Eight-Figure Property Hits the Foreclosure Auction Block

clipped from blogs.wsj.com It’s rare to see an eight-figure property hit the foreclosure auction block, but it’s happening. In Australia, a 30,000 square-foot waterfront mansion will be for sale at a Dec. 1 receiver’s auction. Located on Hope Island, an affluent gated community in the Gold Coast, a resort area about 530 miles north of Sydney, the recently built sprawling estate with marina views is one of the largest homes and lots in the area, The house was listed for a few months at AU$25 million or about U.S.$23.5 million. The three-level home has multiple balconies and roof terraces, as well as seven bedroom suites, four bars, a movie theater, an elevator, a cigar room and gold-plated bathroom taps. A photo of the property from the Christie’s brochure The brochure cover shows a photograph of the home with a yacht parked in back. (Here’s the listing.) The auction will have a reserve price, Mr. Jacobs says. Furnishings are not included. Michael Vettoretto, of Knight Frank, is also handling the sale.

Robert T DeMarco Weblog: Consumers ‘Hanging on for Dear Life’

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Consumers haven’t fallen off of the proverbial cliff, but they appear to be hanging on for dear life… Indeed, the August through October period marks the worst three-month performance for core retail sales since July through September 2002 Richard Moody, Mission Residential The consumer is facing the twin headwinds associated with high energy costs and a negative wealth effect tied to lower housing prices. One of the keys going forward will be whether the labor market continues to provide sufficient income support to prevent too much of a slide in consumer demand. –Morgan Stanley Research Looking ahead, the sluggish start to the fourth quarter points to a marked slowdown in consumer spending — and in GDP growth. –David Resler, Nomura Securities Today’s data supports our view that the holiday shopping season could see one of the weakest gains in spending in years. –Drew Matus, Lehman Brothers And the full impacts from the rise in energy costs have yet to be seen. –Naroff Economic Advisors

Gold Tops $800 for 1st Time Since 1980 nearing all time high

When gold went over $800 an ounce in 1980 it was all that investors were talking about. With gold approaching its all time high of $875 you really aren't hearing much if anything. Is gold the next oil?

Smart Clips: Gold Tops $800 for 1st Time Since 1980 nearing all time high

Helping the Fed Target Asset Prices

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Joseph Carson, director of global economic research at Alliance Bernstein, thinks he has the answer. He’s created a “broad price index” combining consumer prices, producer prices and asset prices. “The weighting scheme is designed to approximate the relative importance of each sector in the overall economy, with consumer prices given the dominant share, followed by smaller shares allotted to producer, real estate and equity prices,” he says. The index registered strong surges in both 1999-2000 and 2004-2005, a signal that the Fed’s monetary policy was too easy at the time, he says. On the other hand, at present it is growing at about the same rate as core consumer prices, suggesting Fed policy is about right.

From the Krugman Blog

clipped from krugman.blogs.nytimes.com Failing to Pass the Laffer Test The revenue boom of the last few years, which mainly depended on booming corporate profits, is over. Here’s a chart from the Congressional Budget Office: And a further slowdown is visible within the fiscal 2007 data: revenue in September was up only 2 percent from the previous year. To put this in perspective, here’s revenue as a percent of GDP since Clinton took office: So everything you’ve heard about how revenues have boomed since the Bush tax cuts is wrong. What really happened was that revenue plunged, as a percent of GDP, in the early Bush years, then staged a partial, but only partial, recovery. And that recovery seems to have run its course.

Housing Boom Has Limited Effect on Growth

clipped from blogs.wsj.com Frank Smets and Marek Jarocinski, economists at the European Central Bank, focus their new paper on the run-up in house prices from 2000 to 2006 and note that it can’t be explained by GDP growth over that period. Real housing prices grew at rates above 5% after the U.S. economy slowed in 2000 and 2001, and about 10% in 2004 and 2005, far above GDP growth during the period. “We find that both housing market and monetary policy shocks explain a significant fraction of the construction and house price boom, but their effects on overall GDP growth and inflation are relatively contained,” they write in the study presented at a conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Greenspan Warns Of Risks With ‘Super SIV’ Fund

clipped from www.emergingmarkets.org Greenspan delivers sharp warning on superfund Former Fed chairman points to more market anguish ahead as US economy teeters on brink of recession Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has warned that plans announced this week to launch a so-called “super fund” – a dramatic attempt by major investment banks to ease the crisis facing credit markets – could have dire repercussions. In an exclusive interview with Emerging Markets, Greenspan said that the $75 billion so-called Master Liquidity Enhancement Conduit (MLEC) – proposed by Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan and Wachovia to take on the assets of troubled investments – runs the risk of further undermining already brittle confidence in besieged markets. More...

Winter heating costs seen rising 22 percent

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com Government: Cold winter is predicted; seasonal cost for heating fuel to soar NEW YORK - It’s going to be a much more expensive winter for households that depend on heating oil, the government predicted Tuesday, while those that use natural gas should experience only moderate price increases. Heating oil customers will pay an average of $319, or 22 percent, more this winter than last in large part because of soaring crude oil prices, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration estimated. Natural gas customers are forecast to pay $78, or 10 percent, more for heat between October and March.

Military Declares Victory over Al Qaeda in Iraq

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com Some U.S. military commanders are declaring victory over al-Qaeda in Iraq after coalition forces "dealt devastating and perhaps irreversible blows" to the terrorist group, according to The Washington Post. "There is widespread agreement that AQI has suffered major blows over the past three months," the Post reports. "Among the indicators cited is a sharp drop in suicide bombings, the group's signature attack, from more than 60 in January to around 30 a month since July. Captures and interrogations of AQI leaders over the summer had what a senior military intelligence official called a "cascade effect," leading to other killings and captures. The flow of foreign fighters through Syria into Iraq has also diminished, although officials are unsure of the reason and are concerned that the broader al-Qaeda network may be diverting new recruits to Afghanistan and elsewhere."

Gassy Bugs

Kleiner Perkins, BASF Ventures, Oxford Bioscience, interesting, very interesting. Maybe put on future radar screen for good IPO.

clipped from www.forbes.com Who knew that tiny bugs deep underground are burping out natural gas, even at this very moment? <BR><BR>Three years ago, Luca Technologies, a start-up in Golden, Colo., discovered that microorganisms in U.S. coal fields are converting--in real time--large hydrocarbon molecules into methane, a natural gas. The obvious entrepreneurial reaction? Harness those "bugs" and put them to work producing natural gas in underutilized oil and coal fields, decided Luca Technologies Chief Executive Robert Pfeiffer. <BR><BR>Now some big backers are betting that Luca’s technology will pay off. In late September, Pfeiffer raised a combined $20 million in venture funding in a Series B round led by superstar Silicon Valley venture firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, with participation from Oxford Bioscience Partners and BASF Venture Capital America,