NEW YORK, N.Y.
+%3Cp%3EChina%92s+home+prices+posted+their+worst+performance+this+year+with+more+than+half+of+the+70+biggest+cities+monitored+in+November+recording+declines+after+the+government+reiterated+plans+to+maintain+property+curbs.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3ENew+home+prices+dropped+from+the+previous+month+in+49+of+the+cities+monitored+by+the+government%2C+compared+with+33+posting+decreases+in+October%2C+the+national+statistics+bureau+said+in+a+statement+on+its+website+yesterday.+Only+five+cities+had+gains+in+home+prices%2C+according+to+the+statement.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3E%93Home+prices+will+fall+further+as+the+government%92s+tightening+continues%2C%94+said+Jinsong+Du%2C+a+Hong+Kong-based+property+analyst+for+Credit+Suisse+Group+AG.+%93We%92ll+see+more+small+developers+file+for+bankruptcy+or+sell+off+their+assets+next+year.%94+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+government+said+last+week+it+won%92t+back+away+from+real-+estate+industry+curbs+that+are+damping+home+sales+and+pulling+down+prices.+China+intensified+measures+this+year+by+raising+down+payment+and+mortgage+requirements+and+also+imposed+home+purchase+restrictions+in+40+cities.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3ENew+home+prices+in+China%92s+four+major+cities+of+Shanghai%2C+Beijing%2C+Shenzhen+and+Guangzhou+each+retreated+0.3+percent+from+October%2C+the+biggest+monthly+falls+for+these+metropolitan+areas+this+year%2C+according+to+data+from+the+statistics+bureau.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+eastern+port+city+of+Ningbo+and+Shenyang+in+the+north+close+to+the+North+Korean+border+posted+the+biggest+month-on-+month+declines+of+0.6+percent%2C+while+Guiyang+in+the+southwest+rose+0.2+percent%2C+the+most+among+the+70+cities.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%91Critical+Stage%92++%3Cp%3EThe+gauge+tracking+property+stocks+on+the+%3Ca+topic_url%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Ftopics.bloomberg.com%2Fshanghai-se-composite%2F%22+href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fapps%2Fquote%3Fticker%3DSHCOMP%3AIND%22+density%3D%22full%22+title%3D%22Get+Quote%22+ticker%3D%22SHCOMP%3AIND%22+class%3D%22web_ticker%22%3EShanghai+Composite+Index+%28SHCOMP%29+rose+0.3+percent+at+the+close%2C+the+only+industry+group+that+posted+a+gain+on+the+benchmark+measure.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+figures+came+after+private+data+also+showed+further+signs+of+cooling.+China%92s+home+prices+fell+for+a+third+month+in+November%2C+%3Ca+topic_url%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Ftopics.bloomberg.com%2Fsoufun-holdings-ltd%2F%22+href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fapps%2Fquote%3Fticker%3DSFUN%3AUS%22+density%3D%22sparse%22+title%3D%22Get+Quote%22+ticker%3D%22SFUN%3AUS%22+class%3D%22web_ticker%22%3ESouFun+Holdings+Ltd.+%28SFUN%29%2C+the+country%92s+biggest+real+estate+website%2C+said+earlier+this+month+based+on+its+survey+of+100+cities.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3E%93It%92s+more+and+more+clear+that+home+prices+are+falling+around+the+country%2C%94+said+Shen+Jian-guang%2C+a+Hong+Kong-based+economist+at+Mizuho+Securities+Asia+Ltd.+%93It%92s+still+the+critical+stage+of+China%92s+property+curbs%2C+so+the+government+doesn%92t+want+to+send+any+signals+of+easing+of+those+policies+too+early+as+it+may+reverse+the+trend.%94+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EChinese+developers+will+face+challenges+over+the+next+12+to+18+months+including+slowing+sales%2C+tight+bank+credit+and+downward+pressure+on+prices+and+profit+margins%2C+Moody%92s+Investors+Services+said+in+a+Dec.+15+report.+%3C%2Fp%3E+Vanke%2C+Poly++%3Cp%3ENovember+contract+sales+of+China+Vanke+Co.%2C+the+country%92s+biggest+developer%2C+dropped+36+percent+from+last+year%2C+while+those+by+Poly+Real+Estate+Group+Co.%2C+the+second+largest%2C+fell+28+percent.+Developers+typically+sell+homes+before+they+are+built.+Vanke+shares+were+unchanged+in+Shenzhen%2C+after+falling+as+much+as+2.6+percent%2C+while+Poly+climbed+0.9+percent%2C+reversing+a+1.5+percent+decline.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EExisting+home+prices+in+Beijing+slid+0.7+percent+from+October%2C+while+those+in+Shanghai+retreated+0.5+percent%2C+according+to+the+statistics+bureau.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EChina+faces+slower+growth+in+home+sales+and+construction+next+year%2C+Fitch+Ratings+said+in+a+report+on+Dec.+13%2C+adding+that+smaller+builders+will+be+%93more+vulnerable%94+as+the+government+maintains+its+property+curbs.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EEasing+Measures%3F+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EThe+government+may+ease+its+measures+in+the+second+half+of+next+year+if+home+prices+in+major+cities+include+Beijing+and+Shanghai+fall+20+percent+from+their+2011+peaks%2C+according+to+Mizuho%92s+Shen.+Shanghai%92s+new+home+prices+gained+2.4+percent+from+a+year+earlier+in+November%2C+and+those+in+the+capital+city+added+1.3+percent%2C+according+to+the+statistics+bureau.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EResidential+property+investments+accounted+for+6.1+percent+of+the+country%92s+gross+domestic+product+last+year%2C+according+to+Citigroup+Inc.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EFalling+home+prices+helped+drive+sales+last+month.+Housing+transactions+rose+12+percent+in+November+to+416.4+billion+yuan+%28%2465.7+billion%29%2C+rebounding+from+a+decline+the+previous+month%2C+the+statistics+bureau+said+earlier+this+month.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3EChina%92s+home+prices+may+fall+between+5+percent+and+10+percent+next+year%2C+Kenny+Wu%2C+a+Hong+Kong-based+analyst+at+JI-+Asia+Research+Ltd.%2C+said+before+the+release+of+yesterday%92s+data.+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3E–Bonnie+Cao.+Editors%3A+Linus+Chua%2C+Jim+McDonald+%3C%2Fp%3E+%3Cp%3ETo+contact+Bloomberg+News+staff+for+this+story%3A+Bonnie+Cao+in+Shanghai+at+bcao4%40bloomberg.net+%3C%2Fp%3E++%3Cp%3E%3Ca+href%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloomberg.com%2Fnews%2F2011-12-18%2Fchina-s-november-home-prices-post-worse-performance-this-year-amid-curbs.html%27+rel%3D%27nofollow%27%3ESource%3C%2Fa%3E%3C%2Fp%3E+
What is an effective way to protect a job site from copper thieves and other intruders?
Builders have a dilemma in trying to protect their construction sites. Until there is electrical power to the site, providing easy or cost-effective security protection is difficult. This challenge often leaves job sites with large amounts of copper and supplies unattended, making them easy targets for overnight thefts and vandalism.
Available are wireless, portable and battery-operated alarm systems that operate around the clock. They detect a trespasser on a construction site and are designed to react quickly enough to help catch a vandal in the act because the property owner gets visual verification from a monitoring station.
Ideal to protect vacant property, construction sites, air-conditioning units, storage yards and substations, battery-powered monitoring systems have a motion viewer with a camera that sends a video clip over the cell network to a central station. The video is downloaded and viewed by a trained operator. Operators who detect potential suspicious activity notify police. Officers can be sent to a video-verified event in progress.
These systems help eliminate false alarms caused by traditional security systems. At subdivision construction sites, owners can move the system from home to home as each residence is secured with doors and windows. Battery-powered security systems work much like a typical home system with an alarm code or key fob. The user can keep the system silent to increase the chance of apprehension or have an alarm siren triggered to deter trespassers. The result is fewer false alarms and an increase in apprehension success.
Stronger reports on the job market and manufacturing sent stocks slightly higher Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 45.33 points, or 0.4 percent, to 11,868.81. The Dow lost 360 points over the past three days on worries that Europe’s latest plan to keep its currency union intact would fail.
Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Bank, said the upturn reflects a shift in investors’ attention back to recent signs of strength in the U.S. economy.
“We’re not completely insulated (from Europe), but trouble there doesn’t necessary spell problems for us,” Ablin said.
The number of people applying for unemployment benefits dropped last week to 366,000, the lowest level since May 2008. That’s a sign that layoffs are easing, a first step toward bringing down the unemployment rate, which currently stands at 8.6 percent.
A widely watched index measuring regional manufacturing from the New York branch of the Fed jumped to the highest level since May, far more than economists were expecting. A similar report from the Philadelphia branch also increased faster than analysts anticipated.
“The base of the economy is getting stronger,” said Steven Malin, an associate at money manager Aronson Johnson Ortiz.
FedEx Corp. reported that its quarterly income nearly doubled on strong growth in online shopping during the holiday season. FedEx is seen as a bellwether for the economy. Its stock jumped 8 percent.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 3 no fax payday loans.94 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,215.76. The gains were broad. All but two of the 10 industry groups in the index rose. Utilities and health care rose the most. S&P’s indexes measuring technology and energy stocks edged down less than 0.3 percent each.
The Nasdaq rose 1.70 points, less than 0.1 percent, to 2,541.01.
In corporate news, Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. jumped 21 percent to $24.20 on its first day of trading. The initial public offering valued the fashion design company at $3.8 billion.
Novellus Systems Inc. jumped 16 percent. The semiconductor equipment maker said late Wednesday that it was being acquired by rival Lam Research Corp. Lam fell 8 percent.
Rite Aid Corp. rose 3.5 percent. The drugstore chain announced that losses had narrowed in its third quarter.
European markets rose slightly, a day after big declines, as an auction of Spanish government bonds drew strong demand from investors. Germany’s DAX rose 1 percent; France’s main stock index rose 0.6 percent.
The euro rose against the dollar, moving back above $1.30, a day after hitting an 11-month low. The yields on Spanish and Italian government fell, a sign that investors were less worried about the ability of those countries to pay back their debts.
Olympus Corp. faces a deadline to report revised earnings Wednesday to avoid being removed from the Tokyo stock market after a whistle-blower questioned fees and acquisitions that turned out to be part of a deception to hide $1.5 billion in investment losses.
Former President and Chief Executive Michael Woodford, who has been in the limelight for first raising questions about exorbitant fees and acquisitions, is back in Tokyo to meet investors and legislators, and to try to lead a turnaround at the camera and medical equipment maker.
Woodford, a 51-year-old Briton and a rare foreigner to lead a major Japanese company, was fired in October after going public with his doubts about massive consulting fees on the acquisition of British medical equipment maker Gyrus Group in 2008 and other spending.
He was in Japan last month to meet police and other investigative authorities. He has said he wants to fix Olympus and has expressed hopes shareholders will back him.
Olympus President Shuichi Takayama has said Woodford lacks the right teamwork style to lead the company, although now acknowledges the positive side of Woodford’s whistleblowing. Olympus initially denied any wrongdoing and lambasted Woodford.
No one has been charged in the scandal. But Olympus management has said several top company men were involved in the scheme and has promised to investigate 70 officials, including former and current executives and auditors, to pursue possible criminal charges.
Meeting the Wednesday deadline for a revised earnings report is a must for Olympus to stay on the stock exchange, but it could still be delisted if seriously dubious accounting is found fast cash.
A third-party panel set up by Olympus, including a former Japanese Supreme Court judge, released the findings of an investigation earlier this month, which said top executives who were “rotten to the core” had orchestrated the accounting cover-up spanning three decades.
As of 2003, Olympus had racked up 117.7 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in investment losses dating back to the 1990s, according to the company.
The overpriced fees for financial advice and overvalued acquisitions were part of an elaborate deception utilizing overseas banks and several funds to keep the massive losses off the company’s books, Olympus says.
Japanese magazine Facta was first to report the dubious money.
Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who was behind Woodford’s appointment as chief executive and later his firing, has since resigned as chairman. He is among several executives suspected of knowing about the scheme.
Last month, Olympus dismissed Executive Vice President Hisashi Mori, saying he was involved in the cover-up along with Kikukawa. A company auditor also resigned.
Olympus stock plunged after the scandal broke but has since recouped some of those losses on optimism it might not be booted off the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Brazil’s second largest airline says it has agreed to sell a minority stake in the company to Delta Air Lines.
GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA says in a regulatory filing with the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday that Delta Air Lines Inc. will pay $100 million for a “strategic minority interest” of GOL’s preferred shares.
Gol says the investment will be in the form of American Depositary Shares.
In February, Atlanta-based Delta and Gol entered into a code-sharing agreement that enable Delta to sell seats on 56 GOL flights between Rio de Janeiro or Brasilia and 15 Brazilian destinations.
(This version CORRECTS airline as Delta Air Lines)
Police used batons to disperse opposition activists taking part in a general strike in Bangladesh’s capital on Sunday. A party official said eight people were injured.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is protesting a government decision to divide Dhaka into two administrative zones, a plan they say is aimed at removing the opposition-backed mayor.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Zia’s archrival, says the split is needed to provide better services to residents. Dhaka is a teeming city of 10 million people with poor infrastructure.
Amid an opposition boycott, the government passed a law in Parliament on Tuesday to appoint administrators for the two zones.
Schools and businesses were shut during the daylong general strike Sunday. A few vehicles were moving in the usually clogged streets.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, a senior opposition party official, said at least eight demonstrators were injured in the dispersal, which took place in front of the party’s headquarters.
He said at least 85 opposition supporters were arrested Saturday, the eve of the strike.
“The government has unleashed a reign of terror to frighten opposition activists,” Alamgir told reporters Sunday. “Police are out to halt our peaceful protests.”
Police say their goal is to maintain order, with some 10,000 security officials deployed in the city.
“It is our duty to protect the people and their property,” said Mehedy Hasan, a Dhaka Metropolitan Police official.
Opposition and government supporters clashed briefly in a separate incident Sunday in which several people were hurt, said APTN cameraman Al Emrun Gorjon, who suffered a head injury.
He said the clash broke out after opposition demonstrators hurled stones at a passing bus. Nearby government supporters then clashed with the demonstrators before police arrived, he said.
The Senate unanimously approved tough new sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank amid fears of Tehran developing a nuclear weapon.
The 100-0 vote Thursday was for an amendment to the defense bill. Lawmakers had argued that concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran outweighed reservations about driving up oil prices and hurting Americans at the gas pump.
Sens. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Mark Kirk of Illinois offered the amendment that would target foreign financial institutions that do business with the Central Bank of Iran, barring them from opening or maintaining correspondent operations in the United States easy payday loans. It would apply to foreign central banks only for transactions that involve the sale or purchase of petroleum or petroleum products.
Administration officials cautioned that driving up oil prices could mean more money for Iran.
Plans are afoot to redevelop another of downtown’s biggest empty buildings.
A group of real estate investors from New York and Indiana want to buy the Chemical Building, at Eighth and Olive streets, and turn it into street-level retail and 120 apartments, according to Alderman Phyllis Young.
LandWhite Developers LLC is behind the $34 million project, said Young. They’re seeking $4.2 million in tax increment financing to help fund the deal, and would like to start work next year. An aldermanic committee approved the TIF on Wednesday; it will now go on to the full board.
Jay Landesman, a principal at LandWhite, declined to comment until more details are ironed out.
While the building was nearly half-occupied as recently as 2006, it has sat empty since as redevelopment efforts stalled paperless payday loans. In that year, a Los Angeles-based investment group bought it for $6 million, re-christened it the Alexa, and envisioned luxury condominiums. They filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010, and Centrue Bank foreclosed on the building in March. It is listed for sale at $3.9 million.
Developers are also moving forward with plans to redevelop two other major empty buildings downtown: The Jefferson Arms, on Tucker Boulevard, and one of the Cupples Station warehouse buildings.
A Russian businessman who owns Portsmouth Football Club has been arrested in London in connection with a Lithuanian money laundering probe.
Lithuanian prosecutors had issued a European arrest warrant for 36-year-old Vladimir Antonov, and his Lithuanian partner Raimondas Baranauskas, probing alleged fraud and money laundering at a bank that local authorities say will have to be liquidated.
Prosecutors said Friday that Baranauskas, 53, had also been detained in London. When asked whether Antonov had been been arrested, London police read a statement saying that two men _ age 36 and 53 _ were arrested in response to a Europe-wide arrest warrant.
British officials do not name suspects until they have been charged.
Police say the two men are due to appear in a London court later Friday.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) _ Lithuania’s central bank said it would dismantle a bank controlled by a Russian businessman after regulators discovered large sums of money missing.
Lithuanian prosecutors said Friday that Raimondas Baranauskas, minority owner of Snoras Bank, has been detained in London after they had issued a European arrest warrant on Wednesday.
Prosecutors could not say whether Russian citizen Vladimir Antonov, the bank’s majority owner, was also detained. Antonov is the owner of the Portsmouth football club.
The Bank of Lithuania said late Thursday that the dismantling of Snoras was the best solution for the Baltic state’s financial system and economy, which have been jolted after the bank was nationalized and its operations halted.
Bank chief Vitas Vasiliauskas said should not waste taxpayers’ money trying to help “a plane that won’t fly.”
“There is no other way to solve this situation,” he said.
Hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) are believed to have been siphoned off from Snoras and Latvijas Krajbanka, a subsidiary bank in neighboring Latvia.
Janis Brazovskis, an official with Latvia’s Finance and Capital Markets Commission who was appointed to oversee Latvijas Krajbanka, said Wednesday that Antonov’s failed attempt to acquire the troubled Swedish automaker Saab might have triggered the downfall of the two Baltic banks.
He said that approximately 100 million lats ($200 million) were siphoned from the bank to increase its charter capital and finance Antonov’s investment projects _ including the unsuccessful takeover of Saab.
Deposit holders in both countries are now forced to wait in long lines to withdraw money from cash machines, while companies and municipalities have seen the working capital virtually disappear.
Still, authorities in both Lithuania and Latvia say the two banks’ collapse does not pose a systemic risk since they are mid-sized and the two states have ample reserves to guarantee deposits.
Latvijas Krajbanka was Latvia’s 10th largest bank by assets after it was taken over by regulators on Monday.
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