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Articles
Fed Move on Debt Signals Concern About Economy, NYT
“We’re in a lousy middle between the economy picking up on its own and falling off a cliff,” said Cathy E. Minehan, a former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. “And that makes policy-setting really hard.”
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials, acknowledging that their confidence in the recovery had dimmed, moved again on Tuesday to keep interest rates low and encourage economic growth. They also signaled that more aggressive measures could follow if the job market and other indicators continued to weaken. With short-term interest rates already close to zero, the Fed’s policy makers have relatively few tools available to encourage consumer and corporate spending. So they now plan to use the proceeds from the Fed’s huge mortgage-bond portfolio to buy long-term government debt. That action may put downward pressure on long-term interest rates and stimulate borrowing. For consumers, it means mortgage rates are likely to remain at record lows for some time.
By Sewell Chan, August 10, 2010, NYT
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2Q 2010 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview, Miller Samuels
Excerpt "…The number of sales was up sharply from the
same period last year. There were 582 sales in the second quarter, up
89.6% from 307 sales in the same period last year and up 19.8% from 486
sales in the prior quarter. This is consistent with the 5-year quarterly
average of 559 sales. There were 2,190 listings at the end of the
second quarter, 4.2% below the 2,286 in the same period last year and
5.5% below the 2,318 in the prior quarter. Listing inventory was 13.5%
above the 5-year quarterly average of 1,894. The combination of rising
sales and falling inventory resulted in a decline in monthly
absorption, the number of months to sell all listing inventory at the
current pace of sales. The monthly absorption rate was 11.3 months,
approximately half the 22.3 month absorption rate in the same period
last year…"
The 2Q 2010 Hamptons/North Fork Market Overview that I author for Prudential Douglas Elliman was released today.
Posted by Jonathan J. Miller of Miller Samuels, July 22, 2010
Link to article
Billionaire Wyly Brothers Long Suspected of Tax Evasion, NYT
WASHINGTON — Sam and Charles Wyly have long cultivated an image as active philanthropists, funneling millions of dollars to arts groups, colleges, literacy programs and animal shelters.But government investigators have suspected for years that the
billionaires from Dallas had a less community-minded goal: avoiding taxes. Along the path they chose for structuring their business interests, they have engaged in a $550 million securities fraud, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a civil complaint filed on Thursday.A substantial portion of the Wyly brothers’ money has been stowed for years in a complex web of offshore companies and trusts whose purpose is to minimize the tax bills, according to a 2006 Congressional investigation into tax havens.The trusts, which have sheltered assets worth at least $750 million at various times, have owned mountain ranches in Aspen, Colorado, a million-dollar painting of Benjamin Franklin, a $750,000 emerald necklace and antique furniture — all of which the Wylys were able to use on loan from the trusts.By Edward Wyatt, July 31, 2010 NYT
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Wall Street Rises, Aided by Report of Hiring, NYT
Shares on Wall Street rose slightly on Wednesday after a reading on private employment showed a modest pickup in hiring....
The payroll company ADP said private employers ramped up hiring slightly in July. ADP saidprivate employers added 42,000 jobs last month. That was slightly better than the 40,000 jobs predicated by economists polled by Thomson Reuters.The ADP report is considered a gauge for the Labor Department’s monthly employment report on Friday. High unemployment remains the biggest obstacle to a stronger recovery.The data follows the trend seen over the past few months that the economy continues to expand, but at a sluggish pace. Economic reports this week have begun to again overshadow quarterly earnings, which were mostly upbeat. Results that beat forecasts have largely been welcomed by investors because it provides reassurances that while a recovery might be slow, the economy is not falling back into a second recession.
By Associated Press, as read in NYT, August 4, 2010
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Wyly Brothers Face SEC Fraud Charges, WSJ
The brothers used their offshore entities to buy expensive jewelry and
artwork that was kept in the possession of Wyly family members,
according to the SEC. They also used the offshore funds to buy four
properties in Aspen, Colo., and a 100-acre horse farm outside Dallas, as
well as to contribute to charity, it said.
Billionaire brothers Sam Wyly and Charles Wyly hid $550 million in trading profits by using an "elaborate sham system" of offshore entities, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Thursday.The civil suit, following a six-year probe, targets a pair of entrepreneurs in their mid-70s who amassed a fortune over more than four decades through ventures including Michaels arts and crafts stores.The SEC said the Wylys used sham trusts and subsidiaries in the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands to avoid disclosure of their stakes and sales of stock in public companies where they were directors. In one instance, the brothers traded on insider information about an upcoming sale of a company to make a $31 million profit, the SEC alleged."The cloak of secrecy has been lifted from the complex web of foreign structures used by the Wylys to evade the securities laws," said Lorin L. Reisner, deputy director of the SEC's enforcement division.
By Kara Scannell, July 30, 2010 WSJ
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