“Personal Finance Daily: For millions of homeowners, hope isn't exactly now (Market Watch)” plus 2 more |
- Personal Finance Daily: For millions of homeowners, hope isn't exactly now (Market Watch)
- Bank of Japan expands lending to fight deflation (Washington Post)
- Unicredit Q4 profit slides 27 percent (Washington Post)
| Personal Finance Daily: For millions of homeowners, hope isn't exactly now (Market Watch) Posted: 17 Mar 2010 02:15 PM PDT
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By MarketWatch Don't miss these top stories: How many of us are one job loss or medical emergency away from a home foreclosure? A savings account can drain pretty fast with no income coming in and lots of bills coming due every month. And, while all the happy talk about home-loan modification programs might make you think there's some kind of safety net, the evidence points in the other direction. Just a paltry 5% of eligible homeowners have had their mortgage loans permanently modified through the government's Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP. Read our story today on one family's nightmare struggle to hold onto their home in the face of rising mortgage payments and medical expenses. But, hey, the government agency set up to help struggling homeowners is called Hope Now. If they say there's hope now, it must be so. -- Andrea Coombes, Personal Finance editor One family's nightmare struggle to keep their home
Marianne Gentry, 66, lives with her disabled husband and desperately ill son. And they're about to get kicked out of their home.
Eight things to consider before walking away from your house
Last week I received an email from a desperate couple in Illinois. Here's the edited version of their note: "My wife and I have been struggling, morally, with what to do."
SAVING FOR RETIREMENTHow much are you paying in 401(k) fees?
Some plans charge administrative fees as a percentage of plan assets, so the more you save, the more you pay. Ask your employer for a fee-disclosure form and request low-cost investment options, advises Andrea Coombes.
TAXESAt tax time, adding up medical, dental receipts pays off
Add up your medical and dental receipts and you may find some pain relief in your pocketbook. That's the prescription from accountants, who say that with incomes down and insurance premiums up more Americans are qualifying to take medical and dental deductions on Schedule A of their individual tax returns.
Time is running out to collect '06 refund
Here is a persistent myth about taxes: If you are getting a refund, there is no time limit on how long you have to file your federal income-tax return. That may sound logical. After all, if you don't claim your refund on time, you're just hurting yourself.
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Bank of Japan expands lending to fight deflation (Washington Post) Posted: 17 Mar 2010 03:57 AM PDT In a split decision, the Bank of Japan's policy board decided Wednesday to double the amount available under its short-term lending program to 20 trillion yen ($221 billion) from 10 trillion yen. Introduced in December, the three-month loans at a fixed rate of 0.1 percent are intended to nourish credit flows and reduce longer-term interest rates. The seven-member board voted unanimously to keep its key interest rate at a super lean 0.1 percent. In a statement, it pledged to maintain an "extremely accommodative financial environment" for the time being. The central bank has not changed the overnight call rate target since December 2008, when the policy board lowered it from 0.3 percent. The central bank's expected move came amid growing political pressure to take stronger action to combat falling prices, which threaten to undermine Japan's patchy economic recovery. "The Bank recognizes that it is a critical challenge for Japan's economy to overcome deflation and return to a sustainable growth path with price stability," the central bank said. "To this end, the Bank will continue to consistently make contributions as a central bank." The world's second biggest economy grew at an annualized pace of 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter thanks to robust exports, but that has done little to bolster demand or wages at home. Japan's key consumer price index, which fell for the 11th straight month in January, is expected to keep declining for the next two years. The troubling outlook separates Japan from growing economies elsewhere in Asia, where central banks are winding down stimulus measures and tightening monetary policy. Interests rates are rising in Australia and Malaysia, while central banks in China and India are reducing liquidity to control inflation. Meanwhile, Japan struggles with a familiar foe. The country has battled periods of deflation since the "Lost Decade" in the 1990s. Lower prices may seem like a good thing, but it hamstrings economic growth by shrinking company profits, sparking wage cuts and causing consumers to postpone purchases. It also magnifies debt burdens. The government's ability to counter deflation with increased spending is constrained because of Japan's ballooning debt, the highest among industrialized countries and rising. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has proposed a record $1 trillion budget for the next fiscal year starting April, which will require the government to issue some 44.3 trillion yen ($492 billion) in bonds. With limited room to maneuver on the fiscal policy front, Finance Minister Naoto Kan has repeatedly called on the central bank to do more. He wants deflation gone by the end of the year and has suggested establishing an inflation target. The latest move may appease the government for now. But it falls short of a meaningful fight against deflation, economists say. Richard Jerram, chief economist at Macquarie Securities in Japan, described a temporary increase in liquidity or even a modest interest rate cut as "irrelevant." Japan needs aggressive, government-led changes to shock prices higher, he writes in a recent report. "Japan is in such a deep deflationary hole that marginal policy changes are likely to be ineffective," he said. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Unicredit Q4 profit slides 27 percent (Washington Post) Posted: 17 Mar 2010 02:45 AM PDT The net profit of euro371 million ($509 million) was down from euro505 million a year earlier, but still better than analyst expectations. The bank generated full-year 2009 profit of euro1.7 billion, down 58 percent from the year earlier's euro4 billion profit. The quarterly trend showed a gradual drop in profit throughout the year. The bank proposed a dividend of 3 cents a share, after canceling payments in 2008. Unicredit shares jumped 5 percent to euro2.14 in opening trading on the Milan Stock Exchange. The bank increased its loan loss provisions in the fourth quarter to euro2.1 billion, up 56 percent from euro1.3 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. Income from interest was down 22 percent to euro4.1 billion. The bank said it had shored up its Core Tier 1 ratio, a key sign of a bank's health, to 7.62 percent thanks to a capital increase completed in February. The bank on Wednesday also said it has sold a 2.84 percent stake in the insurer Assicurazioni Generali SpA for euro796 million, or euro18 a share, booking a loss of euro67 million. The divestiture was sought by antitrust regulators following Unicredit's 2007 takeover of Capitalia. Unicredit's board on Tuesday delayed until April a vote on a reorganization plan, with CEO Alessandro Profumo reportedly threatening to step down if the plan were not approved. It would join five banks controlled by Unicredit: Banca di Roma, Unicredit Banca, Unicredit Private Banking, Unicredit Corporate Banking and Banco did Sicilia. Profumo said he was "confident" that the plan would go through. "For me and my team this project is strategic," Profumo was quoted as saying Wednesday by the business daily il Sole 24 Ore. "We are talking about a cultural change at the bank with the objective of making it closer to the customers and improving the quality of services to those we make loans." The newspaper said that one sticking point is a shareholder proposal to appoint a general manager to oversee the bank management, including the CEO. Since his appointment in 1997, Profumo has led the bank's expansion from an Italian entity to an international player with over 10,000 branches in 22 countries, reporting assets of euro929 million at the end of the 2009. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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