| Cold snap has spring flowering bulbs down, but not out
Last week's extended cold spell did a number on many of the spring bulbs that gardeners so eagerly look forward to for that first show of color. Consecutive nights of lows around 18 degrees well below freezing flattened some of the early-season tulips and turned daffodils rubbery just as they were about to pop. When temperatures on Easter Sunday were nearly the same as they were on Christmas Day, a collective "Bah humbug!'' seems to be in order. "It's like being slapped back into winter,'' said Mark Konlock, director of horticulture at the Green Bay Botanical Garden, where most of the just-emerging tulips were spared beneath a cozy layer of mulch. But even if the daffodils and tulips in your front yard look like they're down now, they're not necessarily out.
On the Lege: A $156 Million Disaster
It took more than a year of blunders before Health and Human Services Commission officials last week halted an ill-fated privatization experiment teeming with red flags from beginning to end. Why it took the agency so long to cancel a nearly $1 billion contract with consulting firm Accenture is but one of many curiosities surrounding a disastrous attempt to revamp a delicate function of human services by replacing 2,900 state workers with privately operated call centers. The call centers were supposed to make social-services enrollment a breeze for needy Texans seeking food stamps, Medicaid, and children's health insurance. .
Long-term investing keeps its old-fashioned shine
LOS ANGELES: Watching the daily drafting's of the stock market nowadays, one can get the mistaken impression that these must be unrewarding times for long-term investors. Not so, not so — and the error is easily disproved. Let's tear ourselves away from the current market charts, and look instead at a five-year mutual fund table. The more than 4,600 US-based stock funds tracked by Bloomberg averaged a 10.7%-a-year return over the past five years through the end of last week. As a point of reference, in roughly the same period consumer price inflation has run at a 2.7% annual pace. Funds that invest outside the US have done even better. Diversified emerging-markets funds, in particular, have climbed 24% a year since early April 2002, according to the research firm Morningstar in Chicago.
Buffett's Rail Stakes, American Home, Gazprom: David Wilson
April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett has at least two good reasons for investing some of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s money in North American railroads. Here's one: Shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Inc., the second-largest U.S. rail owner, and its biggest competitors aren't all that costly relative to earnings even after a four- year advance. And the other: Companies on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border are increasingly buying back stock. The repurchases lift earnings per share and demonstrate that railroads are confident about their prospects. Buffett must be optimistic as well. Berkshire amassed a 10.9 percent stake in Burlington Northern and displaced Marsico Capital Management LLC as the Fort Worth, Texas-based company's largest shareholder.
Proposed rules may exclude hotels as REITs
TORONTO -- The federal government released its new rules for real estate investment trusts, regulations that threaten to shut down hotel and senior care REITs. The regulations make it mandatory that 95% of a REIT's income come from passive investments. That means REITs that get their income from property are in the clear. But if a trust gets a significant portion of its income from an active business, it will not qualify for REIT status and will therefore see its income taxed. The reaction was swift from the hotel sector with one major REIT, Canadian Hotel Income Properties, saying it was now considering strategic alternatives. It said the process was underway before the proposed legislation was tabled late Tuesday. .
Platts Announces New Online Communications Tool to Improve the ...
Platts, the world's leading energy information provider and a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), today said it would launch Platts Editorial Window (eWindow), an online tool that will improve the transparency, efficiency and user experience of Platts' Market-on-Close (MOC) price-assessment process. For more than a decade, Platts MOC has been well recognized for its reporting of daily price benchmarks in the global oil markets. With eWindow, Platts will provide customers of its real-time oil information service, Platts Global Alert (PGA), with an innovative online tool that will significantly improve trading participants' ability to communicate with Platts editors during the daily MOC oil price-assessment window. The tabular screen layout facilitates a real-time view of market activity and counterparty transparency and provides for easy screen customization.
Big bucks investment club cuts back on stocks -- others to follow?
Tiger 21, the world's richest investment club, is cutting back on stocks. Comprised of 123 members with combined assets of $7 billion, the club is focused on investment education for high net-worth individuals (although one one might assume they already know a thing or two about money). The group sports an unusual portfolio: 30% stocks 28% real estate 15.6% fixed-income 8.8% private equity 9.6% alternative investments (e.g. hedge funds) 8% cash While this may seem bizarre, the portfolio's construction is a result of the unique needs of rich investors, who rely on their investments for income. Very few are still working. It will be interesting to see whether smaller investors follow the lead of the wealthy in moving out of equities. If they do, the next few months could be a doozie for financial markets.
Barclays, ABN Amro Confirm Preliminary Discussions On Potential ...
(RTTNews) - Monday, UK-based Barclays PLC (BCS, BARC.L) confirmed that it is in exclusive preliminary discussions with Dutch banking group ABN Amro Holding N.V. (ABN | charts | news | PowerRating) regarding a potential combination of the two organizations that would create value for both sets of shareholders. The company further said that the talks were at an early and exploratory stage, and added that there can be no certainty that the talks would lead to a transaction. Separately, ABN Amro also confirmed that it is in exclusive preliminary discussions with Barclays. Earlier on Monday, Barclays said that it noted the recent press speculation in relation to ABN Amro Holding and added that it would make an announcement before open of business on Tuesday. According to reports, several other suitors have also approached ABN Amro with offers either to buy the bank in entirety or to pocket some of its non-Dutch businesses.
Labour pledges best education system for Scotland
The Scottish Labour party promised yesterday to increase education spending by a fifth and end unemployment, as it launched its campaign to counter the threat of the nationalists winning power in May. Scotland's first minister and Labour leader, Jack McConnell, pledged that his party would build the "best education system in the world" if it was re-elected in just over 20 days time, increasing spending on schools, nurseries and universities by £1.2bn a year. .
MK Capital Markets Welcomes Equity Specialist Bracken White
The Capital Markets Group of Molinaro Koger (MK) announced today that Bracken White, an investment banker with expertise in the international sourcing of hospitality equity, has joined the firm. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mr. Whites role is Managing Director, Capital Markets. His efforts will be focused on sourcing equity and other capital for an array of hospitality projects. During his career in lodging and investment banking Mr. White has been involved in more than $4 billion in real estate and hospitality transactions. Bracken is an ideal addition to our team, stated Ed Blum, Managing Director, Capital Markets. Working together, with our variety of contacts and professional perspectives, we deliver our clients outstanding results. MKs Capital Markets group devises custom-tailored solutions for debt and equity capital in every facet of the hospitality market, from single select-service assets to international five-star portfolios.
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