The number of U.S. businesses and consumers filing for bankruptcy fell by 14% to 632,130 in H112, and could end the year at the lowest level since before the 2008 financial crisis, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute's Samuel Gerdano. He attributes the decline to low interest rates, which have been kept at rock-bottom levels by the Fed since the crisis began. [View news story]
And none of those personal bankruptcies get rid of student loan debt. The next few years are going to be a grind.
Critics have long accused the potash industry of operating like a cartel to keep prices artificially high. They're now closer to having their day in court, as a U.S. Court of Appeals rules an antitrust suit against potash producers can proceed - likely to play out over a long time, with no one sure where it will go. POT, AGU and MOS could face total damages of $2B-$6.5B if they lose. [View news story]
Potash has nitrogen and phosphate operations in several states in the US. http://bit.ly/NEeOuh
Agrium has retail locations all across the Great Plains/ Corn Belt in the US. http://bit.ly/NEeOuk
Is a secondary offering in the offing for American Capital Mortgage (MTGE +1.6%)? At $24.73, shares are trading at a 13.5% premium to the last stated book value (March 31). At that sort of spread, the only question regarding a large secondary seems to be when? (via Dividend Master) [View news story]
Blackstone (BX) gets into the residential landlord business, buying up $250M worth of foreclosed single-family homes with the intention of renting them out, according to sources. The firm joins what can now be called a mad rush of deep-pocketed investors trying to take single-family rentals out of the mom-and-pop category and into a major asset class. [View news story]
The actual yield is higher, their Q4 distribution is variable, so the $.040 that Yahoo Finance quotes as the yearly dividend is not correct. Go to the IR section of the BX website and calculate it from there.
Critics have long accused the potash industry of operating like a cartel to keep prices artificially high. They're now closer to having their day in court, as a U.S. Court of Appeals rules an antitrust suit against potash producers can proceed - likely to play out over a long time, with no one sure where it will go. POT, AGU and MOS could face total damages of $2B-$6.5B if they lose. [View news story]
Gas stations are regulated as to when they are allowed to raise prices, and by how much they can raise them by.
Critics have long accused the potash industry of operating like a cartel to keep prices artificially high. They're now closer to having their day in court, as a U.S. Court of Appeals rules an antitrust suit against potash producers can proceed - likely to play out over a long time, with no one sure where it will go. POT, AGU and MOS could face total damages of $2B-$6.5B if they lose. [View news story]
The Canadian companies are listed on US exchanges, so they are required to follow US laws. To my knowledge, the Russian and Belarus companies do not trade here, and thus are not required to follow US law.
Critics have long accused the potash industry of operating like a cartel to keep prices artificially high. They're now closer to having their day in court, as a U.S. Court of Appeals rules an antitrust suit against potash producers can proceed - likely to play out over a long time, with no one sure where it will go. POT, AGU and MOS could face total damages of $2B-$6.5B if they lose. [View news story]
I dont follow you. Do you mean gas stations, or mechanics like a Firestone or Jiffy Lube? Most gas stations buy from the refiners, which are no longer owned by the oil producers (in most cases), so I don't think anyone there is controlling the flow of oil from Iraq, and Im not sure what the mechanic that changes peoples car oil has to do with Iraq.
If you are referring to the international price of oil, we have already agreed OPEC is a cartel.
GE has halted the build-out of a Colorado thin-film solar plant it announced last October for 18 months, and is reportedly laying off employees. GE had promised to invest $600M in the plant, meant to represent its return as a major solar manufacturer, but bleak industry conditions apparently made the company delay its plans. The halt is a positive for thin-film rival First Solar (FSLR), which has had an ugly 2012. [View news story]
The low price of natural gas makes every electricity source that isn't natural gas fired too expensive. GE should have gotten a power purchase agreement, sold bonds against the cash flow, and made a decent return. BP and Google are doing it, why cant GE?
Critics have long accused the potash industry of operating like a cartel to keep prices artificially high. They're now closer to having their day in court, as a U.S. Court of Appeals rules an antitrust suit against potash producers can proceed - likely to play out over a long time, with no one sure where it will go. POT, AGU and MOS could face total damages of $2B-$6.5B if they lose. [View news story]
Potash, Mosaic, and Agrium are all US listed companies. OPEC is a country. The US does not need to invade Canada to force those companies to stop acting as a cartel. The Federal Government can prosecute companies, fine them, collect that fine, and prevent the price collusion from occurring. They could prosecute OPEC, but its going to be very hard to collect the fine, and without military force, impossible to prevent OPEC from continuing to exist.
And the article says fines could be in the $2.5-$6 billion dollar range. That's enough to do some damage to shareholders, if it turns out to be true.
Name another cartel that a US listed company participates in, and the US government does not prosecute. This will prove your point that this is just "a political witchhunt on the part of the Obama administration".
Here are two articles about other price fixers who have been fined in the US, the airlines and TV makers:
Blackstone (BX) gets into the residential landlord business, buying up $250M worth of foreclosed single-family homes with the intention of renting them out, according to sources. The firm joins what can now be called a mad rush of deep-pocketed investors trying to take single-family rentals out of the mom-and-pop category and into a major asset class. [View news story]
I'm more worried about maintaince and the vacancy and collection loss rates. I'd imagine both are going to be higher than a standard apartment building, so its going to cut into the cap rate.
In a note titled “Wall Street Proclaims the Death of Equities,” BofA Merrill Lynch strategist Savita Subramanian says the average equity allocation is at 49.3%. This is the first it's been below 50 in nearly 15 years, which suggests that sell-side strategists are now more bearish on equities than they were at any point during the collapse of the tech bubble or the recent financial crisis. For many, including Subramanian, this bearish sentiment is a contrarian sign that a turnaround is near. [View news story]
That's a very good point, and one I would like to see factored in.
The first group (9) of large banks have submitted their so-called living wills to the Fed and they've been made available to the public. Required by Dodd-Frank, the documents are supposed to lay out how the giants could be wound down in bankruptcy in event of material financial distress or company failure. [View news story]
Who are they kidding, all these plans should just say TARP 2020.
JPMorgan (JPM) is downgraded to Hold from Outperform by Meredith Whitney's group. The stock was sharply lagging its TBTF brethren today, but is catching up, now -0.3%. [View news story]
Remember 3 months ago when everyone seemed to think that JPM could do no wrong? Didnt take long for a change in perception.
Blackstone (BX) gets into the residential landlord business, buying up $250M worth of foreclosed single-family homes with the intention of renting them out, according to sources. The firm joins what can now be called a mad rush of deep-pocketed investors trying to take single-family rentals out of the mom-and-pop category and into a major asset class. [View news story]
All US housing is subsidized. That's the whole problem. Fannie, Freddie, the mortgage interest deduction on your taxes, all exist to lower the cost of housing.
The number of U.S. businesses and consumers filing for bankruptcy fell by 14% to 632,130 in H112, and could end the year at the lowest level since before the 2008 financial crisis, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute's Samuel Gerdano. He attributes the decline to low interest rates, which have been kept at rock-bottom levels by the Fed since the crisis began. [View news story]
Critics have long accused the potash industry of operating like a cartel to keep prices artificially high. They're now closer to having their day in court, as a U.S. Court of Appeals rules an antitrust suit against potash producers can proceed - likely to play out over a long time, with no one sure where it will go. POT, AGU and MOS could face total damages of $2B-$6.5B if they lose. [View news story]
Agrium has retail locations all across the Great Plains/ Corn Belt in the US. http://bit.ly/NEeOuk
Is a secondary offering in the offing for American Capital Mortgage (MTGE +1.6%)? At $24.73, shares are trading at a 13.5% premium to the last stated book value (March 31). At that sort of spread, the only question regarding a large secondary seems to be when? (via Dividend Master) [View news story]
Blackstone (BX) gets into the residential landlord business, buying up $250M worth of foreclosed single-family homes with the intention of renting them out, according to sources. The firm joins what can now be called a mad rush of deep-pocketed investors trying to take single-family rentals out of the mom-and-pop category and into a major asset class. [View news story]
Critics have long accused the potash industry of operating like a cartel to keep prices artificially high. They're now closer to having their day in court, as a U.S. Court of Appeals rules an antitrust suit against potash producers can proceed - likely to play out over a long time, with no one sure where it will go. POT, AGU and MOS could face total damages of $2B-$6.5B if they lose. [View news story]
Critics have long accused the potash industry of operating like a cartel to keep prices artificially high. They're now closer to having their day in court, as a U.S. Court of Appeals rules an antitrust suit against potash producers can proceed - likely to play out over a long time, with no one sure where it will go. POT, AGU and MOS could face total damages of $2B-$6.5B if they lose. [View news story]
Critics have long accused the potash industry of operating like a cartel to keep prices artificially high. They're now closer to having their day in court, as a U.S. Court of Appeals rules an antitrust suit against potash producers can proceed - likely to play out over a long time, with no one sure where it will go. POT, AGU and MOS could face total damages of $2B-$6.5B if they lose. [View news story]
If you are referring to the international price of oil, we have already agreed OPEC is a cartel.
GE has halted the build-out of a Colorado thin-film solar plant it announced last October for 18 months, and is reportedly laying off employees. GE had promised to invest $600M in the plant, meant to represent its return as a major solar manufacturer, but bleak industry conditions apparently made the company delay its plans. The halt is a positive for thin-film rival First Solar (FSLR), which has had an ugly 2012. [View news story]
Critics have long accused the potash industry of operating like a cartel to keep prices artificially high. They're now closer to having their day in court, as a U.S. Court of Appeals rules an antitrust suit against potash producers can proceed - likely to play out over a long time, with no one sure where it will go. POT, AGU and MOS could face total damages of $2B-$6.5B if they lose. [View news story]
And the article says fines could be in the $2.5-$6 billion dollar range. That's enough to do some damage to shareholders, if it turns out to be true.
Name another cartel that a US listed company participates in, and the US government does not prosecute. This will prove your point that this is just "a political witchhunt on the part of the Obama administration".
Here are two articles about other price fixers who have been fined in the US, the airlines and TV makers:
http://huff.to/LQFs2N
http://reut.rs/P90q4w
And the Spring 2011 update from the DOJ listing price fixing settlements and fines
http://1.usa.gov/LQFtnn
Blackstone (BX) gets into the residential landlord business, buying up $250M worth of foreclosed single-family homes with the intention of renting them out, according to sources. The firm joins what can now be called a mad rush of deep-pocketed investors trying to take single-family rentals out of the mom-and-pop category and into a major asset class. [View news story]
In a note titled “Wall Street Proclaims the Death of Equities,” BofA Merrill Lynch strategist Savita Subramanian says the average equity allocation is at 49.3%. This is the first it's been below 50 in nearly 15 years, which suggests that sell-side strategists are now more bearish on equities than they were at any point during the collapse of the tech bubble or the recent financial crisis. For many, including Subramanian, this bearish sentiment is a contrarian sign that a turnaround is near. [View news story]
The first group (9) of large banks have submitted their so-called living wills to the Fed and they've been made available to the public. Required by Dodd-Frank, the documents are supposed to lay out how the giants could be wound down in bankruptcy in event of material financial distress or company failure. [View news story]
JPMorgan (JPM) is downgraded to Hold from Outperform by Meredith Whitney's group. The stock was sharply lagging its TBTF brethren today, but is catching up, now -0.3%. [View news story]
Sunoco: Carlyle Refinery Deal Signals A Turnaround [View article]
Blackstone (BX) gets into the residential landlord business, buying up $250M worth of foreclosed single-family homes with the intention of renting them out, according to sources. The firm joins what can now be called a mad rush of deep-pocketed investors trying to take single-family rentals out of the mom-and-pop category and into a major asset class. [View news story]