sense. The project is being funded by Google and the Department of Defense’s Office of Naval Research.
OIL PRICES DROP AFTER IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL INCREASES CHANCE OIL SANCTIONS WILL BE LIFTED
BANGKOK – Oil prices sank Monday as a nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers made it more likely that the sanctions choking Iranian oil exports will eventually be lifted. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, was down $2.43 at $108.62 a barrel at midmorning Bangkok time in electronic trading on the ICE futures exchange in London. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 85 cents to $93.99 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. After marathon negotiations in Geneva, Iran on Sunday reached an agreement with the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany to limit enrichment of uranium to 5 per cent, far below the level needed for nuclear weapons. Iran got limited relief from sanctions that have hobbled its economy, but an embargo on its oil exports remains in place while negotiations continue for a more enduring deal to ensure the country only uses nuclear technology for peaceful purposes such as power generation.
