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Further, the Congress and the administration should make provision for the rapid democratization of housing patterns. Segregation is not consistent with our way of life and our ideals. Every citizen should have free access to the housing market based on his need and his economic capacity, not on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin.
In keeping with the doctrines set forth by the Supreme Court in the school cases and others, all levels of government—Federal, State, and local—should insist that its aid to housing carries with it the requirement of open occupancythat is, availability without discrimination.
No one expects all minority housing problems to be solved in a day. But we cannot be content with the hope that time alone will solve this vexing problem, either; the mere passage of time without determined action to alleviate the situation-shows signs, in fact, of making things worse. More and more new housing is being built for “whites only." New communities are being built for “whites only." The economic progress of minority group members, however, only sharpens the impact of existing discriminatory patterns; a man who can afford good housing but is barred from it has a special and dramatic grievance even over and above that of people who cannot afford to pay.
In conclusion, it is our emphatic belief that the present housing laws are inadequate and too largely directed toward benefitting those who are already most able to pay instead of those who are most in need of help. The amendments to the Housing Act of 1954 proposed by the administration are not objectionable; they would provide improvements, but these would be slight indeed when measured against the Nation's need.
We of the CIO urge this committee to sharpen its pencils and draft a new bill which will implement the public housing goals of the 1949 Housing Act, provide a realistic middle-income housing program, make extensive new housing available to minority families and tighten the ban against discrimination, and finally, reorient our slum clearance and redevelopment programs toward rehousing and new housing for those most in need. We stand eager and ready to aid in these efforts. It is time indeed that the power and prestige of the Federal Government—through its direct expenditures and extension of credit—be utilized more fully to help those whose need is critical—the millions of families whose substandard dwellings now blight not only our urban centers but the very lives as well of the men, women, and children who are forced to occupy them.
CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS,
Washington 6, D. C., April 20, 1955. Hon. John J. SPARKMAN, United States Senate,
Washington, D. C. Dear Senator SPARKMAN: I am very happy to reply to your recent inquiry as to whether the Congress of Industrial Organizations views our present rate of new-home construction as excessive.
The question, are we currently producing enough homes, too many, or too few, can be properly considered only in relation both to the Nation's total housing need and to the effect of the current construction rate on the entire economy.
While new residential construction is reported to be at an all-time high, it still falls far short of meeting the housing needs of the American people. Recent authoritative studies indicate that this country faces an annual new-home need of about 2 million units annually for the next 10 years. This level must be achieved not only to provide homes for new families but also to meet normal replacement requirements, to rebuild units lost because of slum clearance and other public improvements, to accommodate families still overcrowded, and to make it possible to vacate substandard dwellings which are not suitable for rehabilitation. Even the most conservative estimates of America's annual newhome construction needs do not fall below our present rate of performance, a performance which, unfortunately, is still failing to meet the needs of millions of moderate- and low-income families.
It is our view that the well organized and widely disseminated propaganda which depicts our present rate of residential construction as excessive because it exceeds the current rate of new-family formation either is based on ignorance or reflects a deliberate effort to deceive the American people. Surely the rate of new-family formation could be conceived of as a major determinant of the need for new-home construction only there were no need to replace existing substandard structures, no public or industrial programs—or acts of Godwhich destroy thousands of existing structures each year that must be replaced, and no preexisting shortages or overcrowding.
However, even if we had the good fortune not to be confronted with vast slums and millions of deteriorating substandard dwellings, if none of our existing inventory of dwellings were being depleted each year because of fires and other disasters and demolitions resulting from nonresidential construction, and if none of our families lived doubled up, America would still require a new-home construction rate substantially in excess of the rate of new-family formation. This necessity grows out of the fact that our families desire and have a right to achieve a constant improvement in the overall quality of their housing inventory as new technology can produce better homes and as higher incomes afford the means to buy them.
Thoughtful consideration of all factors should dispose for all time of the nonsensical claim that our building rate is too high simply because it exceeds current new-family formation.
If those who charge that the present building rate is excessive were forthright, they would admit that they are not concerned with housing needs at all but rather with housing prices. Actually, they fear that the value of existing properties will fall if the present rate of new-home construction is maintained. Their views are based on the false assumption that the Nation's economic wellbeing is preserved by scarcity, not by abundance. To be consistent, should they not as logically be demanding credit restrictions to discourage auto, appliance, furniture, and other production, as well as the production of dwellings?
Today, the American people fear a decline in economic activity, not an expansion of it. Only a handful of shortsighted individuals who cannot be persuaded that a constantly expanding and prospering America is possible fear rising production and look upon a decline in various segments of our economy as healthy.
The continued growth of the housing inventory of the Nation is not only necessary as an end in itself; it provides, in addition, an important stimulant to our entire economy. Through a sustained expansion in home construction we help to protect existing property values precisely because these values can be stabilized only in an economy of prosperity and high employment. Economic decline, on the other hand, is contagious and will not bypass property values. Economic stagnation would lead to foreclosures, vast governmental outlays to back up FHA guarantees, and other consequences which would adversely affect the well-being of all who now depend on home construction for their livelihood.
Concern is expressed over the amount of outstanding credit which FHA regulations help to stimulate. This credit, however, does not exist in a vacuum. It is backed up by new homes, new neighborhoods, and in many cases entirely new communities. In contrast with the extension of credit which is used simply to force up values, like stock-market loans, for example, housing credit produces new wealth and well-being; therefore, its extension is not in itself a cause of inflation. Its availability on a liberal basis is, in fact, the only means by which millions of moderate-income families can hope to obtain homes of their own. Furthermore, its continued availability is prerequisite to maintenance of economic growth.
People who owe mortgage debts are acceptable credit risks because their debt is secured by the property for which they have borrowed and because their current incomes have been deemed adequate to support the charges for which they have obligated themselves. Assurances that they will be able to continue to meet their obligations can only exist, however, as long as high employment and general well-being characterize our economy. Our concern there fore, should be with a continuing program to aid and encourage home construction for sale and for rent and with the overall economic growth which these programs can so substantially stimulate. Submission to the fears of the prophets of scarcity will not avoid economic disaster; it will assure it. With every good wish, I am Sincerely yours,
WALTER P. REUTHER, President. Senator SPARKMAN. Any questions, Senator Payne? Senator PAYNE. No questions.
Senator SPARKMAN. Thank you very much, gentlemen. We appreciate it.
By the way, there was handed to me a copy of a letter from Walter P. Reuther, president of the CIO. Was it your wish that that be incorporated in the record ?
Mr. FISCHER. Our statement incorporates that.
Next we have the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Mr. Clarence Mitchell, director of the Washington Bureau.
Will you come around, please, Mr. Mitchell? I do not believe you were here when I made the request a little while ago that the full statement of the witnesses be printed in the record and you summarize it. We are budgeting the time to 12 minutes for each presentation. I regret the necessity of doing that, but we only have 30 minutes until the Senate meets and we have 3 more witnesses. We can budget a few minutes over the 30 minutes, but if we make it 12 minutes each we will get by all right.
Minority group housing
STATEMENT OF CLARENCE MITCHELL, DIRECTOR OF THE WASHINGTON BUREAU OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE
Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Yingling, the clerk of the committee, already brought me up to date on that and I will do my best to keep within the time limit.
I am Clarence Mitchell, director of the Washington Bureau of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. I would like to have your permission to incorporate my full statement in the record.
Senator SPARKMAN. Without objection, that will be done at the conclusion of your remarks.
Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee.
We are here today to try to bring into focus the problem that we have in the field of housing among minority groups. On the first page of my testimony we refer to the fact that the Government of the United States is in the incredible position of on the one hand supporting integration in certain aspects of life, such as the armed services, and things of that sort, while on the other hand actively promoting racial segregation in housing. We have some Census figures from the period 1940 to 1950, which spell out the need for housing among people who are classified by the Census as non white. I think if you look at those figures you will see that the nonwhite population is in a much more serious predicament so far as housing is concerned than the white population.
On page 2 we have another significant bit of information which comes also from the Census. That is the fact that in certain metropolitan areas which are studied by the Bureau of the Census it was found that the minority groups, the Negro in particular, were concentrating in the so-called central city or metropolitan areas, while the white population was going out on the fringes of the city.
In Washington, if we would bring that situation right home, we have growing out of that all sorts of curious problems. The fact that the white population is able to move to the outskirts of the city and the Negro population is confined to the central city, leads to argument against home rule. People say, "We do not want to have home rule in Washington because if we do the Negroes will run the city.”
Other people have tried to draw erroneous conclusions from the fact that the white population in the schools is diminishing. They argue the reason why the white population in the District of Columbia is diminishing in the schools is because schools are being integrated and the white people are running away from the colored people.
Unfortunately, all of that is made possible by the Federal Government itself. Our organization has been successful in eliminating the court enforcement of restrictive covenants. Because we have done that it means that the existing housing that is located in the central city area, wherever there is a willing seller and a man who has the money to make the purchase because he has access to a lending institution, can buy a house. That means in the metropolitan areas housing becomes integrated, but in the outlying areas of the city, where the Federal Government poured millions of dollars in for the purpose of FHA developments, and things of that sort, there is where we are kept out and cannot purchase housing because of various kinds of agreements and restrictions.
I would like to call attention specifically to the fact that in Bucks County, Pa., is one of the prime illustrations of the problem I am talking about. "Our legal defense department filed a suit against Mr. Levitt, the builder of Levittown, Pa. They point out in a statement on why this suit was filed, that when completed the Bucks County Levittown development will consist of some 16,000 small homes and will be sold to individual buyers whose mortgages will either be insured by the FHA or guaranteed by the VA.
Further, the lawyers for six Negro veterans who are the plaintiffs, argue that Levitt has a monopoly on all new construction in the community, and he serves the town of Levittown in the Philadelphia area as a public utility. In other words, in the opinion of many people of this committee, I am sure Mr. Levitt is regarded as an outstanding builder. I believe he was down before this committee once last year to tell about how he built all of these wonderful houses. But so far as we are concerned, we who suffer from his policy-which policy he is able to execute with the aid of the Federal Governmentwe regard him as one of the living symbols of the encroachment of the police state in our country. Here you have an individual who is able, by the vast sums of money that the Federal Government puts at his disposal, to erect a Nazi-like pattern in American life by excluding people solely because of their race from a whole community.
I understand it is possible for a dog to get into that community. You can move in there with a dog if you bring him in, but if it is a Negro seeking a house, he cannot get it. It is unthinkable and a disgrace, it seems, that the Federal Government would support that kind of thing without doing something about it.
So far as it appears to us from looking at it, the policy on housing now in effect by the Federal Government would seem to me to be sort of an equivalent of shooting off fireworks to scare away evil spirits. The reason why we say that is we have so many, many pronounceînents from time to time coming out of the Housing and Home Finance Agency about what they are going to do on this question. The latest report is dated May 16 and it comes from Mr. Albert Cole, the Administrator, who says he is going to call 25 representatives of big Negro insurance companies and banks into Washington for the purpose of trying to see what can be done about making more money available for colored housing. Well, what they mean and what Mr. Cole means is that he wants to try to find a way of making more money available for segregated public housing. It will not do anything about the kind of problems that we called atention to in our testimony, such as the existence in Montgomery County, Prince Georges County, Savannah, Georgia, Birmingham, Baltimore, Md., and other cities, where whole new communities are being built with the help of the Federal Government and Negroes are completely excluded.
The charge has been made sometimes by some of the people in Mr. Cole’s agency that our organization in particular never said anything about this problem until the Republicans took control. He said while the Democrats were in we were not as active in prosecuting this housing problem. I would like to submit for the record, if I may, Mr.
I Chairman, a statement which we submitted to Mr. Raymond Foley, who was then Administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, in January of 1952, in which we set forth exactly the same kinds of things we are complaining about today, and the Democrats, just like the Republicans, did not do anything about it either.
So actually, this is a kind of continued story that we are presenting to this committee.
Senator SPARKMAN. Without objection, that will be included in the record.
(The document referred to follows:)
STATEMENT ON HOUSING SUBMITTED TO MR. RAYMOND M. FOLEY, ADMINISTRATOR OF
THE HOUSING AND HOME FINANCE AGENCY, ON JANUARY 11, 1952
There has been a steady and dangerous trend in the application of racial policies by the Housing Agencies of the Federal Government since the United States Supreme Court decided the restrictive covenant cases in May of 1948. When the Court made that decision, it opened the door for colored home seekers to purchase and use property in any neighborhood where there is a willing seller. This has resulted in a steady expansion of the colored population out of the racial ghetto into nonsegregated housing areas in communities such as Los Angeles, Calif; Cleveland, Ohio; Washington, D. C., and Richmond, Va. The chief threat now to this progress in eliminating Negro ghettos comes from the Federal Government itself through the operations of the Housing and Home Finance Agency and its constituent agencies.
Under the slum clearance and urban redevelopment program, colored residents of some areas that will be cleared are being forced to move out while white persons will be the only racial group admitted to the new rental or sales housing to be erected on the cleared site.
The No. 1 illustration of this incredible type of discrimination, with the assistance of the Federal Government, is Baltimore, Md., where there are two areas designated for redevelopment- -one known as the Waverly project and the other in the vicinity of the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
In several cities, public housing projects will be built in areas where colored people have lived for many years but when the new projects are completed they will be designated for white occupancy.


Smartphones have turned into an incredibly useful and complete tool, and making phone calls is just one of them. You can use it to take photos, respond to emails, track your physical activity and your health, do business, look at social media, play games, etc., but also you can use it to manage your finances from anywhere at any time.
Internet banking comes with several advantages that traditional banking does not have. Online banks invest in platforms that are easy to use and offer more features and capabilities. And you can also easily contract for services online.
The possibilities that come with using an online bank are revolutionizing the way people manage their finances. Internet banking has also managed to change the relationship model between banks and customers. In addition to saving time and money, these are the other reasons why more and more people are joining the change.
Benefits Of Using An Online Bank Account
1. Innovation And Progress
It’s not surprising that in this day and age, the time of digital culture, big data, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, and so on, new banks have taken the lead over their competition. The most innovative technologies applied by digital banks (so-called fintech) allow for operations on their websites and mobile apps that are unimaginable in traditional banking.
For instance, due to the lack of physical offices and the preference for electronic resources, online banks are betting on machine learning for virtual assistants to create interactions between technology and customers. This makes for incredible customer service available at any time and from anywhere. Thanks to technology, connections are also reinforced, new forms of payment are enabled through smartphones and everything is automated to ensure that the customer has control without wasting time.
2. Time Efficiency
There isn’t a moment in time when users can’t access their online bank—services are available 24/7. This eliminates the need of making special rearrangements in your schedule just to go to the bank. Furthermore, since it uses Artificial Intelligence assistants, online banking will anticipate your needs and help you resolve any doubts or issues, making your banking efforts even more time-efficient.
Finally, going to a bank branch is a thing of the past, since online banking eliminates the need for that—even if you are abroad. With online banking, you can do everything from your phone and save precious time for other more important things.
3. Cost Efficiency
Internet banking is clearer. By meeting certain conditions, which are often very easy to meet, you can improve the usual price of services and even pay zero commissions. In addition, besides low or no fees and other good conditions that come with internet banking, transfers are usually free if certain simple requirements are met. Finally, everything is very simple to do, and the time saved is also money saved.
Most online banks allow their users to access their bank accounts on different devices, whether it’s their computer, their tablet, or their smartphone. They provide specific designs for each of these devices to make navigation easy.
As they are becoming more and more popular, the competition between online banks is getting bigger and bigger. And, like with any other business, one of the best options they have to stand out from the crowd, is to offer a great user experience and great customer service. Transparency is a huge part of this. In internet banking, users have access to every information they need in detail. And important information like conditions for a contract is completely transparent.
As technology progresses, so does cybercrime. However, internet banks use combinations of different security measures, which make it virtually impossible to hack your online bank account. They use incredibly advanced security software, complex encryption systems, virtual keyboards, tokens, coordinate cards, electronic identification, multi-factor authentication, and so on.
7. Understand Your Finances
Having constant access to your bank account, and being able to see what is going on there at all times, gives you a better understanding of your finances. This can provide you with a better understanding and control, which can help you improve your personal finances. Some online banks will also help you analyze your finances and help you develop saving habits.
Being able to access your bank from your smartphone, instead of going somewhere far from your house, is amazing. And this great convenience, which saves you both time and money, is only one of many benefits that come with online banking. For one, you can access your online bank account from any device at any time and from anywhere. So, no more commuting and no more waiting. You can learn everything and get any information you need right there on the bank’s platform.


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Since we last connected last Wednesday, we’ve had a few notable events happen (to say the least!)
First, former vice president Joe Biden became president-elect Joe Biden. Depending on your perspective, this may or may not be a “done deal” as far as you are concerned. That’s fair. However, it is mostly a done deal as far as the prediction markets are concerned.
Leading website PredictIt is giving Biden a 90% chance of winning this never-ending November election. I like PredictIt better than any poll because punters are betting “real money” on the website. Heading into the election, the prediction marketplace correctly foresaw a close election, outperforming any pollster I’m aware of. For our decision-making purposes, we’ll take its 90% Biden odds at face value.
The balance of the Senate, however, is another matter. It was previously called for the Republicans. However, two runoff elections (both in Georgia) are slated for January. PredictIt is currently pricing in a 78% chance of at least one Republican victory, which would keep the Senate red and set us up for a “gridlocked” Congress.
The financial markets appear to be cheering two things:
- A clear presidential election winner, and
- The gridlock, which likely means the current tax plans are staying for at least two years, and probably longer, because midterm elections often tip in the favor of the party that does not occupy the oval office.
A renewed contest of the election, or two blue wins in Georgia, could upset the market’s neat apple cart. It’s a volatile year, and we must be ready for anything.
And oh by the way, we’ve got a vaccine for the virus!
Another November Shot in the Arm
Pfizer’s (PFE) clinical trials took longer than anticipated, for a good reason: its vaccinated study participants were staying healthy! On Monday we learned that the shot prevented 90% of symptomatic infections among its nearly 40,000 study participants.
The firm already plans to produce 50 million doses by the end of this year and 1.3 billion by the end of 2021. So, while we do need to keep in mind that two doses are required per person, we can see that many of us here in the US should have an opportunity to receive our double-shot sometime next year.
Could something still go wrong? Of course. But we should keep in mind that we have nine more vaccines in phase three clinical trials, which is the most important and final phase of the drug development process. Odds are excellent we’ll hear more good news from one or more of these candidates soon.
So, What Should We Buy Now?
Adding it all up, what dividends should we buy, assuming that in 2021’s Washington DC we’ll have:
- A Joe Biden presidency
- … with an agenda checked by a Republican Senate
- … while Main Street hopes for a gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the virus.
The stock market “sniffed” much of this news out and bounced 10% from the beginning of last week. However, not all dividend stocks have yet, at least, followed this moonshot higher. In recent months, investors have lost their minds and discarded perfectly good yields.
From our friend Jason Goepfert at SentimenTrader:
Since April, an average of $788 million per month has flowed out of dividend ETFs while an average of $263 million per month has flowed into momentum (funds).
Good for us, because ETF money flows are often an excellent contrarian indicator. Rookie investors love chasing the hot, shiny object. Calculated income investors like us, meanwhile, prefer to find value (and high yields!) in perfectly good payers that are not currently “cool” enough for the kids to buy.
Let’s bid a cheerful “so long” to these investors. We will gladly pick up their perfectly good payout scraps while they blindly chase the (formerly) hot “stay at home” tech names like Netflix (NFLX).
I’m a Netflix subscriber, and am happy to pay $8.99 per month. I am not, however, a Netflix shareholder, because I refuse to pay 78-times earnings for its shares!
No sir! Give me those discarded dividends, like utilities, instead.
In this wacky world, it’s tough to think of a dividend better than from a good ol’ utility. Yet these government-granted monopolies haven’t moved much (yet, at least!) this year. The Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU), most investors’ go-to utility investment, has returned just 2% year-to-date as I write. Contrast that with the S&P 500, which is now up by double-digits.
XLU yields 2.9% today, but we can do even better by “cherry picking” the best dividends in the sector. For example, let’s look at my favorite utility to buy today. It yields a generous 8.1%, which is nearly three-times the dividend of the popular ETF.
Profits at the utility are humming, too, as the firm is clocking 70% operating margins year-to-date (YTD):
2020-Proof Operating Margins
The firm’s secret “2020 repellant” is two-fold:
- It’s already built out its profitable infrastructure, and
- Its product is always in-demand.
The company thrived in 2020 and will keep humming through a gridlocked 2021. The firm delivers an amazing 30% of the clean-burning natural gas in the US!
This type of 3X to 4X “income upgrade” is a hallmark of my Perfect Income Portfolio strategy. Imagine if you simply tripled or even quadrupled each and every dividend in your current portfolio (without trading options or doing anything risky):
How? Read on and I’ll explain my perfect dividend strategy.


Indian food delivery and restaurant aggregator Zomato made a stellar market debut this week with its stock surging 65%, giving the startup a valuation of about $14 billion. The successful outing of the homegrown company is a milestone event for India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem as several others queue up to list. Berkshire Hathaway Inc-backed Paytm, hospitality company Oyo Hotels and ride-hailing firm Ola, both backed by SoftBank, are among other Indian startups set to test public market waters.
Zomato’s IPO outing shows that public markets can be more enthusiastic than private equity players in driving up valuations. Zomato’s close competitor Swiggy was recently valued at less than two-fifths those levels, or $5.5 billion, after a $1.25-billion fundraising in the private markets.
In a letter to shareholders, Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said the tremendous response to the IPO gives the firm the confidence that the world is full of investors who appreciate the magnitude of investments it is making, and take a long-term view of its business.
From unicorn quarters
In yet another milestone development, SE Asian online realty company PropertyGuru agreed to go public through a merger with a blank-cheque firm backed by billionaires Richard Li and Peter Thiel, giving the combined company an equity value of about $1.78 billion.
The deal with Bridgetown 2 Holdings is expected to fetch proceeds of $431 million, including a private investment of $100 million from Baillie Gifford, Naya, REA Group and Akaris Global Partners.
As Indonesian marketplace Bukalapak’s IPO opens for subscription next week, we took an in-depth look at its pricing based on various valuation parameters. The Emtek group-backed marketplace — which will be the first among Indonesian unicorns to go public — plans to raise up to $1.5 billion by issuing 25.76 billion new shares at an offer price of 750-850 rupiah per share. At that range, many traditional parameters suggest the shares are in an overpriced zone.
Meanwhile, from the Philippines, fintech player Mynt says it is looking to more than double its valuation to $2 billion in its future fundraising, Nikkei Asia reported. Mynt, the firm behind the popular GCash app, closed a $175 million funding round in January that valued the company at nearly $1 billion.
From India, online trucking platform BlackBuck became the latest entrant in the country’s growing unicorn club, raising $67 million as part of its latest Series E round of equity financing at a valuation of $1.02 billion. The round was led by Tribe Capital, IFC Emerging Asia Fund and VEF.
Omnichannel eyewear brand Lenskart raised an additional $220 million in funding led by Temasek and Falcon Edge Capital. The current fundraise values the startup at $2.5 billion.
Byju’s made its second major acquisition in the US with the purchase of Epic, an online reading platform, for $500 million in a cash-and-stock deal. Byju’s had bought educational gaming startup Osmo in 2019.
Vertex Venture Holdings is raising about $330 million through the issuance of seven-year senior unsecured Singapore dollar bonds at a coupon rate of 3.3%. The issuance, the first SGD corporate bond issuance by a global VC firm, was upsized due to “overwhelming investor demand.”
Singapore-based Good Startup has so far raised $26.5 million for its debut fund, exceeding its original target of $25 million ahead of its final close in August. The VC firm has so far built a portfolio of 10 startups.
Japan-based Sasakawa Peace Foundation has committed to invest in Beacon Fund, a gender lens investing fund focusing on Southeast Asia. Beacon Fund has raised almost half of its initial target of $50 million.
Wealth manager Paragon Capital Management Singapore has announced the launch of its new early-stage venture capital fund that will invest in productivity and efficiency enabling startups.
US retirement fund manager LACERA has approved an investment of up to $500 million in the KKR Diversified Core Infrastructure Fund.
Indonesian e-commerce brand acquirer Hypefast has raised $13.99 million in new funding, per filings accessed by DealStreetAsia – DATA VANTAGE. New investor Monk’s Hill Ventures led the round.
Three Indonesian companies are moving ahead with plans for a public listing on the domestic stock exchange. Primaya Hospital Group, dairy firm Cimory group, best known for its yoghurt drinks, and Tempo Inti Media Tbk are understood to have initiated share sale plans.
Indonesian social commerce enabling platform Desty is said to have closed pre-Series A funding of over $3 million in a round led by Chinese venture capital firm 5Y Capital. Fosun RZ Capital, East Ventures, January Capital and InCapital have also joined the round. The deal would mark the first investment for 5Y Capital in Indonesia.
Interviews and analysis
Multiples Alternate Asset Management has closed its third fund at $680 million to invest in mid-market companies in India. The PE giant has so far made two investments from the vehicle including a $192-million funding that it co-led with Singapore state investor Temasek in Indian fresh meat and seafood e-tailer Licious. “We have added some marquee new domestic and global investors which is a big win for Multiples. Our focus is to find good opportunities to deploy this capital and come back for Fund 4 in the next 18 months,” said founder & CEO Renuka Ramnath in an exclusive interview.
Canadian pension fund OMERS is seeking to tap opportunities in the areas of energy transition, digital infrastructure and transportation as it steps up its infrastructure investments in the Asia Pacific. “Energy transition is a theme we focus on globally and I think is a theme which is going to be very strong in Asia, as it tries to decarbonise,” OMERS Infrastructure managing director and Asia head Prateek Maheshwari said in an interview.
This week, we analysed deal data from China and looked at growing investor interest in Vietnam’s edtech and Singapore’s wealth management space.
Investments in privately-held companies in Greater China showed robust growth in June with PE and VC firms pouring a total of over $6.2 billion into 154 startups. June’s aggregate deal value was a 22.8% increase over May, according to proprietary data compiled by DealStreetAsia. However, the country’s tightening grip on the tech sector could cast a shadow over the dealmaking landscape in the months to come.
The raging COVID-19 pandemic has led to a revival in investor interest in Vietnam’s edtech sector. So far this year, six players in the sector have announced fundraisings amassing at least $22 million. In comparison, there were only three announced deals in the entire 2020 and six deals in the entire 2019.
Flush with capital from recent fundraisings, Singapore’s digital wealth management platforms are now busy charting a new growth path — expansion to new geographies, thinking up new products and features, and hiring top talent. Players in the sector closed five funding rounds between late March and early July compared to only one deal in the same period last year.
Lastly, we had this analytical piece on Vietnam’s growing tribe of seasoned professionals setting up new funds to support the startup ecosystem that is now entering a mature phase.


1) Tap joy This is the community that has the copyright of advertising on Avakinlife game, Tap joy advertising others application and many things which help the user to earn Ava coin and avakinlife get money from them. Street café and other spot are available in Av akin where you can work and earn money through it.
Folk who had lots of funds they love spending their money on Av akin for buying everything. 4) Create Instagram You can earn through Instagram by completing challenge what Avakinlife official give other, even though many other Av akin Instagram make a game (Giveaway) of posting their picture of the timeline and if someone wins it they got wings and whatever they want as per the cash they advertised of.
It’s quite easy, you just need to watch ads video and after that, you can open mystery boxes. If you already have those things for paying it for full prices and seeing it prices fall down to half rate then probably you feel bad but if you got a chance of buying anything for half rate then you feel amazing for buying it for profit.
In addition, you can join another place and ask others for knowing the key location, I found many people are very helpful. 7) Av akin Fashion You can easily earn coins if you’re good in fashion or design, I saw many people earn lots of coins from it.
You can participate in gold free of cost but you need to wear something which is compulsory to take photo shoot. For silver, you need to pay 50 Ava coin and for Gold it's free.
Spot an official 24k member, post a pic for a chance to win newly released Iron outfits! People are generally creating new Ava coins for gifting their main account apartment and earning coins by doing trades usually.
If you just work on your new account for an hour daily for making coins like for joining in the contest and playing Egypt along with for making some effort for getting XP then you easily get 30,000 in a month without doing much. 2: Collecting Diamonds daily helps you for making coins by trading it.
6: Participate in the Fashion contest and play Egypt for earning Ava coins daily. 8: Daily bonus wheel is opened 3 times in a day, you need to see when it'll available again for you along with ads one also available after that and the 3rd one available after 7 hours.
Thanks for visiting here, I hope these things will help you in playing Avakinlife. The video game is not any strange thing to anyone nowadays.
AvakinLife is a type of video game that is quite popular these days in every age group of people, especially youngsters and teens. In this game, you can play the character of anyone and can provide yourself with different accessories.
Some beneficial and effective methods on how to get money on AvakinLife Coin Hack and earning Av coins will be discussed below with the help of a few topics. These coins can be exchanged at the ATM in this video game.
For the new players, these rewards may be set as apartments, Egyptian cats, etc. The winner of this fashion show will be awarded large coins.
The next option to earn Avalon is through the Fiber bidding wall, Mystery box, or video offer. There are two other options too, like mystery box and video offer.
Above, it is discussed a few methods to earn Ava coins or money in Avakinlife. Whatever the way you will choose, you will enjoy the game every time you play it.
You want to hang out, you want to work and lead a family or even build a business. But unfortunately not everyone can fully enjoy the game when the lack of coins or gems begins.
Ava coins can be redeemed on iOS, android, even on an ordinary computer. You can easily get AvakinLife Ava coins for free online you do not need to download any files.
In this game, users get the chance to live an exciting virtual life where they can choose their looks, build a house for themselves, meet new people and chat. This 3D virtual world has beautiful locations, exciting rewards, cool accessories and branded outfits, which can add a fantastic look to your characters.
Currently, everyone playing the Avakinlife as a pro gamer want to get more coins and money to get high scores. But there is hardly anyone prepared to spend real money willingly on buying coins to play.
As a result, our team did their extensive research on how to hack avakinlife and finally here to help these gamers. The number of stories you open, the more diamonds and Ava coins will be added in your account.
Every new story will add some experience on your account that can help you gain some rewards in the game later. When your character earns daily by working, diamonds will be added to your account.
By tapping on this option, you will get many kinds of rewards, whether it is Ava coin, a diamond or any other gift. This mystery box is a good option for users, who are only short of some coins by unlocking the next level.
To earn more rapidly, you can level up and live a new story that can add experience point to your account. Another avakinlife hack to earn some points is to watch ads that are flashed during the game.
The only thing required to do is watch the article, which can add a few coins or impressions to the user’s account. When you work at any the street café or in the virtual world of av akin, you will make Ava bucks.
Dress up yourself in the most beautiful outfits and give yourself a perfect look which can gain you get extra coins later. Avakinlife cheats to choose the right outfit, a cute hairstyle and a fresh pair of shoes can add a classic look to your personality, and that attracts more means to gain popularity.
To secure more Ava coins and diamonds, ensure yourself a great look by adding matching outfits, branded bags, and accessories. Some parties take place every weekend or every month, which will be an excellent way to earn points.
Diamonds, Ava coins, and other gifts are received by attending these parties and meeting new friends. Another easiest way among cheats for avakinlife is to earn coins through promoting it on social media.
Facebook, Instagram, and some other platforms contain the official page of Avakinlife ; you can start following it and keep updated with the new offers and rewards. The more people you join the game by your invitation, the more rewards will be added to your account.
All these cheap trick is to attract you when you are desperate in search of avakinlifemoney cheat and get some visitors to their website. People don’t usually feel like buying a single virtual item in exchange for real cash.
Our top ten list of avakinlife hack will help you add coins and diamonds in your account. In this interview, I just ask some same Questions from 24k Family 10 Richest members.
Numbering is depended upon the clothes, houses, pets, time to reach this level. You guys profile really brilliant than me (Range) and for numbering it not that much matter more.
Domain: I describe myself as pretty shy at first, but once you get to know me, I'm very sweet and care so much for the ones I love. I only spend on the double Tap joy events and in-game offers so that I can still support my favorite game.
Domain: I guess that also answers the next question haha! I don't have any other ways of earning coins, except for the fashion contest.
Domain: For the younger players id like to tell them never to worry about the money. It's a great thing to have, but finding your best friends is something money can never buy .
Domain: My biggest dream in Avakinlife is just to be able to have fun drama free and meet amazing people. RB: Betrayal started playing Av akin since Jan 2019.
Betrayal: I'm really chill and always love talking to people or working on goals Betrayal: It involves a lot of work and patience.
Betrayal: I buy a fair amount of coins but fiber helps out a lot too Betrayal: At this point, getting to level 63 and decorating more of my houses.
RB: Milk is a really charming guy in the 24k family, and he knows very well how to make others happy by doing some funny and silly things. Milk:Money for me is an important part of life that helps us live the lifestyle we want; set to the standards we want and wish them to be.
Milk: I'm a very active individual, no tolerance for drama, LOUD DD, and as my friends would say, silly and funny. According to my GF Shay, I'm also caring, passionate, and charismatic.
Milk: All the coins I purchase during the Tap joy times 2 events! It's the cheapest option you have to get Ava coins and if you do the right offers, you can earn 100s of thousands of coins for dirt cheap.
And live a happy, financially stable, prosperous life full of joy. I am realistic about my dreams and I just want to lead a happy, and fulfilling life.
RD: Financial Stability to play this game freely, without limitations. Takes pride in accomplishing goals fairly and honestly.
RD: We do work in café daily, mystery boxes, builder, enter fashion contest, Egypt, fiber/Tap joy (especially during double rewards) Divinely and Royalty both good in fashion and both having the same choices, they both are the leader of 24K family.
RD: Not many, Royal and I both have all the gold wings for both our male/ female characters. RD: Take advantage of the many ways to earn coins or items on the game.
Do the cafés, mystery boxes, builders, fashion contests (free entries), vote daily too-you get coins and prizes when leveling up. Anyone can level up or earn enough to play and enjoy this game.
Spend the time to work for coins or XPS. RB: Natalia really loves to make others happy and giving others Ideas, her Ideas are Impressive, and she wants to be a content creator in Avakinlife.
Budget a certain reasonable amount of coins you want to spend for the month and then save the rest. Natalia: I earn most of my coins through Tap joy (during the 2x reward event once a month).
The reason a lot of us play Av akin in the first place is to have an escape from all the bad stuff going on in the world. Please use kind words, both in real life and the game.
The 24k family receives a lot of hate for some reason. I've been threatened, harassed, and degraded by people who hate our family.
If people on Av akin actually took the time to talk and get to know us instead of being rude and nasty, maybe they would find us pretty chill. Threatening and harassing someone because you feel tough hiding behind a keyboard is NEVER OKAY.
Natalia: My biggest dream of Av akin is to become an official featured creator for Lewd. Anna Rose: Money is an economic unit that functions as a generally recognized medium of exchange for transactional purposes in an economy.
I’m just a normal people who enjoying Av akin much XD Anna Rose: Actually, it has many ways to earn the Ava coin in Av akin like Trading with strangers or your friends, Mystery Box, Complete the Egypt adventure game every day, Do fiber (if it works in your country) and the last is purchased the real money when they release the good offers.
Anna Rose: My biggest dream is to work with the Av akin community hahaha RB: Naomi really looks cute, and she's my Facebook friend too, and she is wonderful at cooking hope I got a chance to try her cuisine.
Naomi:Money is something you spend in order to satisfy your wants and needs, prior to needs of course. Naomi: I'm a regular Filipino girl and I've been playing Av akin as my pastime.
I mainly play for fashion stuff, I like dressing up my avatar and serve different looks every day since you can be anything you want in the game. Naomi: I don't really have a secret neither I would call myself a millionaire, I just happened to have extra money to spend to purchase what I want.
Naomi: I mostly earn coins through fiber, paid offers are highly efficient, it pays a lot and doesn't require much effort and I sometimes purchase on Av akin coin shop when they have offers with rare items and loads of coins. Naomi: I own 31 pairs of wings, mostly the rare ones since I'm not fond of wearing them, I prefer pieces of jewelry.
Naomi: Don't let anything distract you from getting in way of your dreams, keep moving even though the progress is small. Naomi: My biggest dream is to be a professional chef and be able to run a resto-salon.
I like cooking and making other people feel pretty of themselves after all. RB: Jessica has really too many years of experience in Drumming and having good knowledge of Entrepreneurship, she loves to be happy, and she always thinks positively about others.
Naomi: My biggest dream is to a successful business owner and musician since I'm already a drummer IRL with 15 years’ experience and 8 years of drum lessons Naomi: Money is just a piece of paper but has the power to control and manipulate everything.
Naomi: I'm kind and a generous person, also fun to be with. Naomi: I buy coin offers and work hard at The Café, Sundown and Sta.
Naomi: I want to be a good example to them by not being selfish and not to bully the other players. Also, by working hard on the game since most players of Av akin are teenagers, which I assumed buying coin offers would be not their option.
Naomi: My biggest dream is to become successful (in real life), achieve my goals and to have unity with other countries and religions. Thanks for visiting here, if you like to know more content like this then follow this Blog and comment down what topic do you like to know.


More than 50 entrepreneurs from Pavlodar city and region took part in a one day workshop organised by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The event focused on the use of services offered by outsourced consultants, how they can benefit companies and the opportunities consulting can bring regarding increasedeffectiveness and the development of small and medium business.
The workshop, Consulting Opportunities for Entrepreneurs from the Pavlodar Region, entailed a series of free presentations, master classes and business games describing modern innovation in business management. The programme of the event also included sessions dedicated to project and business process management, marketing, lean manufacturing, Kaizen (Japanese for “good change”) and small and medium-sized (SME) business automatisation and human resource management.
Business people from the Pavlodar region, as well as their peers from Karaganda, Kostanai, Almaty and Astana, learned about the importance of external expertise for business development, increasing the overall performance of an enterprise, developing administrative processes, improving the knowledge and skills of businessmen and increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of the enterprise.
The event coincided with the beginning of a new EBRD information campaign in Pavlodarfocused on the importance of consultancy and external advice for small- and medium-sized businesses. The Know How Campaign, as it is called, is being offered in 25 countries across southern and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, including Russia and Mongolia, in 2014.
In addition to financing, the EBRD provides business advice and industry expertise to small and medium-sized enterprises as part of a three-year programme funded by the Kazakh government called Business RoadMap2020. The bank is very involved in a state programme called Strengthening the Potential of Enterprise. Representatives of the EBRD in Kazakhstan explained to businessmen how they can get a grant covering up to 75 percent of the full cost of such consulting up to a maximum of $12,950 (€10,000) per project.
The EBRD in Kazakhstan has been advising small and medium-sized firms across the country on business matters since 1998. To date, it has helped almost 1,000 enterprises by utilising more than $18.1 million (€14 million) in donor funding and $8.2 million (€6.3 million) in cost-sharing contributions from client enterprises.


WASHINGTON – The White House says that President Barack Obama’s budget for next year will be released on March 4, about one month behind schedule.
Budget office spokesman Steve Posner says the release will be late because Congress was late to finish up an omnibus spending bill for the current fiscal year. He said that action means the administration can now wrap up work on its budget tome.
Lawmakers in both House and Senate hope that a budget deal last month will bring a semblance of order to the annual appropriations process, but that may be a tall order in an election year.
The annual budget lays out the administration’s wish list. Republicans controlling the House mostly ignore its major recommendations, which include a tax increase on corporations and wealthier individuals.


December opened with a wild week for markets. Stock’s Santa Claus rally, began, faltered and then recovered by week’s end. Traders in other markets, commodity, foreign exchange and interest rate, also had to deal with uncommonly large intraday moves that were swiftly reversed.
Key to the volatility was a data and event calendar that drove an appraisal, and reappraisal, of the path of Fed and ECB interest rates. That, plus expectations about a potential OPEC production cut, and of course, traders were awaiting US non-farm payrolls Friday.
As we open the new week, it’s almost certain the Fed will undertake its first rate hike since 2006, that the US employment market remains strong, the ECB needs a lesson in central bank communication strategy, and OPEC is going to keep pumping until it grinds US shale oil producers into the dust.
But, last week’s fractious trade sets up another huge week for markets in the run-up to the Fed’s decision on December 16.
Fed Chair Yellen said on two separate occasions last week that rates raised sooner would avoid “abrupt” moves later. The solid print of 211,000 new jobs in November’s non-farm payrolls Friday makes the move as close to a lock as central bank decisions can ever be.
As a result, non-farms strength helped stocks soar more than 2% higher on Friday. But after all the volatility, the week yielded gains of just 0.09% for the bellwether S&P 500 index. That’s left the ASX looking for a better start to the week Monday with ASX futures recording a 31 point rally on Friday night. However, that was after the ASX lost a little under 1% for the week.
But the big question for traders in the week ahead is what exactly does a Fed rate hike do to stocks and currencies. Oil looks likely to come under renewed pressure after talk that the Saudis might look for production cuts were scotched.
The ECB’s misstep last week, in appearing to promise more easing than it delivered, saw the Euro rally more than 400 points Thursday. Mario Draghi did his best to restore credibility in a speech to the economic club of New York Friday. He effectively promised more shock, awe and quantitative easing. But, the Euro finished the week up a little under 3% at 1.0884.
That helped the Aussie dollar retest the October highs in the 0.7880/90 region but the sellers were there again and it ended the week up around 150 points but back at 0.7339. It’s an impressive performance given crude’s crash, iron ore’s new 10 year low and a looming Fed rate hike.
How the Aussie performs in the week ahead is dependent on traders’ view about the Fed and the US dollar. But it’s also going to be influenced by three key data releases in Australia.
Tuesday sees the release of the NAB’s monthly business survey. Conditions have been strong recently, well above long-term averages. But confidence remains fragile, lagging conditions even though trading and profitability sub-indices are strong.
Business confidence was crucial part of prime minister Turnbull’s rational for the putsch to oust Tony Abbott from the Lodge. This data is a key test for him and a health check on the confidence boost the economy seems to have received since he took the top job.
Wednesday sees the release of the Westpac – Melbourne Insititute consumer confidence index. This too is a health check on the mood of the economy heading into Christmas.
But, while both these data are important, the key to the week is Australia’s jobs report on Thursday. The Reuters poll says the market is expecting a fall of 10,000 after last months outsized 58,600 increase. Unemployment is expected to increase to 6% from last month’s trend breaking 5.9%.
Also out during the week are ANZ job ads, ANZ weekly consumer confidence, AIG performance of construction index, and ABS home loan data for October.
Offshore the fun doesn’t stop either.
Monday we have speeches from BoJ governor Kuroda, and his BoJ board colleague Sato. German industrial production is out, along with UK house prices and a speech from Atlanta Fed Governor James Bullard.
Tuesday is a big day with the release of Chinese trade. Arguably, it has become the second most important data point each month for traders to watch after US non-farm payrolls. Imports and exports have been weakening recently and traders will be watching for either a turnaround or an acceleration of this trend as an indication of the strength.
Japanese GDP is also out Tuesday, along with trade. Q3 in Japan is expected to print anaemic growth of just 0.1% year on year, 0.0% for the quarter. UK IP is out and in the US the NFIB optimism index is out. Watch out for the NIESR GDP estimate in the US as well.
Wednesday we get CPI and PPI in China and German trade. Chicken or egg, German trade is a good indicator on what’s happening in China.
Thursday we get UK trade and a Bank of England rate decision and MPC vote cut. Jobless claims in the US as well as export and import prices.
To round out the week, Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann is speaking at 5am Friday morning AEDT. No doubt he’ll have a few brickbats for Mario Draghi. We also get German CPI Friday night along with US retails sales and PPI.
It’s another big week, with plenty of catalysts for trade as we head toward the FOMC meeting on December 16th.
Here’s Westpac’s excellent calendar of all the key data and events.
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A Democratic paper aims to show Republicans would hurt the middle class. But their analysis really contains lessons for both parties on the hard truths about tax reform.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- An analysis from Senate Democrats released Wednesday found that many in the middle class could pay more under a House Republican tax reform proposal than they do today, while the uber-rich would pay less.
The analysis -- while partisan -- highlights a hard truth that both parties skate over when discussing the glories of tax reform: Lower rates will come at a cost. And someone will have to pay.
House Republicans have proposed reducing the number of income tax rates to just two: 10% and 25%. They also want to eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax. (Quiz: What the rich really pay in taxes)
To help make up for trillions of dollars in lost revenue, Republicans would "broaden the base" -- meaning they would close tax loopholes and get rid of or reduce other breaks in the code.
They don't, however, specify which ones.
The Democrats' analysis assumes five major tax breaks would be eliminated: the deductions for mortgage interest, state and local income tax and charitable contributions, as well as tax breaks on 401(k) contributions and employer-provided health care.
Those five tax breaks disproportionately benefit the upper middle class. Part of the reason the rich do so well in the Democratic analysis is the loss of those five tax breaks would not override the tax savings they would receive if the top rate were lowered to 25%, said Roberton Williams, senior fellow at the independent Tax Policy Center.
The only way to level the playing field would be to also scale back the breaks that disproportionately benefit the rich -- such as lower tax rates on investment income and tax-exempt income such as that from municipal bonds.
"If we don't cut the preferences that help the rich, they will benefit greatly from the reduction in rates at the expense of everyone else," Williams said.
The Democratic analysis also inadvertently points out another huge challenge facing tax reformers.
There are hundreds of tax breaks on the books. But if lawmakers want to lower rates a lot, they'll have to attack the biggest five or six breaks -- which also happen to be the most popular. Otherwise, they won't get very far in terms of making up for lost revenue.
That means the middle class very likely will see some of their cherished tax breaks curtailed, if not eliminated.
A good example is a tax reform plan from a bipartisan deficit reduction task force led by former Congressional Budget Office Director Alice Rivlin and former Sen. Pete Domenici.
It also proposed having just two income tax rates: 15% and 28%.
But to pay for those lower rates and raise revenue to help with deficit reduction, they made a host of changes to tax breaks that would affect both the rich and the middle class.
The Rivlin-Domenici plan would tax capital gains and dividends as ordinary income; eliminate the deduction for state and local taxes; convert the mortgage deduction to a 15% credit on interest up to $25,000 a year; and limit the tax break on retirement savings contributions.
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|Overnight Avg Rate||Latest||Change||Last Week|
|30 yr fixed||3.89%||3.85%|
|15 yr fixed||3.10%||3.05%|
|30 yr refi||3.87%||3.85%|
|15 yr refi||3.08%||3.07%|
Today's featured rates:
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SMMES in Sedibeng in Gauteng have welcomed a recent imbizo to the area, but are clear that a two-day visit will not address all their needs and struggles as a business community. Vutivi News spoke to businesses in the area following a two-day presidential imbizo in Sharpeville last week. The purpose of the imbizo was to reiterate the government’s commitment to combat poverty in the district and explain how this would be done by unlocking the region’s economic potential.
This includes the proposed Vaal River Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which was announced by Gauteng Premier David Makhura last year at the Sedibeng SMME Conference. President Cyril Ramaphosa told businesses that the biggest challenge facing the Vaal Triangle was unemployment. The Vaal SEZ is expected to create around 170,000 jobs.
But for Themba Mkhiza, who owns Ogcwabe Holdings (PTY) Ltd, and Karabo Letsele of Atlehang Printworks, there are other concerns. They have to do with the centralisation of business opportunities and the lack of access to information. Mkhiza runs a catering, decor and construction business which operate in Lakeside, Orange Farm and De Deur. He believes that the only opportunities that are available for businesspeople in Sedibeng are reserved for those who are politically connected.
“Most of the construction projects in the region are awarded by political affiliation, and sometimes it depends on which political party you belong to,” Mkhiza told Vutivi News. He also lamented the lack of training and business development. “Sedibeng is also not as big an area as other regions, so it is difficult for us because there is not much business development happening,” he said.
“There aren’t as many business workshops held here, and as a result many of the businesses don’t know how to manage their finances, or know which skills are needed to improve and grow their businesses.” But Mkhiza did admit that the imbizo may be a step in the right direction. “I believe that it is a promising step for the president to decide to go to the people rather than sending someone to do his job,” he said. Letsele, whose business operates in the Sebokeng and Sharpeville, holds the same view, saying that small business owners do not know where to access information such as growing markets and financial management.
“Here in the Vaal, it is difficult to know how and where to apply for funding programmes meant for SMMEs, and those that do have access to the information tend to want to take advantage of our businesses because we don’t have as much information as they do,” she said. “I don’t have much faith in government’s promises to help Vaal-based businesses grow, but we shall see.”


NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rallied Monday as investors were encouraged by signs of progress in budget talks in Washington.
At the close, preliminary figures showed the Dow Jones industrial average with a gain of 100.38 points or 0.76% to 13,235.39. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 stock index was up 16.78 points, or 1.19%, to 1,430.36, and the tech-laden Nasdaq composite index was 39.27 points, or 1.32%, higher at 3,010.60.
Just two weeks remain before tax increases and government spending cuts take effect if no deal is reached.
On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, stock traders paused for a minute of silence at 9:15 a.m. ET to remember the 20 children and seven adults killed Friday in a gunman's rampage through a Connecticut elementary school.
Marc Chaikin, CEO of the Philadelphia-based market research firm Chaikin Analytics, said investors became more hopeful for a resolution in the budget talks after House Speaker John Boehner made an offer to increase tax rates on high-income Americans.
"The fiscal cliff is obviously foremost on everyone's mind," Chaikin said.
Banks were among the best-performing stocks. Citibank (C) gained 89 cents to $38.49 after Raymond James upgraded its target price on the stock to $52 from $44. In a note to clients, the brokerage reaffirmed its "strong buy" rating on the stock, citing the "improving fundamental outlook." Bank of America (BAC) also gained 31 cents to $10.89.
Apple (APPL) shares rose $9.04 to $518.83 after the company said it sold more than 2 million iPhone 5s in China in their first three days of availability, setting a record for that market. The technology giant's stock has fallen 27% since it closed at a record $702.10 in September.
In Washington, there appeared to be movement in long-stalled budget talks aimed at avoiding tax increases and government spending cuts set to take effect Jan. 1, which are known as the "fiscal cliff."
Indexes opened higher following the news that Boehner, a Republican, offered $1 trillion in higher tax revenue over 10 years and an increase on the top tax rate for people making $1 million per year, to 39.6% from 35%. The market moved higher still after news crossed shortly before noon that Boehner went to the White House to meet with President Obama.
If congressional Republicans and the White House can't reach a deal by Jan. 1, tax cuts enacted a decade ago for all Americans will expire, and government programs will be cut across the board. The combination could lead to a recession.
Wall Street has been relatively calm in recent weeks, but David Kelly, chief global strategist for J.P. Morgan Funds, said that by Friday the market will be "squarely focused on what is or is not happening in Washington."
He suggested in a note to clients that the markets will not have "priced in" any outcome, "setting the stage for a market rally with an agreement and a slump with stalemate."
Clearwire (CLWR) slid 43 cents, to $2.95, after Sprint (S) announced terms of its buyout deal for the wireless Internet access company. Sprint's price of $2.97 per share was below Clearwire's (CLWR) closing stock price Friday.
Stocks gained even after a monthly survey of manufacturing in New York state area, carried out by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, showed that business conditions for manufacturing in New York declined in December. The reading fell to minus 8.1 for the month from minus 5.2 a month earlier.
A survey of top business economists released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics found that most expected modest economic growth in 2013, led by rising demand for housing.
The yield on 10-year Treasury note rose 5 basis points to 1.76%.
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Stock markets in Japan and China, Asia's two biggest economies, rose Monday after Japanese conservatives who favor greater economic stimulus returned to power in a landslide election victory and China's new leaders promised more spending if needed to underpin a wobbly economic recovery.
Other stock markets around the globe were more restrained as investors weighed the stimulus hopes with continuing concerns such as the unresolved budget negotiations in Washington.
European stocks were mostly lower. The FTSE 100 index of leading British companies closed down 0.2% to 5,912.15 while France's CAC 40 index finished down 0.1% to 3,638.10. Germany's DAX 30 index ended up 0.1% to 7,604.94.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index jumped 0.9% to close at 9,828.88, its highest level since April, after the country's Liberal Democratic Party swept back into power at weekend elections. Party chief Shinzo Abe, almost certain to become prime minister, favors increased spending on public works and setting a 3% economic growth target. He's also expected to lobby for stronger action by the central bank to break Japan out of its deflationary trap.
"The outcome of the Japan election should help support sentiment in the region," strategists at Credit Agricole CIB said in a research note.
Japanese export stocks rose as the yen fell to its lowest since March on expectations of looser monetary policy. Automaker Nissan Motor rose 1.8%, Sony climbed 1.4% and Panasonic jumped 2.3%. A weaker yen makes their goods cheaper for overseas buyers.
In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.45% to 2,160.34 and the smaller Shenzhen Composite index climbed 0.4% to 819.58.
On Sunday, China's new Communist Party leaders under party General Secretary Xi Jinping pledged a "proactive fiscal policy" and "prudent monetary policy" in a statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency. They were references to the willingness to boost spending if needed and keep credit easy so long as inflation stays low.
"I don't think the statement from the Communist Party is startling news, but what we see is that they still continue the stimulating policy and so I think it's good in the long run," said Linus Yip, chief strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong.
The optimism failed to rub off on other Asian markets, which retreated slightly.
In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3161 from $1.3159 in late trading Friday. The dollar strengthened to 83.88 Japanese from 83.46 yen.
Crude prices rose. Benchmark oil for January delivery finished up 71 cents to $87.44 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract settled at $86.73 on Friday.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Over the past six months, one of the most amazing and miraculous events has occurred in the history of economics. Few Americans appear to have grasped how truly remarkable and miraculous the event truly was, even though it occurred right under their noses. The miraculous event to which I refer is our far-seeing leader’s program designed to 1) trick Americans into buying new cars they can’t afford, and 2) melt down their old cars, intentionally destroying them. Or, as the program has been termed by its brilliant originators, it’s a "Cash for Clunkers" program.
You might be thinking to yourself, "I already know that this was a successful, and indeed almost miraculous, program. It not only saved the moribund American auto industry, but it put Americans to work, u2018stimulated’ lagging demand for cars people still can’t afford, and will help to make the American fleet cleaner and more efficient." If this is the reason you think Mr. Obama’s program was amazing and miraculous, however, you would be failing to appreciate its true brilliance and grandeur. The greatness of Mr. Obama’s program lies not in its superficial stimulation of a bloated industrial sector of our economy that should have died decades ago; rather, its greatness lies in the fact that it accomplishes something that it actually impossible in our world. It is able to defy the known laws of the world.
In order to see why this is the case, it is important to first note that the world in which we live is characterized by scarcity. That is to say, all of the things that men desire to fulfill their infinite wants and needs are in limited supply in our world. There is a limited supply of televisions, radios, cars, trees, water, gold — and, yes, (as the green people never tire of blathering about), there is even a limited supply of air in our world. This means that men are situated in this world in such a way that a great number of their wants and desires cannot be currently fulfilled. This is precisely why men work — to create things and situations that each subjectively thinks will make him better off. And, with the passage of time and the expenditure of more and more human productive energy, men are able to create more and more goods and services that fulfill more and more of their wants and needs.
It is precisely these obvious natural laws that Mr. Obama has managed to circumvent. He has managed to enact (or, at least take credit for) a bill that purports to make men better off, not through increasing the supply of the goods men actually want and need, but by tricking them into buying something they otherwise would not, and then destroying part of that same supply of goods. He has managed, in other words, to make us richer by destroying goods and diverting a part of the labor supply (yes, that’s limited too) into recreating those very same goods. The program manages to increase scarcity on the one hand by destroying goods and then remaking them, and yet supposedly makes us better off. It is a truly miraculous and historic undertaking if it is indeed working to make us better off — and who can doubt that it is doing just that, when every loudmouth politician and commentator tells us so.
When one comes to realize just how amazing and miraculous Mr. Obama’s program really is, an obvious question comes to mind: If Mr. Obama’s program can really make us richer by destroying cars and tricking people into buying new cars, then why don’t we give this miracle program a try in the housing sector? Indeed, since the financial crisis struck most severely against the housing sector, then is that not precisely the sector where Mr. Obama’s miracle program is most direly needed? The program is easily adaptable to housing, after all. All that is needed is to give people an incentive to buy a brand new house that they can scarcely turn down (or afford), and, once they move into their new home, simply burn the old house to the ground.
Think of the amazing stimulus the economy would get from having tens of thousands — or even hundreds of thousands — of perfectly usable homes burned to their very foundations. Masons, carpenters, roofers, and appliance makers would all suddenly be reemployed to the hilt. The American housing stock would be made more energy efficient, aesthetically pleasing — and more "eco-friendly," to boot.
There’s no reason to stop with just the housing sector, though, when the clothing retailers are struggling mightily. Mr. Obama could simply pass a similar law to encourage people to go into debt buying a brand new wardrobe at the GAP (or a more "eco-friendly" retailer, to save the Earth at the same time), and then round up the shoppers’ old wardrobes and sink them to the bottom of the ocean.
Just think how much better off we would be if Mr. Obama could manage to destroy half of the supply of cars in the U.S., half of the supply of homes in the U.S., and half the supply of clothing in the U.S. It boggles the mind to think how rich we would be.
For the time being, we will just have to content ourselves with Mr. Obama melting down half of our cars.


Afford definition is – to manage to bear without serious detriment. How to use afford in a sentence. Synonym Discussion of afford.
Knowing how much you can afford is essential. A simple rule of thumb is you shouldn’t spend more than 1/3 of your after tax salary on rent. As an example, your annual salary is 50K that leaves you with $4,166/month. After taxes, you should have around $3,270. One third of 3270 is about $980, and that’s what your monthly rent should be on 50K a year.
Income is one of the factors that will determine who how much of an FHA loan you can qualify for – and for obvious reasons. But it’s not the only factor. The total amount of debt you carry will also play a big role. In fact, mortgage lenders consider these two things together, using a formula known as the debt-to-income ratio, or DTI.
Amount Of Home Loan Based On Salary How Much House Can I Afford – Home Affordability. – Zillow – Zillow’s home affordability calculator will help you determine how much house you can afford by analyzing your income, debt, and the current mortgage rates.
Five simple calculations that can tell you in seconds how much house you can afford. Included are a few places to refinance or find a great mortgage rate.
· Debt and Expenses – When answering the question, “How much house can we afford?”, it is important to consider all of your other monthly obligations. In your budget, make sure to include credit cards, car payments, student loans, groceries, utilities, and insurance.
can we afford to buy a $300,000 house if our monthly income is just 00? find answers to this and many other questions on Trulia Voices, a community for you to find and share local information. Get answers, and share your insights and experience.
Fifty-four years after Medicare and Medicaid were established, our nation is rapidly approaching a crossroads in how we.
A quintessential sign of spring is a busy bee happily buzzing from blossom to blossom. While spring is now in full swing across Canada, the presence of those dependable pollinators is becoming more.
I recently had the pleasure of visiting Iowa’s congressional offices in Washington, D.C. as part of moms clean air force’s annual Play-In for Climate Action, to discuss the importance of acting on.
· You can save your baby for $2 million. Can you afford to do this? If you cannot, should we all pay? Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a rare genetic disease affecting the part of the nervous system that controls voluntary muscle movement.
How Much Can I Mortgage If you have a mortgage that has a high interest rate, or a variable interest rate that could get much higher, it can be a good idea to pay down the loan faster (or to refinance). Another common.


The company says that the move is an attempt to expand its perfumeries business, which it sees as having stronger growth prospects and “attractive opportunities” compared to other retail sections.
In the long run, Douglas aims to strengthen its position to gain a leading market position in all major European countries.
According to Bloomberg, Nocibe has a market value of about €500m, whilst Douglas had total sales of around €680m Euros in 2012.
The combined companies would be the second largest perfumer in France, behind market leader Sephora, which produced almost €2bn revenue in 2012.
Growing European perfuming
The perfumery division is a major focus of Douglas’ strategy, with the company planning to invest as much as €500m growth capital in improving the division according to a statement released in June.
Perfume was noted as being the company’s most profitable division by Dr Kreke, CEO of Douglas, who also acknowledged the company’s expertise and strong branding in this area.
Douglas also made a commitment to re-branding itself through expansion, building the franchise through targeted organic and external growth, as well as sophisticated trend scouting which will allow it to become involved with developing tendencies in the world of cosmetics.
The acquisition of Nocibe marks a significant step in the firm’s aim to re-brand itself as the “epitome of beauty” in European markets.
In a conference call with Bloomberg, the Douglas CEO called the acquisition: "a big opportunity to build-up our position in the perfumery market in Europe," with France being a particularly important market.
Boosting bricks-and-mortar presence
After acquiring Nocibe, Douglas would have 625 store locations and around 4,000 employees the company said yesterday, marking a significant boost to its footprint.
The acquisition would make the firm the largest overall perfume retailer in France in terms of numbers of locations and staff.
The company is also planning to expand its other channels of retail, for example by investing more heavily in e-commerce.


The well-known cryptocurrency analyst and trader, PlanB who is also known as the author of Bitcoin’s stock-to-flow model has come up with another statement regarding the leading digital asset Bitcoin.
PlanB says that Bitcoin is going to be something bigger than just a digital asset. PlanB recently had a discussion with the crypto influencer named Peter McCormack and talked about the future of Bitcoin and his Bitcoin’s Stock-to-Flow model. He says that in the world of financial markets, such kinds of stock-to-flow models are already available for various assets. He believes that this model is beneficial as it helps us to understand deeply the scarce nature of Bitcoin.
The status of Bitcoin is much higher
The crypto analyst views Bitcoin differently as compared to other analysts. He thinks that Bitcoin is not a toy anymore nor it is an asset rather ‘it is going to be much bigger than that’.
“This thing [#bitcoin] is not a toy anymore, and it’s maybe not an asset anymore as well. It is going to be much bigger than that.”
PlanB + @PeterMcCormack podcast on Youtube:https://t.co/kHH9JzyM7w
— PlanB (@100trillionUSD) May 2, 2020
PlanB also talks about various stages of Bitcoin and says that Bitcoin was just a toy in its first stage and when its price value touched $1 that was its second stage. In the third stage, bitcoin saw a huge rise in its mass adoption and price value. According to PlanB, it is now going to enter into its fourth historical stage and the status of Bitcoin is much higher on the brink of this stage.
The top-notch crypto analyst considers Bitcoin a financial instrument in the current financial world. It will not be surprising for the crypto analyst if a nation or country uses the leading digital asset for the purpose of cross-border settlements in the future. The concepts of e-cash or e-Gold are very far behind Bitcoin.
During his discussion, he also highlighted the importance of his Bitcoin’s Stock-to-flow model, and a host of research has been done to check the accuracy of his model he said. Recently, a prominent economist Alex Kruger shed a light on this model and said that it is as reliable as moon cycles.


Financial projections for the new year are abundant this time every year. This year is no different, except the predictions are much harder to make because we have such a mixed bag to analyze.
While the economic fundamentals under the Trump economy are strong and stark in contrast to the sluggish recovery years of the Obama administration, threats from multiple other directions abound. Overall, this year will likely prove quite a bumpy ride, so it’s time to buckle up.
Let’s start with the numerous positives. First, the labor market. Unemployment, at 3.7%, has reached the lowest levels in nearly fifty years with African-American and Latino unemployment the lowest on record ever. With over seven million job openings, there is more than one job opening per unemployed worker causing the tightest labor market in decades. On the GDP side, we can see the effects of President Trump’s deregulatory actions and tax reforms, as manufacturing hit a 14-year high and we have had quarterly GDP growth exceed 4%. We had the best real wage growth since 2009, and consumer confidence also hit an 18-year high, which gave us the best retail holiday season in six years – ringing in $850 billion.
President Trump also had the gumption to take on America’s uneven trade deals and renegotiate them with our immediate neighbors and even call out the mammoth, China. Against this backdrop, why isn’t it all smooth sailing from here?
Well, because the negatives – the headwinds we are facing so to speak – are also numerous.
After nearly a decade of market upside, we have a very aged bull market – in fact the oldest in our history and unchartered territory is never fun. This Bull is showing its age, with the Dow down overall 5.6% in 2018, the S&P500 down 6.2%, and Nasdaq down 3.9% — and 2018’s record corporate earnings will be quite difficult to repeat.
We also have geopolitical risks with North Korea, Russia, Iran and Syria, among others, while we balance new trade tensions by challenging the status quo that has enabled China to become the dominating-global-industrial monstrosity it is.
More than all of that though, is the slow u-turn the Federal Reserve must take from nine years of cheap monetary policy. Raising/normalizing rates and deleveraging our national balance sheet at a rate of $50 billion per month changes the game, especially when Americans have been lulled into thinking easy credit terms were ours forevermore (as seen by record levels of consumer debt and student loans). A reliable tell for the last forty years of a future economic downturn…i.e. a coming recession in two years or less, is a small and closing spread between yields on the 2-year and 10-year U.S. Treasury bond. As of December 31st, that was less than 19 basis points at only .188%.
And lastly, in addition to all of these issues, we presently have a federal government shutdown over domestic immigration policies, with a divided government starting this week. Can you see the storm clouds churning?
How it affects you
So, what to do with all of this? That answer depends on you and where you are in your personal investment horizon. Conventional financial advisors will tell you that investing is for the long term, that the market is cyclical and even if it goes down, it will come back up again. They will also say that attempting to time the market is next to impossible – if you get out too early, you will miss out on upside. If you don’t get back in soon enough, you will overpay by buying back in late. The concept of dollar-cost averaging was made popular as the antithesis of market timing.
I agree with SOME of this conventional wisdom, but I believe math trumps here. The truth is, if we had a crystal ball, it would ALWAYS be better to avoid a loss, especially when you are 10 years or less from retirement. When you are that close to retirement, we need the time left to grow what you have, not simply recover it.
It took over four years for the S&P 500 to recapture its pre-Great Recession level – over four years on the hamster wheel – thus the reason Warren Buffet’s Rule No. 1 is to “Never Lose Money,” and his 2nd rule is never to forget rule No. 1.
If you are close to retirement, assuming you have built enough to retire on, safety is more important than growth. A move towards a higher cash/cash equivalent balance as a percent of the total, along with a shift to a goal of safety through interest and dividend paying holdings instead of capital appreciation, could be a strategic move.
For those with a 401(k), this is an excellent time to consider leveraging a smaller balance from market losses for Roth conversions, especially under our now more welcoming lower tax brackets. Overall, even with our strong fundamentals, you should probably level set your 2019 expectations for rough seas ahead…
Ms. Walser’s article was featured on Foxbusiness.com – you can view it here: Retirement strategies for 2019: Buckle up for bumpy ride


The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) has published its new Immigration Statistics 2018 report on Friday. According to the fresh statistics, the net immigration (that is, the number of people entering minus the number of people leaving) in Switzerland for EU and EFTA nationals was 33,088 last year. In fact, the 2018 figure is also only half the record number of 60,957 – the highest since the Swiss–EU bilateral agreement on the free movement of persons (AFMP) came into force.
The Swiss government has coped with a crisis of migration in 2014 and 2015 when the conservative Swiss People’s Party’s “against mass immigration” initiative called for quotas on EU nationals entering Switzerland. Such a decision was also backed by voters in a referendum. As a result, in 2018, there was just 90 people more (or 0.3percent higher) than in 2017 when net immigration was 30,799.
2018 migration: SEM recorded a politically significant figure
The Swiss government went into crisis mode and quickly worked to limit the impact of the referendum which seriously threatened already fraught Swiss–EU relations. The Swiss parliament finally passing a much watered-down version of the immigration initiative in 2016.
The relatively low net immigration figure for 2018 comes in the midst of a long-running debate over immigration in Switzerland. The conservative SVP’s has been trying for years to push through initiatives to counteract the impact of the AFMP and ensure Switzerland has the final say on the number of immigrants entering the country.


Marin Software Director Buys $9,060 in Stock (MRIN)
Marin Software (NASDAQ:MRIN) Director Paul R. Auvil III bought 1,200 shares of the company’s stock on the open market in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $7.55 per share, with a total value of $9,060.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 21,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,213. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.
Shares of Marin Software (NASDAQ:MRIN) traded down 0.13% on Friday, hitting $7.58. The stock had a trading volume of 354,875 shares. Marin Software has a 1-year low of $7.30 and a 1-year high of $14.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.56 and a 200-day moving average of $10.17. The company’s market cap is $263.8 million.
Marin Software (NASDAQ:MRIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $23.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.26) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Marin Software will post $-0.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded shares of Marin Software from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. They now have a $9.00 price target on the stock, down previously from $13.00. Separately, analysts at Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Marin Software from $16.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, analysts at TheStreet upgraded shares of Marin Software from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 19th.
Marin Software Incorporated provides cloud-based digital advertising management platform to advertisers and agencies.
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The independent retailer lives on
Through a special arrangement, what follows is a summary of an article from Retail Paradox, RSR Research’s weekly analysis on emerging issues facing retailers, presented here for discussion.
One undercurrent I felt very strongly at the recent Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition (IRCE) in Chicago was the presence and predicament of the small, independent retailer.
Sure, some of the technology providers there could scale up to tier one and tier two proportions, but a notable focus was on the small retailer as well — rightfully, and necessarily so. While technology has changed and evolved, the independent retailer — even without storefronts — still works far more than the 40-hour week (or even 50-hour week) of his larger brethren.
As the daughter of an independent retailer, I saw my father get postcards pre-printed when he’d run a sale. He would address them by hand and I would fill in the zip code on the front. We’d mail them to all his existing customers, whose names he gathered by hand from sales receipts. Today, all kinds of e-mail programs can send targeted (and all-too-often untargeted) e-mails with the offer of the day. If you buy online, the retailer automatically gets your name, address and e-mail. Challenges now are more about having a single customer list for all the channels where business is conducted.
While my father would also run small ROP (run of paper) ads in local newspapers from time-to-time in hopes of attracting new shoppers, the independent internet retailer focuses on search engine optimization (SEO). I have a client who built a business from zero to a $300,000/year run rate in eighteen months by spending 70-80 hours a week working on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). That’s right, 70-80 hours of his own time to go along with the money he spent on SEO providers.
The long and the short of it is that the independent retailer still works really, really hard. Sure, some challenges have been solved by technology. But those same technologies create shiny new challenges that require hours of work, thought and effort. I, for one, appreciate their efforts and make every attempt I can to support them whenever possible. I hope you will too!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: How have you seen independents take advantage of retail technology to undercut the advantages of their larger chain rivals? What other advantages do independents have that big chains fail to match, even with technology?