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 fell 77.64 points, or 0.5%, to 16,008.77 on Monday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 4.91 points, or 0.3%, to 1,800.90. The NASDAQ composite fell 14.63 points, or 0.4%, to 4,045.26. Benchmark U.S. crude for January delivery rose $1.10, or 1.2%, at $93.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

SUPREME COURT WON’T STAND IN WAY OF NY’S INTERNET TAX
WASHINGTON (AP) — On perhaps the busiest online shopping day of the year, the Supreme Court refused to wade into a dispute over state sales taxes for purchases on websites like Amazon.com, an outcome likely to prompt more states to attempt to collect taxes on Internet sales. Monday’s court action means “it might be the last Cyber Monday without sales tax,” said Joseph Henchman of the Washington-based Tax Foundation. It’s all part of a furious battle — also including legislation in Congress — among Internet sellers, millions of buyers, aggrieved brick-and-mortar stores and states hungry for billions of dollars in extra tax revenue. The high court turned away appeals from Amazon.com LLC and Overstock.com Inc. in their fight against a New York court decision forcing them to remit sales tax the same way in-state businesses do. This could hurt online shopping in that state, since one of the attractions of Internet purchasing is the lack of a state sales tax. That makes some items a little cheaper than they would be inside a store on the corner.

AMERICANS POWER UP AND SHOP ON CYBER MONDAY
NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of Americans took advantage of online deals ranging from free shipping to hundreds of dollars off electronics and half-price clothing Monday, which was expected to be the busiest online shopping day of the year. The spending surge on so-called Cyber Monday came after a disappointing holiday weekend in stores. And it showed that Americans are increasingly comfortable buying items on tablets and smartphones. Early results showed online shopping was up 18.7 per cent compared with the same time last year, according to figures by IBM Benchmark. Mobile traffic, which includes smartphones and tablets, accounted for 30 per cent of all online traffic.

HILTON ONE OF BIFFEST IPOs COULD RAISE $2.4 BILLION
NEW YORK (AP) — Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. said Monday that it could raise as much as $2.37 billion, making it one of the year’s biggest IPOs. The hotel operator said in a regulatory filing that the offering of 112.8 million shares is expected to price between $18 and $21 each. Hilton is offering about 64.1 million shares, and selling shareholders are offering 48.7 million shares. Selling additional shares to banks could put the IPO’s proceeds at as much as $2.72 billion. The initial public offering comes as the hotel industry has started to recover over the past two years from its battering during the recession and as the IPO market heats up. Roughly 200 companies have gone public in 2013 as markets hit record highs.

AMAZON.COM SEES DELIVERY DRONES AS FUTURE
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is working on a way to get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less — via self-guided drone. Consider it the modern version of a pizza delivery boy, minus the awkward teenager. Amazon.com Inc. says it’s working on the so-called Prime Air unmanned aircraft project but it will take years to advance the technology and for the Federal Aviation Administration to create the necessary rules and regulations.

PILOT USE OF AUTOMATION EYED IN AIR CRASHES
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pilots are becoming so reliant on computer systems that do most of the flying in today’s airliners that on the rare occasions when something goes wrong, they’re sometimes unprepared to take control, according to aviation safety experts and government and industry studies. Increasing automation has been a tremendous safety boon to aviation, contributing to historically low accident rates in the U.S. and many parts of the world. But automation has changed the relationship between pilots and planes, presenting new challenges.

US MANUFACTURING GREW AT FASTEST PACE IN 2 1/2 YEARS IN NOVEMBER
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. manufacturing grew in November at the fastest pace in 2 1/2 years as factories ramped up production, stepped up hiring and received orders at a healthy clip. The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its index of manufacturing activity rose to 57.3. That was up from 56.4 in October and was the highest since April 2011. A reading above 50 signals growth. One component of the index, a measure of hiring, rose to its highest level in nearly 18 months. And a gauge of export orders reached its highest level in nearly two years. Overseas demand is benefiting from modest recoveries in Europe, Japan and China.

US CONSTRUCTION SPENDING UP 0.8% IN OCTOBER
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. developers boosted construction spending in October at the fastest pace in more than four years, propelled by a surge in government projects. But spending on home construction and commercial projects both fell. Overall construction spending increased 0.8% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $908.4 billion, the Labor Department said Monday. That’s up from September, when spending fell 0.3%. The October pace was the best since May 2009 and was driven by a 3.9% surge in public spending. Federal spending increased 10.9 per cent, suggesting the 16-day partial government shutdown had little impact on public projects.

DOW CHEMICAL LOOKING TO SPIN OFF, SELL 40 PLANTS
MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) — Dow Chemical is looking to spin off or sell about 40 manufacturing plants from its business as it continues to move away from cyclical commodity products. The company said Monday that it expects those deals to happen within the next one to two years. Almost 2,000 workers will be affected by the moves. The businesses generate up to $5 billion of total annual revenue.

FOREST LABS TO CUT 500 JOBS IN $500 MILLION RESTRUCTURING
NEW YORK (AP) — Forest Laboratories says it plans to cut about 500 jobs as part of a plan to trim $500 million in costs over the next two years. The drugmaker also plans to buy back at least $400 million in company stock and agreed to pay $240 million for the U.S. marketing rights to Saphris, a Merck & Co. drug used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar mania. The moves come less than three months after former Bausch & Lomb leader Brenton Saunders replaced longtime CEO Howard Solomon at the helm of Forest Laboratories Inc.

BLACKBERRY HEAD SAYS COMPANY IS ‘VERY MUCH ALIVE’
TORONTO (AP) — BlackBerry’s interim chief executive said Monday that reports of the death of the company “are greatly exaggerated.” Former Sybase CEO John Chen said in a letter to customers that BlackBerry is returning to its roots, refocusing on delivering devices and services to business users. Chen was brought in as the interim chief executive and executive chair after talks to sell the company collapsed last month.

PUBLIC MEETINGS SCHEDULED FOR PIMA COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

Pima County is inviting residents to attend one of the upcoming public meetings to give input to the 10-year update of the County’s Comprehensive Plan. There are seven schedules for December and more public meetings are to follow in January. The County anticipates a draft to be ready by late Spring. The first meeting, held Monday evening was attended by about a dozen people and almost as many County staff member there who answered questions and facilitated getting comments. These meetings are opportunities to give ideas on creating a vibrant future for our region. Please plan to attend one of these community meetings to learn more and share your ideas:

• Monday, Dec. 2
  6-7:30 p.m. at Nanini Library, 7300 N. Shannon Road
• Tuesday, Dec. 3
  6-7:30 p.m. at Empire High School Library, 10701 E. Mary Ann Cleveland Way
• Thursday, Dec. 5
  10 a.m.-noon at Cow Palace Restaurant, 28802 S. Nogales Highway (Interstate 19 and 48W exit)
• Thursday, Dec. 5
  5:30-7 p.m. at The Journey, an Evangelical Free Church, 4700 N. Swan Road
• Monday, Dec. 9
  5:30-7 p.m. at Sam Lena – South Tucson Library, 1607 S. Sixth Ave.
• Tuesday, Dec. 10
  6-7:30 p.m. at Tanque Verde Lutheran Church, 8625 E. Tanque Verde Road
• Wednesday, Dec. 11
  5:30-7 p.m. at Drexel Heights Baptist Church, 2802 W. Mossman Road

For more information, or for individuals with disabilities who require special accommodations, please contact Lindsey at 520-885-9009 or Lindsey@kaneenpr.com.  You can also share your ideas and join the conversation about Pima County’s future online. Click on the “Sign up to participate”.

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 rose 21.32 points, or 0.1%, to 15,783.10 on Monday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 1.28 points, or 0.1%, to 1,771.89. The NASDAQ composite rose 0.56 points, less than 0.1%, to 3,919.79. Benchmark U.S. crude for December delivery rose 54 cents to $95.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

FOXCONN MULLING OVER BUILDING TVS, DISPLAY PANELS IN ARIZONA
Aiming to produce more electronics with the “Made in USA” label, Foxconn Technology Group said Saturday it was considering setting up a factory in Arizona to possibly build TVs, display panels and product casings. The company’s CEO Terry Gou announced his interest in building the facilities when the state’s governor Janice Brewer visited him in Taiwan. Both Foxconn and Arizona have been in talks about an investment for about the last two years, the company said in an email. The Taiwanese manufacturer is best known for building Apple’s iPad and iPhone, but it also assembles products for other U.S. leading tech firms including Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and Dell. Many of those factories are in China, where Foxconn employs over 1 million people, where they pay wages of about $300 to $500 per month.

FRANCE’S CREDIT RATING LOWERED — 2ND TIME IN 2 YEARS
Standard and Poor’s (S&P) cut France’s credit rating to AA from AA+ on Friday. The move comes almost two years after the country lost its top-rated AAA status. S&P said it downgraded France because the high unemployment in the country was making it hard for the government to make important reforms which would boost growth. Unemployment is currently 11.1% which makes more reforms nearly impossible. The French government responded by saying that its debt rating was one of the safest in the eurozone. S&P said it expected government debt to hit 86% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015 and unemployment to remain above 10% until 2016. The country’s Finance Minister, Pierre Moscovici, said S&P had made “critical and inexact judgements”. Since taking office in 2012, President Francois Hollande has passed some economic reforms, such as making the labor market more flexible and changing the pension system, but many economists say the changes are too incremental to improve the situation. In theory, a lower credit rating makes borrowing more expensive. The return for investors buying French debt indeed did rise after the announcement. The yield on French government 10-year bonds rose more than 20 basis points to 2.389% from 2.158%.

CFPB ORDERS MORTGAGE COMPANY TO PAY $13 MILLION
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has taken action against a mortgage company for steering borrowers into costlier mortgages, the agency announced last week. The CFPB has proposed a consent order in its enforcement action of Utah-based Castle & Cooke that would order the company to pay $9 million in restitution and $4 million in civil penalties for alleged payment of illegal bonuses to loan originators. According to the complaint, the company’s president, Matthew Pineda and senior vice president of capital markets, Buck Hawkins, violated loan origination compensation law by paying loan officers quarterly bonuses that were dependent upon the interest rates offered to borrowers. Castle & Cooke originated $1.3 billion in loans in 2012, according to the CFPB’s research. It has 45 branches and does business in 22 states. Castle & Cooke has agreed to the consent order, but admits no wrongdoing in the case.

WORLD ECONOMY BEING SUSTAINED BY EXTRAORDINARY AID
WASHINGTON (AP) — Five years after a global financial crisis erupted, the world’s biggest economies still need to be propped up. They’re growing and hiring a little faster and creating more jobs, but only with extraordinary aid from central banks or government spending. And economists say major countries may need help for years more. From the United States to Europe to Japan, central banks are pumping cash into economies and keeping loan rates near record lows. Even fast-growing China has rebounded from an uncharacteristic slump with the help of government money that’s poured into projects and made loans easily available from state-owned banks. For now, thanks in part to the intervention, the world economy is improving. The International Monetary Fund expects global growth to rise to 3.6% in 2014 from 2.9% this year.

LONG SILENT, CHINA’S ENTREPRENEURS PUSH FOR CHANGE
BEIJING (AP) — As Chinese career trajectories go, wealthy businesswoman Wang Ying’s has taken an unusual turn. She quit her job as head of a private equity fund to become a full-time political critic. Wang, who was a low-profile member of China’s business elite for years, is now a leading voice among entrepreneurs troubled by the growing ranks of business owners who have suffered under the government’s authoritarian excesses and by signs Beijing wants to further tighten its controls on society. As China’s ruling party holds a major economic planning meeting this week, it faces rising demands for change from entrepreneurs who feel a simmering anger at a system that extends privileges such as cheap credit and monopolies to politically-favored state companies. Entrepreneurs complain they are denied a say in how society is run even as their businesses create jobs, wealth and tax revenue. Worse, some have endured arrest, torture and confiscation of their businesses at the whim of local officials.

US, EUROPE RESUME TALKS ON NEW TRADE PACT
BRUSSELS (AP) — The United States and the European Union sought Monday to get past a rough patch in diplomatic relations to resume talks on a free trade deal that would grow what is already the world’s biggest business relationship. Negotiators for the Obama administration and the EU say an agreement would create jobs and boost growth in the two economies, which represent almost half of global output but are still not fully recovered from recession. The trade volume in goods and services between the two economies totalled 800 billion euros ($1.08 trillion) last year. The negotiations, however, are taking place against the backdrop of European pique over reported U.S. electronic espionage of EU citizens, including high-profile leaders like Germany’s Angela Merkel. The Greens in the European Parliament on Monday became the latest political group to call for the trade talks to be frozen in response.

TARGET TO OPEN EARLIER ON THANKSGIVING
NEW YORK (AP) — Target Corp. is the latest retailer to open earlier on Thanksgiving this year. The Minneapolis-based discounter said it will open at 8 p.m. on the holiday — an hour earlier than last year. Stores will remain open throughout the night and close at 11 p.m. on the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday. Target also will offer hundreds of deals online on Thanksgiving morning that will include almost all deals that will be available in stores. In addition, Target said it will feature 15 online-only daily discounts for two weeks beginning on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

AMAZON, US POSTAL SERVICE WILL DELIVER ON SUNDAYS
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is teaming up with the U.S. Postal Service to deliver packages on Sundays. The Seattle company says Sunday delivery will be available this week to customers in the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. Amazon and the Postal Service plan to roll out service to “a large portion of the U.S. population” next year, including the cities of Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, and Phoenix. Amazon expects Sunday delivery to be popular with members of its Prime service, which costs $79 a year and comes with free two-day shipping on many items on the site as well as access to Amazon’s TV and movie streaming service. But Sunday delivery will be available to all Amazon customers.

TRANSOCEAN AGREES TO DEAL WITH ICAHN
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil driller Transocean has agreed to a deal with billionaire investor Carl Icahn after a months-long proxy fight. The company said Monday that it has agreed to support a dividend of $3 per share and reduce the size of its board. It is also looking to boost margins by $800 million through cost-cutting efforts and other measures. The stock climbed in premarket trading. Icahn, a minority shareholder in Transocean Ltd., had previously pushed for a $4 per share dividend but Transocean’s shareholders rejected it. Icahn, known for shaking up companies in which he invests, had also wanted several board changes.

SHIRE BUYS VIROPHARMA IN $4.2 BILLION DEAL
LONDON (AP) — The drugmaker Shire PLC plans to strengthen its rare disease treatment portfolio by spending $4.2 billion in cash to buy the biopharmaceutical company ViroPharma Inc. The Dublin-based drugmaker said Monday it will pay $50 for each share of ViroPharma, which is based in Exton, Pa. That represents a 27 per cent premium on the U.S. company’s closing price Friday, the last trading day before the deal was announced. ViroPharma focuses on serious diseases with few, if any, available therapies. Its products include Cinryze, which is used to prevent and treat attacks of hereditary angioedema, a rare genetic disorder that can cause dangerous swelling of the throat or larynx.