Late Mortgage Payments Hits a Four Year Low

“Homeowners who took on mortgages well after the housing bubble burst are doing a better job in keeping up with payments, a trend that has helped push the national rate of late payments on home loans to the lowest level in four years.

The percentage of mortgage holders at least two months behind on their payments fell in the fourth quarter to 5.19 percent from 6.01 percent a year earlier, credit reporting agency TransUnion said Tuesday.

The rate hasn’t been that low since December 2008, a time when home prices were sliding, the U.S. economy was in recession and many adjustable-rate mortgages taken out by homebuyers with less-than-perfect credit were in the process of resetting to a higher rate.

Those ARM resets triggered higher payments that many borrowers couldn’t afford, sending late payment rates higher into 2009. In addition, the national unemployment rate was on an upward trajectory in 2008 that would extend well into the following year.

Those are some of the reasons the mortgage delinquency rate didn’t hit its peak of nearly 7 percent until the fourth quarter of 2009, according to TransUnion.

The rate has been trending down since then, aided by a rebound in home sales and rising home prices, which make it easier for borrowers to refinance their mortgages or sell their homes if they lose their jobs or otherwise become unable to make payments….”

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NYSE

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AMEX 

NASDAQ – Pre-Market Ten Most Active Share Volume

As of 2/12/2013 8:43:48 AM

Symbol	Company		Last Sale*	Change Net / %	Share Volume
FB	Facebook, Inc.		$ 27.53	0.73  2.58%	783,927
ZNGA	Zynga Inc.		$ 3.75	0.08  2.18%	666,628
GPOR	Gulfport Energy Corporation		$ 38.52	0.16  0.41%	257,180
QQQ	PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1		$ 67.98	0.03  0.04%	222,490
BBRY	Research In Motion Limited		$ 15.77	0.04  0.25%	214,076
ERIC	Ericsson		$ 12.30	0.13  1.07%	190,100
FOSL	Fossil, Inc.		$ 107.95	0.49  0.46%	185,205
MTGE	American Capital Mortgage Investment Corp.		$ 25.86	0.71  2.67%	170,435
NTAP	NetApp, Inc.		$ 35.65	0.29  0.82%	94,000
GT	The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company		$ 13.37	0.54  3.88%	81,317

CMO, CHK, CBB, DD, FB, GG, GFI, KIM, LVS, MANU, QCOM, RGLD, TSN, URI,

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“Twitter users will be able to pay for products with tweets by using a new American Express payment system integrated onto the microblogging site.

The “Amex Sync” integration allows users who sync their Amex cards with Twitter to buy selected items by including special hashtags.

American Express first launched its original Twitter Sync feature last year, which allowed customers to get discount deals by tweeting hashtags of special offers. Now it has extended the feature to allow payments.

This new arrangement aimed at providing a new source of financing for Twitter, which has so far been largely reliant on advertising revenue.

Understandably, neither Amex nor Twitter will discuss financial terms of their partnership, but Twitter doesn’t rule out taking a cut of future e-commerce sales.

“We’re convinced that commerce is going to be one of the areas (for which) advertisers are going to start using our platform,” Joel Lunenfeld, Twitter’s vice president of global brand strategy, told the Wall Street Journal.

E-commerce has been slow to take off on social networks, with retailers who have tried to use their presence on the sites to stimulate transactions reporting disappointing results….”

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“WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Confidence among U.S. small businesses rose in January as owners anticipated better business conditions in the next six months, despite higher taxes and loominggovernment spending cuts.

The National Federation of Independent Business said on Tuesday its optimism index increased 0.9percentage point to 88.9 last month, pulling further from a 2-1/2 year low hit in November.

The improvement in sentiment came even as a payroll tax cut expired on January 1. Big automatic spending cuts are also set to take hold in March unless the U.S. Congress acts.

Owners’ outlook for business conditions in the next six months improved five points. There were also modest improvements in their views on profits, sales, credit availability and capital investment.

Even more encouraging was a gain in the share of owners creating jobs and those reporting difficulties filling job openings.

However, few owners are convinced this is a good time to expand their operations and there is little urgency to add inventories.”

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“SYDNEY (Reuters) – Moody’s Investor Services on Tuesday said downside risks for the global economy had receded in the past three months, though a number of dangers still remained.

In its latest Global Macro Risk Scenarios report, the ratings agency also said it expected economic growth to be slow in many countries.

“While our central forecasts are little changed, the downside risks have definitely abated over the past three months,” said Colin Ellis, Moody’s Senior Vice President for Macro Financial Analysis.

“However, we still expect a subdued global recovery with sub-trend growth in most advanced economies over the near term, alongside a relatively soft pace of expansion in emerging markets as well.”

The ratings agency expects real growth for the G20 of around 2.9 percent in 2013, followed by 3.3 percent in 2014. It forecast growth in the United States this year, but expected the euro area as a whole to stagnate during 2013.”

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“Coca-Cola Co., the world’s largest soft-drink maker, said fourth-quarter profit rose 13 percent as sales volumes gained in North America.

Net income climbed to $1.87 billion, or 41 cents a share, from $1.66 billion, or 36 cents, a year earlier, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola said today in a statement. Excluding some items, profit was 45 cents a share, compared with the 44-cent average of 13 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Chief Executive Officer Muhtar Kent has restructured bottling operations in the U.S., its most profitable market, to respond to consumer demand for healthier beverages and varied package sizes. The company, which now bottles about 80 percent of its drink volume in the U.S., announced today it was paring the number of distribution regions in its bottling unit.

“Non-carbonated beverages will continue to grow faster than carbonated drinks in North America as Coke broadens its portfolio and consumers increasingly opt for healthier options,”Thomas Mullarkey, an analyst for Morningstar Inc. in Chicago, said before the results. Mullarkey has a three-star rating on the shares, equivalent to a hold.

Coca-Cola fell 0.4 percent to $38.61 yesterday in New York. The shares had increased 6.5 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a 6.4 percent gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Revenue advanced 3.8 percent to $11.46 billion. Analysts estimated $11.5 billion.”

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“Avon Products Inc., the world’s largest door-to-door cosmetics seller, reported fourth-quarter adjusted profit that topped analysts’ estimates as new Chief Executive Officer Sheri McCoytrimmed costs.

Excluding items such as restructuring charges and costs to impair some assets, profit was 37 cents a share, the New York- based company said today in a statement. That exceeded the 27- cent average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

McCoy, who took over in April, is cutting about 1,500 jobs and leaving the South Korea and Vietnam markets as part of a plan to save $400 million by the end of 2015. The company today said it had reduced operating expenses because of lower brochure, overhead and advertising costs.

“Earnings growth will become visible in the second half of 2013 as the strategies of new CEO Sheri McCoy are implemented,” Connie Maneaty, an analyst at Bank of Montreal in New York, wrote in a Feb. 11 note. She rates the shares outperform, the equivalent of a buy.

The net loss widened to $162.2 million, or 37 cents a share, from a loss of $400,000, or breakeven on a per-share basis, a year earlier, the company said. Sales fell 1.4 percent to $2.96 billion. Analysts estimated $3.01 billion, on average.

The shares rose 2.6 percent to $17.28 yesterday in New York. Avon fell 18 percent last year, its third straight annual decline.”

“Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.’s talks with Carlyle Group LP about taking the company private are spurring speculation among investors and analysts that a $50 billion wave of attempted exchange deals in the past three years isn’t over.
The discussions between Nasdaq, the second-largest owner of U.S. exchanges, and Carlyle broke down over price, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The company trades at the second-cheapest multiple relative to earnings among 25 exchanges after U.S. equity trading volume dropped for a third year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Exchange companies have been the subject of takeover bids amid shrinking profits for securities trading, leading to IntercontinentalExchange Inc.’s offer for the NYSE Euronext last month and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd.’s purchase of the London Metal Exchange. Nasdaq Chief Executive Officer Robert Greifeld has been re-organizing business units and reducing expenses after the company’s U.S. cash equity trading revenue fell 21 percent last year.

“You can see the momentum building up again,” Sang Lee, managing partner at Aite Group LLC in Boston, said in a telephone interview. “It’s about firms trying to diversify their revenue and firms trying to expand their global footprint. It’s tough for a public company to set out long-term goals and try to meet those goals without getting hammered every quarter.”

Nasdaq shares rose 3.1 percent to a four-year high of $30.38 yesterday. The shares have soared 22 percent this year. NYSE Euronext is up 51 percent since announcing its deal with IntercontinentalExchange in December. The Bloomberg World Exchanges Index has rallied 10 percent this year, compared with a 6.4 percent gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Carlyle Talks…”

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“Spanish and Italian bonds advanced as the two nations auctioned a total of 14 billion euros ($18.8 billion) of bills, allaying concern that political turmoil in both countries would damp demand for their debt.

Germany’s benchmark 10-year bund yields were about four basis points from the lowest level in more than two weeks. Italian two-year securities rose, paring a four-week decline sparked by speculation elections this month may fail to deliver a governing majority. Spanish Prime MinisterMariano Rajoy, who faces calls to resign amid contested corruption allegations that he denies, said his People’s Party government last year achieved a significant reduction in Spain’s budget deficit.

“The risky issues have dissipated a bit in Italy and Spain,” said Piet Lammens, head of research at KBC Bank NV in Brussels. “Even if there’s an election result in Italy that’s not the best for markets, we don’t expect it to become a new source of crisis. If there are selloffs, probably there will be investors ready to jump in and buy these assets.”

Spain’s two-year note yield slipped nine basis points, or 0.09 percentage point, to 2.70 percent as of 12:01 p.m. London time. The 2.75 percent security due in March 2015 climbed 0.18, or 1.80 euros per 1,000-euro face amount, to 100.11.

The rate on Italy’s two-year notes fell seven basis points to 1.66 percent. It dropped to 1.275 percent on Jan. 10, the least since April 16, 2010, when it reached a record-low 1.273 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Bill Sales..”

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“The world’s major industrial nations sought to soothe mounting fears of a currency war with a pledge to avoid devaluing their exchange rates in the pursuit of stronger economic growth.

“We reaffirm that our fiscal and monetary policies have been and will remain oriented towards meeting our respective domestic objectives using domestic instruments, and that we will not target exchange rates,” the Group of Seven’s finance ministers and central bank governors said in a statement released today in London.

The stance is tougher than the G-7’s last joint comment on exchange rates in 2011 and marks an effort to avoid a 1930s- style spiral of retaliatory devaluations in which weak economies try to boost exports by driving currencies down. It follows an outbreak of concern that Japan’s new campaign to beat deflation is an outright attempt to weaken the yen, an allegation its government again denied today.

The yen pared gains versus the dollar after the statement’s release and as Finance Minister Taro Aso said the G-7 acknowledged Japan is not chasing a weaker yen and that its monetary policy is aimed at reversing a decline in prices. The yen traded at 94.33 per dollar at 10:25 a.m. in London after strengthening as much as 0.5 percent.

No Pressure…”

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“Russia’s central bank refrained from easing borrowing costs after inflation surged to a 15-month high, warning of the threat of faster price growth and defying government calls for lower rates to support the slowing economy.

Bank Rossii held the refinancing rate at 8.25 percent for a fifth month at a meeting in Moscow today, it said in a statement on its website. The move was forecast by 21 of 22 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Price growth will probably remain above the upper limit of this year’s 5 percent to 6 percent target range until the second half, a prolonged run that risks heightening expectations of higher inflation, according to the statement.

Policy makers are resisting growing government pressure to ease monetary policy after economic growth last year slowed to 3.4 percent, the weakest since a 2009 slump. The central bank has a free hand to raise or lower borrowing costs and relies only on its own forecasts in steering policy, First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev has said….”

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“Copper reached a one-week low in London and zinc fell as inventories remained elevated at a time when the world’s largest consumer of both metals is absent from the market.

Copper stockpiles tracked by the London Metal Exchange touched the highest level since November 2011 and zinc inventories stayed within about 4 percent of an 18-year high, figures showed today. Financial markets in China are shut this week for the Lunar New Year holiday. Euro-area finance ministers met yesterday to discuss aid to Cyprus and Greece.

“Most people wait for the Chinese after the holiday,” Pengjiang “Richard” Fu, director for Asian commodities trading at Newedge Group SA in London, said by e-mail today. “Whether they buy or not would be the focus. Major issues include the European finance ministers’ meeting.”

Copper for delivery in three months slid 0.3 percent to $8,174 a metric ton by 10:23 a.m. on the LME. Prices reached $8,166.25, the lowest since Jan. 31. Copper for March delivery fell 0.3 percent to $3.713 a pound on the Comex in New York….”

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“Australia’s dollar reached a more than three-month low as traders increased bets on how much the nation’s central bank will cut benchmark rates, damping demand for the country’s assets.

The so-called Aussie weakened after the Reserve Bank of Australia lowered on Feb. 8 its forecasts for inflation and growth, citing a soft labor market and high currency. It remained lower after dropping yesterday against New Zealand’s dollar as reports in the smaller economy showed new house prices and spending on electronic cards rose.

“The RBA has trimmed inflation and growth forecasts so that puts us in line for at least one or two more rate cuts in the next few months,” said David Greene, a senior corporate currency dealer at Western Union Business Solutions, a global payment services network. “Domestic weakness and lack of flow from a fairly worried offshore market are keeping the Aussie weak.”

Australia’s dollar touched $1.0241, the least since Oct. 23, before trading at $1.0255 as of 4:42 p.m. in Sydney from $1.0256 yesterday, when it dropped 0.6 percent. It slid to 96.33 yen after climbing 1.2 percent to 96.73 yen in New York. It fell 0.1 percent to NZ$1.2266 after declining 0.6 percent yesterday.

New Zealand’s currency traded at 83.64 U.S. cents from 83.53 and declined 0.3 percent to 78.54 yen.

Traders estimate Australia’s Reserve Bank will cut its key rate by 0.49 percentage point over 12 months from the 3 percent rate now, according to a Credit Suisse AG index based on overnight indexed swaps. The gauge showed expectations for 33 basis points of reductions on Feb. 4.

The yield on Australia’s 10-year government bond was little changed at 3.46 percent.

Technical Level…”

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“India’s industrial output unexpectedly slid in December for a second month as demand falters in an economy expanding at the weakest pace in a decade.

Production at factories, utilities and mines fell 0.6 percent from a year earlier, compared with a revised 0.8 percent drop in November, the Central Statistical Office said in a statement in New Delhi today. The median of 29 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was for a gain of 1 percent.

India’s elevated inflation of more than 7 percent has limited the extent its central bank can cut interest rates to boost demand, while an uneven global recovery has hurt exports. Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, who unveils the budget Feb. 28, has pledged spending curbs to ease price pressures amid wider government efforts to encourage a revival in investment.

“This set of data is really bad and there is a need to aggressively address risks to growth,” said Rupa Rege Nitsure, an economist at Bank of Baroda in Mumbai. The report adds to the case for a reduction in borrowing costs, though the magnitude of cuts depends on the path of inflation, she said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has stepped up efforts to spur the economy since mid-September, opening industries such as retail and aviation to more foreign investment and setting up a panel to speed up infrastructure projects. India has also eased caps on capital inflows and moved to limit fuel subsidies.

The rupee has risen about 2.8 percent against the dollar since then, while remaining 8.4 percent weaker in the past year. The currency was down 0.1 percent to 53.925 as of 12:49 p.m. in Mumbai, while the BSE India Sensitive Index climbed 0.3 percent. The yield on the 8.15 percent note maturing June 2022 rose two basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 7.88 percent.

Inflation Risks…”

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“Indonesia kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a 12th meeting as a depreciating currency and inflationary pressures reduce scope for an addition of monetary stimulus to spur a slowing economy.

Bank Indonesia Governor Darmin Nasution and his board held the reference rate at a record-low 5.75 percent, the central bank said in Jakarta today. The decision was predicted by all 17 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy is facing rising price pressures from higher power tariffs, an increase in minimum wages and as a weakening rupiah raises the cost of imported goods. At the same time, the economy grew at the slowest pace in more than two years last quarter as an export slump countered gains in domestic consumption.

“The current rate is friendly for capital markets, bonds and to support growth,” Branko Windoe, head of treasury at PT Bank Central Asia, said after the decision. “By keeping the rate, Indonesian 10-year bonds are more attractive compared to other countries. Indonesia remains an investment destination and it will have a positive impact on the rupiah.”

The government’s 11 percent notes due October 2014 advanced, pushing the yield down by three basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 4.40 percent as of 3:24 p.m. in Jakarta, prices from the Inter Dealer Market Association show. That was the biggest drop since Feb. 6….”

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“North Korea conducted its third nuclear test today and warned of further action, underscoring a disregard for an international community that has already isolated the totalitarian state from the global economy.

The underground test “of a smaller and light A-bomb” was successful, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a statement. South Korea measured an artificial 4.9 magnitude earthquake at the North’s Punggye-ri testing site at 11:57 a.m. local time, and its Defense Ministry estimated the yield at 6 to 7 kilotons, bigger than the previous two tests. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a yield of about 15 kilotons…”

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“The yen weakened against the euro as Finance Minister Taro Aso said the Group of Seven acknowledged Japan isn’t targeting the exchange rate with its economic policy. European stocks were little changed, while South Korean shares fell after North Korea conducted a third nuclear test.

The yen slipped 0.2 percent per euro at 7:40 a.m. in New York. The pound sank 0.4 percent versus the dollar as U.K. inflation last month held at the highest since May. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index swung between gains and losses and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures slipped less than 0.1 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index closed 0.3 percent lower, erasing a 0.4 percent advance. The yield on Spain’s 10-year bond fell 11 basis points to 5.31 percent. Corn slumped for an eighth day, the longest losing streak since March 2010.

Aso told reporters in Tokyo that Japan’s monetary policy is aimed at combating deflation and doesn’t have a yen target. The G-7 nations reaffirmed their commitment to market-determined exchange rates, according to a statement issued by finance chiefs and central bankers. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean- Claude Juncker said there was no optimal rate for the euro.

“There was nothing in the G-7 statement to make markets think Japan is about to come under concerted international pressure to do an about-face,” said Daragh Maher, a currency strategist at HSBC Holdings Plc in London. “The yen will weaken a little more.”

Euro Gains…”

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