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Monday, August 29, 2011

Pending home sales fall in July

The number of purchase contracts signed on previously owned houses declined in July, according to industry data, the latest sign the nation's housing market remains troubled.

The National Assn. of Realtors’ pending home sales index fell to 89.7 last month. That was a 1.3% decline from June, but 14.4% above the July 2010 level.

Contracts are a leading indicator for home sales and most deals close within months of a contract being signed. A level of 100 on the home sale index is equal to the average monthly activity during 2001, which the real estate group considers a historically healthy level.

The nation's housing market has been weak since the expiration of tax credits for buyers in April 2010. This year has been marked by a renewed housing decline with potential buyers concerned over the future of the economy.

Even with the sluggish contract number, the industry group warned that actual sales might even be lower. In particular, short sales -- in which a bank allows a borrower to sell a home for less than what is owed on the property -– take much longer than regular sales and often fall apart easily.

The group blamed the home sale sluggishness partly on the difficulties that less-than-stellar borrowers have getting mortgages.

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Photo: Tract homes in Corona. Credit: Konrad Fiedler / Bloomberg

Does fantasy football affect workplace productivity?

Football teams are gearing up for the start of the season, as are more than 21 million U.S. workers in fantasy sports leagues. But bosses shouldn’t be alarmed, according to one employment consultancy.

Employees may spend as much as nine hours a week perfecting their fantasy drafts before the National Football League kickoff on Sept. 8, said Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. The impact on workplace productivity, however, will be minimal, the firm said.

Challenger actually suggests that employers encourage company leagues to boost morale and output, claiming that “in the long run, this may lead to increased employee retention.” Other research has found that fantasy sports boost camaraderie among employees and networking.

More than 70 million free and paid leagues operate in the U.S. and Canada, with the average player belonging to more than two, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Assn. Membership has spiked 60% in the past four years to 32 million players – with 80% of them involved in football.

And of all full-time workers in the U.S., 19% are fantasy sports players.

A Challenger survey last year found that most fantasy participants didn’t find playing in a league to be very distracting. On a scale of one to 10, where one represented no influence on productivity, nearly 70% of players chose four or below.

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-- Tiffany Hsu

Photo: New Orleans Saints running back Mark Ingram (28) is tripped up by Oakland Raiders cornerback Walter McFadden (22). The Saints will play the Green Bay Packers during the regular season kickoff on Sept. 8. Credit: Cary Edmondson / US Presswire

Immigrant women share family recipes at cooking school start-up

There’s no shortage of cooking schools in California, but there aren’t many like Silicon Valley-based Culture Kitchen, which is focused solely on ethnic food and taught by immigrant women.

The Mountain View culinary start-up, which claims to “use food as a means for cultural exchange,” was founded by Stanford graduate design students Abby Sturges and Jennifer Lopez. The women were inspired by their research trips abroad to Myanmar and Kenya, according to Fast Company.

Courses, taught at venues such as Whole Foods, cost between $40 and $60 and involve recipes passed down through generations.

An upcoming class offers a gastronomic tour of Vietnam, involving rice crepes from the northern part of the country, coconut and turmeric pancakes from the central area and spring rolls from the southern portion. The instructor, Linh, hails from Saigon and is a pastry chef by day and credits an “army of aunts” for her cooking skills.

Other chefs were born in Colombia, Mexico, Thailand, Nicaragua and the Ukraine.

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-- Tiffany Hsu

Photo: Vietnamese wraps are the sort of foods taught by Culture Kitchen. Credit: Los Angeles Times.

Stocks rally as consumers spend freely

The stock market is rallying today thanks to U.S. consumers.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 200 points as better-than-expected consumer spending raised hopes that the U.S. economy isn’t about to slide into a new recession.

The market also got an unintended boost as Hurricane Irene proved less damaging that initially feared, pushing up the stocks of insurance companies that will have to foot part of the bill for cleanup and rebuilding. Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. jumped 12.2% and Genworth Financial Inc. rose 7.2%

Investors were buoyed by Commerce Department data showing consumer spending rising 0.8% in July, the biggest jump since February. With personal income increasing 0.3%, the data indicated that consumers cut into their savings to fund their purchases.

Overseas stocks rallied as the announced merger of two Greek banks raised prospects that consolidation can help the country’s battered financial system weather the European debt crisis.

As of 11:59 a.m. PST, the Dow was up 227.69 points, or 2%, to 11,512.23.

The gain helped bring the Dow within 1% of break-even for the year. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Nasdaq composite index each are down about 4% for the year.

But trading volume is very light today. Some people on the East Coast had difficulty getting to work, and activity normally is thin the week before Labor Day.

Stock markets expect to open on time Monday

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-- Walter Hamilton

Photo credit: Associated Press

How big is your bank? Chase, Bank of America duel for No. 1 slot

SNL Financial has compiled a list of the 50 biggest U.S. banks at the end of the second quarter, which shows Bank of America Corp. barely edging out JPMorgan Chase & Co. as the No. 1 U.S. financial institution as measured by assets.

Assets are the loans, securities and other holdings that are supposed to make money for banks -- a category that unfortunately for the banks and the economy has included an awful lot of toxic money-losers these past few years.

As of June 30, BofA had a little more than $2.25 trillion in assets and Chase just under $2.25 trillion, SNL Financial said in a news release Monday. Citigroup Inc. was third with $1.96 trillion. Wells Fargo & Co., the only California-based company near the top, was in fourth with $1.26 trillion.

Chase led in deposits, however, with $1.05 trillion to BofA's $1.04 trillion.

Other California banks on the list included UnionBanCal Corp., a subsidiary of Japan's Mitsubushi UFJ Financial Group Inc., in 22nd place with $80.1 billion in assets; and BancWest Corp., owned by France's BNP Paribas, in 24th place with $74.3 billion in assets. Like Wells, the parents of Union Bank and Bank of the West are based in San Francisco.

Southern California institutions, well down in not-too-big-to-fail territory, include No. 38 OneWest Bank (Pasadena, $26.4 billion in assets); No. 43 City National Corp. (Los Angeles, $22.5 billion in assets); and No. 45 East West Bancorp (Pasadena, $21.9 billion in assets).

Northern California's First Republic Bank (No. 42, $23.8 billion in assets) and Silicon Valley Bank parent SVB Financial Group (No. 50, $19.4 billion in assets) popped up on the list as well.

Bank chiefs seek to reassure investors

Federal Reserve aided all types of California banks during financial crisis

--E. Scott Reckard

Photo: JPMorgan Chase Chairman Jamie Dimon, right, during recent West Coast bus tour, presides over a bank that is No. 1 in deposits and No. 2 in assets. Credit: Los Angeles Times / Gary Friedman

BofA to cut stake in Chinese bank to raise capital

Pushing ahead with its plan to raise capital, Bank of America Corp. has agreed to sell half of its investment in a Chinese bank for $8.3 billion in cash.

The sale of 13.1 billion shares to a group of private investors would cut Bank of America's stake in China Construction Bank to 5% from 10% and raise $3.3 billion after taxes, the bank said Monday. Despite the sale, BofA Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said the companies are discussing an expansion of their "mutually beneficial" strategic ties.

New U.S. and international regulations are pressuring banks to increase their capital cushions against losses. Critics contend that Bank of America needs more than other big banks because its exposure to mortgage losses is so high as a result of its purchase of high-risk lender Countrywide Financial Corp. in 2008.

Moynihan has maintained that the bank can cover its needs by selling non-core assets, cutting costs and retaining earnings. Finance Chief Bruce Thompson said Monday that BofA raised about $5.8 billion in August.

Despite the assurances, Wall Street had been hammering Bank of America until investor Warren Buffett came to the rescue. BofA, a $50 stock for much of 2007, had tumbled to $6.30 last week before Buffett announced that his Berkshire Hathaway would invest $5 billion in the bank.

Bank of America stock closed last week at $7.76 a share, and rose another 47 cents, or 6%, to $8.23 in Monday afternoon trading in New York.

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-- E. Scott Reckard

Photo: A Bank of America branch in Shanghai, China. Credit: Aly Song / Reuters

Do fantasy sports affect workplace productivity?

And of all full-time workers in the U.S., 19% are fantasy sports players.

Is meanness a moneymaker? Nice guys are paid less, study finds

-- Tiffany Hsu

Direct Loans

Monday, August 29, 2011

Pending home sales fall in July

Does fantasy football affect workplace productivity?

Immigrant women share family recipes at cooking school start-up

Stocks rally as consumers spend freely

How big is your bank? Chase, Bank of America duel for No. 1 slot

BofA to cut stake in Chinese bank to raise capital

Do fantasy sports affect workplace productivity?

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