Bloomberg:
- Homebuilder Confidence Holds at Lowest Level in a Year as Tax Credit Ends. Confidence among U.S. homebuilders in September unexpectedly held at the lowest level in more than a year, showing the housing market remains depressed following the expiration of a government tax credit. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo confidence index was unchanged at 13, matching the August reading as the lowest since March 2009, data from the Washington-based group showed today. The gauge was projected to rise to 14, according to the median forecast of 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. “It’s hard to see where the impetus for growth for housing is going to come from,” said David Semmens, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank in New York who forecast the index would be unchanged. “The employment situation keeps people very much on the back foot and remaining in their existing homes.”
- Harvard's Feldstein Favors Extending All Bush-Era Tax Cuts for Two Years. Harvard University economics professor Martin Feldstein said raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans could push the nation back into a recession and urged that all Bush-era tax cuts be extended for two years. Feldstein, a member of the committee that dates the beginning and end of recessions, said President Barack Obama’s proposal to allow tax cuts for the wealthy to lapse “is going to slow the economy down and could push the economy into recession again next year.” “We should extend all of the Bush tax cuts for two years and we will have a clean slate and see where the economy is,” Feldstein said today in a radio interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene. “We should commit now to two years -- and nothing beyond the two years.”
- Mr. President, Here's My Resume, Where's My Job?: Caroline Baum. Asked whether President Barack Obama has a clear plan for creating jobs, 53 percent of the respondents to a recent New York Times/CBS poll said no.
- IBM's(IBM) $1.7 Billion Netezza(NZ) Deal May Spur Bids for Data-Warehousing Company. International Business Machines Corp.’s $27-a-share deal to acquire Netezza Corp. pushed the stock above that level, suggesting investors may expect a competing bid for the analytics-technology provider. IBM, the world’s largest computer-services provider, struck a cash deal worth about $1.7 billion, IBM said in a statement today. The per-share price is 9.8 percent more than Marlborough, Massachusetts-based Netezza’s Sept. 17 closing price.
- Warren, Geithner Look Past Tensions to Shaping Consumer-Protection Agency. Elizabeth Warren, appointed last week to help set up a new U.S. consumer financial-protection agency, spent much of the past two years critiquing Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner. Now, he will oversee her. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a watchdog for products from credit cards to mortgages, may be shaped as much by Warren’s ability to work with Geithner as by the financial firms and industry critics trying to steer its agenda.
- Obama Says China Hasn't Taken Steps It Agreed Upon to Let Yuan Strengthen. President Barack Obama said China hasn’t done “everything they said would be done” to allow its currency to rise in value. The yuan is “valued lower than market conditions say it should be” and that gives China “an advantage in trade,” the president said ahead of scheduled talks with Premier Wen Jiabao at this week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York.
- Individual Investors May Be Returning to U.S. Stock Market, Bespoke Says. Individual investors may be moving back into stocks, as gains in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index this month occur at the start of the trading day, the time when they enter most transactions, Bespoke Investment Group LLC said. The S&P 500’s average hourly change between the prior close and 10 a.m. is 0.45 percent, higher than the 0.18 percent that occurs in the next 60 minutes until 11 a.m., according to a Sept. 17 report sent to clients by Bespoke. The difference during the remaining one-hour segments of a session is less than 0.1 percent.
- PBOC Researcher Says China Needs Higher Mortgage, Fixed-Term Deposit Rates. China should raise mortgage rates and allow fixed-term deposit rates to float higher to curb inflation expectations, said Ji Min, an official at the central bank’s research bureau. Mortgage rates are too low, fueling asset bubbles and increasing lending risks, Ji wrote in the latest edition of China Finance magazine in an article co-authored by Chang Li from Tsinghua University. Negative real interest rates prompted households to divert savings to wealth management products and other investments this year, leading to rapid price gains for property, gold and agricultural products, Ji and Chang said.
Wall Street Journal:
- New Smog Proposals From EPA Draw Fire. A proposed crackdown on smog by the Environmental Protection Agency is fueling resistance from businesses groups concerned about costs, Republicans who say it'll be a drag on the economy—and some heartland Democrats engaged in tough election battles this fall. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has dramatically stepped up the pace and scope of regulatory activity since 2009. She has pushed sweeping rules to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions linked to climate change, challenged coal companies over their mining practices, and questioned the methods energy companies are using to drill for natural gas. Now Ms. Jackson is proposing to redefine what constitutes unsafe levels of ground-level ozone, a primary ingredient in smog.
- China's SAIC Motor Considers Stake in GM. China's biggest auto maker is considering buying a stake in General Motors Co. when the U.S. company reverts to a publicly traded concern this fall, people familiar with the matter said.
- Islam's Encounters With America. A survey by Elaph, the most respected electronic daily in the Arab world, saw 58% object to the building of the WTC mosque.
- Poll: Extend Bush Tax Cuts, Say Americans Worried About Economy. Ninety percent of Americans are concerned about the economy, according to a new CNBC poll, and two-thirds of those surveryed think neither Democrats nor Republicans have a clear vision for improving it. The poll by Public Opinion Strategies/Hart Research was conducted between September 9 and 12. A majority of the respondents believe the Bush tax cuts should be extended, even for people making more than $250,000 a year. Fifty-five percent think increasing taxes on any Americans will slow the economy and kill jobs.
- Recession Over? Who Cares? Commentary: Economy is still in a world of hurt.
- Gold futures traded at a new record high Monday, climbing above $1,280 an ounce as investment demand for the precious metal strengthened.
- China Says It Won't Repeat Japan's Mistake. China pledged not to repeat Japan’s mistake and allow its currency to rise in response to foreign pressure, countering criticism from U.S. lawmakers that the yuan is undervalued amid a growing cross-Pacific row over Beijing’s currency regime.
- 5 Stocks Insiders Are Buying Like Crazy Right Now.
- The 7-Million Housing Shadow Inventory Could Trigger A Price Avalanche.
LA Times:
- Investors Seeing Farmland as Safer Bet Than Stocks. Wary of fluctuations on Wall Street, more wealthy Americans, private funds and foreigners are putting money into parcels of cornfields, fruit orchards and other U.S. agricultural products.
- Boston Area School Segregation Called Rife. Public schools in the Boston and Springfield metropolitan areas are among the most segregated in the country, often isolating black and Latino students in low-performing schools, according to a report released today by Northeastern University.
Gallup:
Rasmussen Reports:
- Daily Presidential Tracking Poll. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-five percent (45%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19 (see trends).
- 56% in Illinois Favor Repeal of Health Care Law.
- Is America Now Afraid of Ambition?
- White House: New York Times Report '100% Wrong'. The White House is pushing back hard against a New York Times report that the president's political team is considering a national ad campaign that would cast the GOP as taken over by tea party extremists.
- EU, IMF Assure Investors On Greek Aid: Source. Greece's international lenders assured investors this week that they would not abandon Athens at the end of a 3-year bailout plan if it fulfilled tough reforms but failed to regain market trust, a source told Reuters on Sunday.
- U.S. Commercial Property Prices Down 3.1% - Index. U.S. commercial property prices fell 3.1 percent in July as a weak economy and fears of deflation drove the index measuring prices down to more than 43 percent below its peak, according to the Moody's/REAL All Property Type Aggregate Index released on Monday.
- Long-Term Increase in US Unemployment 'Possible', Warns OECD. Millions of Americans risk falling out of the job market forever, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has warned, as it cautioned a full recovery from recession will take years. The recession has left the US with a long-term unemployment rate – a measure of those without work for more than six months – of 4.5pc, almost double that of the 1980s and 1990s downturns. "Previous US recessions have exhibited no long-term damage to the economy or long-term increase in unemployment, but it is possible this recession will trigger these effects," the OECD said in its first survey of the world's biggest economy since late 2008.
- Austerity Plan Helps UK Retain Top AAA Rating. Moody's retained its top AAA rating on the Britain saying the country can withstand economic challenges, giving the Coalition's austerity plans a boost and lifting shares.
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