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.
Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 102.04 points, or 0.6%, to 16,843.88. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 6.90 points, or 0.4%, to close at 1,943.89. The NASDAQ slipped 6.07 points, or 0.1%, to 4,331.93. Benchmark U.S. oil for July delivery rose 5 cents to $104.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
STOCKS FALL BACK AS WORLD BANK CUTS GROWTH OUTLOOK
NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market fell back from record levels Wednesday because of a weaker forecast for global growth and concerns about airline profits. Delta Air Lines and other carriers fell after Germany’s Lufthansa warned of smaller profits. Boeing slid after analysts said that most of the good news about the plane maker was already priced into the stock. Stocks opened lower after the World Bank predicted weaker global growth this year, citing a tough winter in America and the political crisis in Ukraine. The bank said late Tuesday that it expects the world economy to grow 2.8 per cent this year instead of the 3.2 per cent it predicted in January.
LEW SAYS ECONOMY STILL FACING MAJOR CHALLENGES
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Wednesday that the economy should grow at much stronger rates the rest of this year as the country overcomes the impact of a harsh winter. But Lew said millions of Americans continue to struggle as unemployment remains too high and economic growth is too slow. In his remarks, which were distributed in Washington, Lew called for actions by the government and the private sector to boost hiring of the long-term unemployed and increase investment in productivity-enhancing equipment and critical infrastructure projects such as roads, railways and ports. Lew said the country also needed a stronger commitment to education in the areas of science, math and engineering to make sure students have the skills they need to compete in the new economy.
US RECORDS $130 BILLION BUDGET DEFICIT IN MAY
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government’s monthly budget returned to deficit in May after a big April surplus. But the overall imbalance so far is far smaller than it was the same period last year, putting the country on track for the lowest annual deficit in six years. The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the May deficit totaled $130 billion after a surplus of $106.9 billion in April, a month when the government usually runs surpluses because of a flood of tax revenues. For the first eight months of this budget year, the deficit totals $436.4 billion, down 30 per cent from $626.3 billion for the same period in 2013. It was the smallest imbalance since 2008. The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting a deficit of $492 billion for the full budget year ending Sept. 30.
DOLLAR-GENERAL Q1 PROFIT EDGES UP, BUT DISAPPOINTS; OPENING 700 STORES
Goodlettsville, Tenn. -- Dollar General Corp.’s first-quarter profit and sales missed Wall Street estimates as the retailer cited an “unfavorable’ winter, increased competition and economic challenges. The company said Tuesday its profit rose to $222.4 million, from $220.1 million year ago. The retailer also reiterated its plans to open 700 stores in fiscal 2014, and remodel, to varying degrees, another 900 existing locations. Net sales rose to $4.52 billion, from $4.23 billion. Same-store sales rose 1.5% in the quarter. Dollar General said sales trends began to improve in April and have continued to gain momentum. The discounter expects to open 214 new stores in the first quarter. The company also reiterated its plans to open 700 new stores in the 2014 fiscal year and to remodel or relocate another 500. In addition, it plans to complete approximately 400 limited scope (“lifecycle”) remodels.
TARGET HIRES GM TECH SECURITY HEAD AS CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER
Minneapolis, Minn. — Target Corp. has named Brad Maiorino as senior VP, chief information security officer, a new position added as the chain overhauls its security department in the wake of its data breach. Maiorino comes to Target from General Motors, where he was the company’s chief information security and information technology risk officer. Prior to that, he was the chief information security officer at General Electric. Maiorino, who joins Target effective June 16, will be responsible for Target’s information security and technology risk strategy helping to ensure that the company, its shoppers and associates are protected from internal and external information security threats. He will report to DeRodes.
CONN’S Q1 TOPS ESTIMATES; WILL OPEN 17-20 STORES
The Woodlands, Texas – Conn’s Inc. exceeded Wall Street estimates with both its net income and net sales performance during the first quarter of fiscal 2014. In addition, the retailer said it plans to open 17-20 new stores while closing 10 existing stores during the full fiscal year. Net income climbed 28% to $28.47 million from $22.18 million in the same period a year earlier. Net sales rose 33% to $277.63 million, from $209.45 million. Same-store sales grew 15.6%. Higher pretax income helped boost net income totals, while the opening of nine new stores and extremely strong growth in furniture and mattress sales helped drive overall sales growth. Conn’s expects a same-store sales increase of 5%-10% during the full fiscal year. The new store at Marana Marketplace under construction is scheduled to open this September.
TOYOTA TO RECALL 2.27 MILLION VEHICLES GLOBALLY
TOKYO - Toyota on Wednesday recalled 2.27 million vehicles globally over a defect that could see airbags fail to deploy in a crash and also posed a fire risk, dealing another blow to the Japanese giant's safety record. The world's biggest automaker said the latest callback involved 20 models, including its Corolla sedan, Yaris subcompact and Noah minivan, and covered about 1.62 million cars overseas and 650,000 in Japan. Some of the affected overseas cars were already included in a recall last year but had not had their airbag inflator replaced, Toyota said.
US GIVES BP FIRST LICENSE TO FLY DRONE OVER LAND
WASHINGTON -- Cautious U.S. aviation regulators announced Tuesday they have given oil company the first commercial license to fly a drone aircraft over land. The Federal Aviation Administration gave BP and unmanned aircraft system (UAS) builder AeroVironment permission to use a drone for surveys of oil exploration and pipeline areas in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay area. The surveys began on Sunday, using AeroVironment's hand-launched, camera-equipped, four-and-a-half-foot-long Puma AE aircraft.
CHINA’S AUTO SALES GREW 8.5% IN MAY
SHANGHAI -- China's auto sales grew 8.5% year-on-year last month, an industry group said Tuesday, moderating slightly from April as the economy slows down. Sales in the world's biggest auto market reached 1.91 million vehicles in May, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said in a statement. In April, auto sales rose 8.8% year-on-year to just over 2.0 million vehicles. China's economy grew an annual 7.4% in the first quarter of this year, weaker than the 7.7% in the October-December period, but there have been signs of an uptick in the latest economic data. But the industry group described the growth in the auto market as good. Auto sales in the first five months of this year jumped an annual 9.0% to 9.84 million vehicles, it said.
MANY SEEK NEW HOMES NEAR CITIES BUT ARE PRICED OUT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans increasingly say they prefer to live near the centers of cities and towns, where commutes are typically shorter and culture, restaurants and entertainment close by. It marks a shift away from the yearning for open suburban space that drove U.S. home construction for decades. But it carries a costly trade-off: Land in many cities has surged in price. And fewer Americans can now afford newly built homes in the walkable neighborhoods they desire. The average price of a newly built home nationwide has reached $320,100 — a 20.5 per cent jump since 2012 began. That puts a typical new home out of reach for two-thirds of Americans, according to government data. Yet many builders have made a calculated bet: Better to sell fewer new homes at higher prices than build more and charge less.
OIL BOOM PRODUCES JOBS BONANZA FOR ARCHAEOLOGISTS
TIOGA, N.D. (AP) — Drilling crews are eager to plunge their equipment into the ground. Road builders are ready to start highway projects, and construction workers need to dig. But across the hyperactive oil fields of North Dakota, these and other groups often must wait for another team known for slow, meticulous study — archaeologists, whose job is to survey the land before a single spade of dirt can be turned. The routine surveys have produced a rare jobs bonanza in American archaeology, a field in which many highly educated professionals hop from project to project around the world and still struggle to make a living. The positions also come with a constant tension: The archaeologists are trained to find evidence of the past, but the companies that pay them would prefer not to turn up anything that gets in the way of profits.
CHINA’S STARTUPS HOPE FOR BOOM AFTER ALIBABA IPO
BEJING (AP) — China might seem an odd choice for young tech entrepreneurs. Instead of innovation and risk taking, the country is more associated with state domination of the economy, rampant intellectual property theft and heavy duty government censorship of social media. Perceptions, however, are changing. The high profile success of Jack Ma’s e-commerce company Alibaba, which is planning a giant initial public offering in the U.S. this year, has drawn attention to how the former startup outmanoeuvred eBay in China to become the world’s biggest online bazaar. More recently, use of smartphones and the mobile Internet has grown explosively, creating new opportunities for e-commerce and other tech ventures. Alibaba and a handful of other online ventures are the most visible examples of companies that began with a startup ethos and thrived despite bumps along the way.
BRAZIL, OTHER MARKETS ARE NO LONER ‘FRAGILE FIVE’
NEW YORK (AP) — Soccer fans will focus on Brazil and the start of the World Cup Thursday, but investors have been entranced by that nation’s stock market for months. Brazil has company. From Sao Paulo to Mumbai, investors are regaining their faith in emerging markets this year. It’s a big shift from 2013, when investment in those markets dried up because of worries about their slowing economic growth. It got so tough that five big developing markets — Brazil, South Africa, India, Indonesia and Turkey — were dubbed the “Fragile Five” by analysts at Morgan Stanley. Now those countries are much more appealing to investors. Some have taken actions to strengthen their economies. Others have gone through political changes that have bolstered investor confidence. At the same time, slower growth in the U.S. has made investing overseas more alluring.
TWEET SELF-PROPAGATES THROUGH TWEET DECK, TWITTER SHUTS DOWN APPLICATION
NEW YORK (AP) — A tweet containing a snippet of computer code propagated itself through Twitter Wednesday by taking advantage of a security flaw in the company’s TweetDeck application. In response, Twitter shut down the application’s access to tweets for about an hour while fixing the problem. The two-line message was automatically “retweeted,” or sent out again, when received by TweetDeck, a computer application for Twitter’s power users. Affected tweeters saw pop-up windows on their screens. The tweet was sent out tens of thousands of times, but left its victims otherwise unharmed.
EU INVESTIGATES APPLE, STARBUCKS, FIAT TAX DEALS
AMSTERDAM (AP) — The European Union’s antitrust regulator has launched an investigation into tax deals that Apple, Starbucks and Fiat struck with some European countries, the start of a wider push to keep multinationals from taking advantage of loopholes. EU antitrust commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Wednesday a preliminary probe by his office has found the tax deals the companies have with Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg could amount to illegal state aid. Apple has a deal with tax authorities in Ireland, Starbucks has one in the Netherlands and Fiat’s financing arm has one in Luxembourg as part of their strategy to minimize the taxes they pay.