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Thursday, October 16, 2014

What Some Of Us Will Be Talking About Friday -- October 16, 2014

Updates

October 17, 2014: there you have it -- housing starts beat expectations.
US housing starts rebounded at the end of the third quarter, reflecting mostly strength in apartment construction, while key single-family starts remain subdued.
Builders broke ground on 1.017 million new construction sites in annualized terms in September, 6.3% more than a month earlier, slightly above the expected 1.008 million housing starts and following a fractionally revised 957,000, data from the Department of Commerce showed on Friday.
Authorities issued 1.018 million new permits for construction, also mildly better than the expected 1.03 million, up from 1.003 million in August.
The data is known for its high volatility - all the monthly changes reported in September were within the margin of error - and the figures are poised to be revised in subsequent reports. The latest revisions added a net 18,000 starts and 5,000 permits to the tally of the past couple of months.
Also, September marked the third time this year that the number of starts exceeded 1 million.
Original Post

San Francisco Giants headed for the World Series. Will play Kansas City Royals. First game Tuesday.

Watch for this tomorrow, Friday: housing starts. WSJ estimates exactly one million -- which, if it happens, will impress investors.

Mortgage rates fell to their lowest level since June, 2013 -- rates are now below 4%.

The Wall Street Journal

Top story, page 1: growth fears grip a divided Europe.

Manufacturers, employers remain steady amid tumult; US economic activity appears to be holding steady ...

Los Angeles school superintendent resigns .... amid criticism over the rollout of an ambitious plan to put a personal computing device in the hands of every student in LA.

VP Biden's son Hunter discharged from the US Navy.  (actually US Navy Reserve)

Frustrated Hispanic voters likely to sit out this year's midterm election. My hunch another ethnic group will do likewise -- it's hard to stand in line to vote for some old white man regardless of what party you belong to ... [Update: I posted this October 16, 2014. It was my opinion that the US black / African-American population will not show up in force for the mid-term election. Two days later, October 18, 2014, for the Sunday, October 19, 2014, edition of paper, The New York Times does the story!]

Lots of stories on Ebola..... probably a good night to watch Kill Bill, Mulholland Drive, and Pulp Fiction.

Ebola scare on Air France flight to Madrid. Traveler had recently been in West Africa.

Here we go: some EU countries would likely suffer serious -- repeat, serious -- natural gas shortages if Russia cut off all its gas deliveries for six months -- Russia won't do that -- but it will certainly charge full price -- I suppose EU has laws against gouging....

Gulf states will oppose OPEC output cut ....

The plunge in oil prices and rise of ISIS have emerged as wild cards in the international diplomatic effort aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program --

Barbie's smile fails to mask sagging results at Mattel. Quick: name the world's largest toy company (it was posted on the blog not too long ago).

Apple unveils new iPad, iMac, Mini.

Story on Chesapeake selling wells, acreage in the Marcellus/Utica -- reported earlier.

Delta Airlines which has more flights to Africa than any other US airline says bookings to not reveal any effect from Ebola fears.

ObamaCare improves earnings for UnitedHealth.

Bargain hunters are pouncing on panic.

Goldman posts stronger results -- 3Q14 net income jumped almost 50%.

Warren Buffett's "huge mistake" on Tesco PLC just got smaller

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The Los Angeles Time

No end to drought seen in this winter's rain forecast.

Mother sentenced to four years in prison for drowning of two children. One can assume she will be out in a year or less on good behavior. What a travesty.

Ice age: Messenger spacecraft spots ice at Mercury's north pole. For graduates of the American public school system, Mercury is a planet in the solar system. Not only that, it's the planet closest to the sun which is very, very hot this time of year.

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Sixteen Reasons, Mulholland Drive


Sixteen Reasons, Mulholland Drive

2 comments:

  1. Loved the "this time of year" reference regarding Mercury...so much for solar warming!
    Brett

    ReplyDelete

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