According to an article by top journalist John Browne and reported on the Newsmax website,
the financial world was stunned by the fear that Bear Stearns may have to close 2 of its hedge funds which are
heavily invested in some twenty billion of subprime mortgage market instruments.
It appears that a central issue of contention was simply what the Financial Times called “cov-lite” deals.
This is short for dilution, or perhaps exclusion, of various restrictive covenants which have traditionally been generally standard in the lending industry.
Apparently, some hedge funds are using their huge leverage as well as major financial clout to force lenders to lend on conditions which include
small changes made to what is termed the “boiler plate,” restrictive covenants contained in the loan agreements.
This makes sure that the borrower meets certain financial standards on an up-to-date basis. Cash flow coverage of interest payments, margin call levels and debt/equity ratios would be examples.
According to statistics made available by the OECD,
the number of unfilled job vacancies percentage in the United States for quarter one of 2007 was 37.2.
The leading & short term indicators, numbers and projections found here are compiled for several reasons, including data to help investors make
accurate predictions about the overall state of the national economy.
This was the result of a statistical survey of the Dataset of Registered Unempemployment & general Job Vacancies.
Ipenet reports that varying sets of employment numbers paint the same picture: Slow job growth
There are 2 surveys used to measure employment numbers: the payroll survey and the household survey. The payroll survey is perhaps more ideal when it comes to tracking the varying levels & categories of employment as whole, and the household survey measures unemployment and employment-to-population ratios.
According to information from the US Fed News Service,
the number of job gains from opening & expanding private sector establishments was just over eight million, while the number of job losses from closing & contracting establishments. More Data at The Labor & Employment News Blog
Business Employment Dynamics (BED) data series include gross job gains and gross job losses at the establishment level by primary industry sector, plus gross job gains and gross job losses at the company echelon by employer size class
Time to start blogging today.
In a recent article in the highly respected publication ‘The Washington Post’
entitled “Commercial Real Estate Sell-Off Puts Investors in a Tricky Position”
as reported by esteemed journalist Dina ElBoghdady on June 16,
it was noted that in the last 7 years or so, stocks of publicly traded commercial real estate firms had soared over one hundred and sixty percent, which actually far outpacing the wider market.
Then in the early part of the current year, the shares simply slipped, dropping around fourteen percent rouphly since the early part of February.
Why is this, many are asking? Dina and the Washington Post, as well as other trade journals and newspapers can only speculate on this.
However, it is quite obvious that many investors are simply grabbing their money and running, despite the fact that commercial real estate stocks are considered a staple of a well-balanced portfolio by many financial and investing experts & analysts.
These shares are usually considered to be a sort of hedge against inflationary pressures since investors can collect some sizeable
dividends which then actually tend to increase in the higher inflation time periods as landlords raise their rents (is that cynical, do you think?)
Als, after real estate assets go up in value, the investors get a share of the profit after the properties are eventually sold.
So what is the best course of action for most individuals who are playing the game right now but don’t want to lose their shirt?
Well, for smaller investors, the article goes on to say, the most affordable and also the most effective method for gaining said exposure to commercial real estate is simply through real estate investment trusts, which are also sometimes referred to as REITs. The majority of the firms involved own a mixture of buildings and such.
Yet certain investors in this game have flat-out confused the housing & commercial sectors, particularly after trouble surfaced earlier in the year regarding subprime home mortgages, which tend to service individuals who have flawed credit & likewise other riskier types. More information can be found over on the Real Estate Blog Just keep to fundamentals while you are building your portfolio. In general, though I think that the market will go well for most individuals in the coming financial quarters.
