Online financial news
Obama’s Housing Chief: Now’s The Time To Buy
Housing prices have hit rock bottom and the economic climate is prime to purchase a home, said Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.
In an interview broadcast Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Donovan said declining foreclosure rates make him hopeful, adding that it is “very unlikely we see a significant further decline.”
“Housing is more affordable than it’s been in a generation,” Donovan told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley. “I think it is a good time, long time to become a home owner because it’s so affordable today compared to where it’s been for generations.”
With 1.3 million homes in foreclosure, Donovan said he recognizes the frustrations of the American people but added that housing prices have largely stabilized following the “most serious crisis we’ve had in housing since the Depression.”
“Foreclosures are coming down. They’re down about 40% since last year,” said Donovan, who joined President Barack Obama’s Cabinet in 2009. Read more…
How One Family Business Stays Independent
Some family-owned companies fall apart when mixing personal relationships with business. Not so, say the owners of Brookhaven, N.Y.-based Fireworks by Grucci Inc. Family pride and loyalty are what the Gruccis say has led them to grow a small business into a multimillion dollar operation — while keeping it independently owned for six generations.
“For me, the dream my father and mother had — one of independence without outside investors — is the dream I wish to keep alive today,” says executive vice president and chief financial officer Felix Grucci Jr. The 59-year-old former New York Congressman co-owns the business with his sister as president, Donna Grucci-Butler, and his nephew, Felix “Phil” Grucci. Another 11 family members are part-time workers in the business.
Often referred to as “America’s First Family of Fireworks,” the Gruccis trace their business roots back to 1850, and have produced countless fireworks performances all over the world, most notably during the last seven U.S. p
Best Places to Retire in the USA – Where to Retire Cheap
Is your retirement date coming up in the next couple of years? Is your target-date investment account about to mature? If so, and if you haven’t begun planning your retirement party already, it may be time for you to start looking for that perfect place to call home in your golden years. Where do you want to spend your time? What do you want to do on a daily basis? What kind of money do you have saved and/or are prepared to spend for a new place to live the rest of your life in? While all sorts of questions and configurations can figure into finding your perfect place to retire, thankfully there are many websites that do a lot of the research for you so that you don’t have to spend hours poring over maps and demographics of various towns across America. Two of the preeminent financial sites out there, CNNMoney and Smart Money have recently come out with their latest lists of best places to retire in the U.S., and I figured I would highlight some of their choices and reasons for picking them for those of you approaching retirement age. Let
Stocks: Best Week In Two Years
The fireworks came early on Wall Street. Stocks started the second half of the year firing on all cylinders Friday, posting the strongest week in two years, as fresh data boosted investor optimism about the state of the economy.
After starting the day barely changed, the Dow Jones industrial average rallied 168 points, or 1.4 percent. Alcoa, JPMorgan Chase and Caterpillar and were the biggest gainers on the blue chip index.
The S&P 500 added 19 points, or 1.4 percent, and the Nasdaq composite gained 43 points, or 1.5 percent.
The gains put the Dow and S&P 500 up more than 5 percent for the week, while the Nasdaq soared more than 6 percent. It was the best weekly performance since July 2009 for all three indexes.
In fact, the gains over the last five sessions have helped stocks nearly erase all of June’s losses.
Stocks initially got a lift Friday after a stronger-than-expected report on the nation’s manufacturing sector. Read more…
FTSE live: latest market – as it happened June 29, 2011
By Rachel Cooper, and agencies
6:58AM BST 30 Jun 2011
Investors switched on ITV in their droves as they pinned their hopes on private equity making a tilt at the broadcaster of Downton Abbey and The X Factor.
Talk that a firm such as Permira or KKR could snap up the broadcaster – with a price tag around 110p-per-share being mentioned – sent ITV shooting up 4.45 to 71.95p.
It would not be the first time that ITV has attracted the attentions of private equity, with the commercial broadcaster rejecting an approach from a trio of Goldman Sachs, Blackstone and Apax Partners back in 2006.
Takeover speculation has reared its head again amid pressure on ITV’s share price due to concerns over a cooling advertising market. However, analysts have recently suggested that the sell-off has been overdone.
Northumbrian Water gets bid approach from Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing
Northumbrian Water’s reed beds: the water company serves 2.6m customers in the north-east and East Anglia.
By Rowena Mason, Energy Correspondent
6:30AM BST 02 Jul 2011
The potential offer from Li Ka-Shing’s CKI Holdings would extend the conglomerate’s buying spree of British infrastructure assets that has already seen it snap up EDF’s network business for £5.8bn – a price well above early estimates of its value.
CKI also already owns interests in Southern Water, Cambridge Water, a Bristol power station and Northern Gas Networks.
The Hong Kong company first disclosed earlier this week that it was interested in Northumbrian Water, which came as a surprise to the water company.
Northumbrian Water is not disclosing any details about the price of any bid proposal, but analysts estimate it is likely to be at around a 25pc premium to the company’s share price before the news of a potential offer. <