New York, N.Y., United States (4E) – Moody’s Investor Service downgraded the debt rating of 26 Italian banks Monday amid worries about a double dip recession.

The move means Moody’s now ranks Italy’s banks lower than most of their Western European peers.

Italy’s banks have been struggling from the effects of a weak economy and government austerity measures.

Moody’s noted that support from the European Central Bank lowered the default risk of many of the banks.

The ratings agency lowered its long-term debt and deposit rating by one notch each for 10 banks, by two notches for eight banks, by three notches for six banks and by four notches for two banks.

Moody’s also downgraded the short-term rating on 21 banks by one or two notches, which resulted in long-term rating downgrades.

The firm maintains a negative outlook for all 26 banks.

Moody’s said that Italy relapsed into recession early this year and there are no clear signs of a recovery.

Government austerity measures and other reforms are weighing on Italy’s economy, which could result in further loan delinquencies, in particular among corporate and small business borrowers.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – First-time unemployment claims dropped slightly for the week ending May 5, the United States Department of Labor said Thursday.

Some 367,000 newly jobless workers filed claims for unemployment benefits, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 368,000.

The less volatile four-week moving average was 379,000, down by 5,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 384,250.

However, the percentage of unemployed workers covered by the unemployment compensation insurance program nationwide has also fallen.

The most recent data is for the week ending April 28. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.5 percent then, which marks a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 2.6 percent.

The Labor Department reported that the total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 21 was 6,423,383, down by 174,529 from the previous week.

The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending April 28 were in:

• Indiana (+2,294
• Florida (+1,767)
• Illinois (+1,512)
• Pennsylvania (+1,121)
• New Hampshire (+836)

The largest decreases were in:

• New York (-21,258)
• California (-6,790)
• Massachusetts (-2,530)
• Georgia (-2,110)
• Connecticut (-1,708)

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Fannie Mae has put its hands back in its pocket.

On Wednesday, the troubled mortgage backer reported its best quarterly results since the housing bubble burst five years ago, and says it doesn’t need to extend it hands out for more bailout money.

Even better, the struggling company reported just enough profit in the there months ended March 31 to cover its latest payment to the Treasury Department. Fannie May also forecast a rosier picture for its future.

Fannie May attributed the much-improved results to a slowing decline in home prices, a drop in its inventory of foreclosed homes and better sale prices for the foreclosed homes it sold.

Following the earnings release, chief financial officer Susan McFarland said in a statement, “We expect our financial results for 2012 to be significantly better than 2011.”

When the housing bubble burst in 2007, Fannie was very adversely affected. The company faced scores of foreclosures that resulted in huge losses.

In the summer of 2008, Congress agreed to cover Fannie Mae’s, and sister company Freddie Mac’s, staggering losses, hoping to prevent both companies from going under and to shore up the ailing housing market.

Since that time, Fannie has been the recipient of $116.1 billion in bailout funds. It has made $22.6 billion in dividend payments to the U.S. Treasury, including the most recent $2.8 billion. The result cost taxpayers $93.5 billion.

Freddie Mac was given $72.3 billion from the Treasury and has paid back $18.3 billion.

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Arlington, VA, United States (AHN) – Mortgage rates in the U.S. have fallen to a record low-again.

The average rate for 30-year fixed loan slipped to 3.84 percent for the week ending May 3, down from 3.88 percent in theor week. It is the lowest ever for the 30-year since mortgage giant Freddie Mac started tracking rates in 1971.

The average rate for the 15-year dipped to 3.07 percent from 3.12 percent.

Lower interest rates will provide some cushion and support for the struggling housing market, but unfortunately, the U.S. economic recovery appears to be stalling, and that does not provide the confidence consumers want to take on the obligation of purchasing a home.

The Census Bureau reported earlier this week that homeownership in the U.S. dropped to the lowest level in 15 years, sliding to 65.4 percent in the first quarter of 2012, down from 66 percent in the previous quarter.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks were little changed on the open Monday after a report showed that U.S. personal spending was weaker than expected, and on news that Spain’s economy has fallen into recession.

Just before 10 a.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower by 28 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 7 points and the NASDAQ fell 18.

Market analysts are hopeful that the mostly positive first-quarter corporate earnings have boosted U.S. investors’ confidence enough that the gloomy news from Spain will not weigh too heavily on markets in the United States.

Not helping equities Monday was a government report that showed personal spending rose 0.3 percent in March, less than the expected 0.4 percent.

While investors remain cautious following the dire news out of Spain, they will also have plenty of other reports due this week that may keep them on the sidelines, including manufacturing data on Tuesday, the European Central Bank’s policy statement Thursday, and April’s U.S. jobs report on Friday.

U.S. stocks managed to close higher Friday, as better-than-expected corporate reports held more clout than a report showing disappointing first-quarter economic growth.

In world markets Monday, Spain’s government said its economy declined for the second straight quarter, putting the nation into a recession. The report came just a few days following S&P’s downgrade of Spain’s credit rating and a reading on the country’s unemployment rate that showed it hit a new high.

The news sent Europeans market lower.

Hong Kong ended higher. while markets in Tokyo and Shanghai were closed for holidays.

In currencies and commodities, the dollar rose against the euro and the British pound, but was flat against the Japanese yen.

Oil for June delivery slid 73 cents to $104.20 a barrel, and gold for June delivery slipped $11.60 to $1,654.80 a troy ounce.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Milk, bananas, bread, paper towels, mortgages. Yup, add mortgages to your Costco shopping list. It’s true; the USA’s largest warehouse membership chain now offers mortgages.

After a year of testing the waters, Costco is launching a full service mortgage lending program on its website in partnership with New Jersey based commercial bank First Choice Bank, and 10 other lenders.

To date, under the program, Costco partners have issued over 10,000 mortgages. The numbers is expected to soar as the warehouse retailer markets the service more aggressively to its millions of loyal customers in its myriad stores and in its widely circulated publication Connection.

Like others, Costco’s mortgage lending site gathers quotes from a variety of lenders. But, unlike others in the industry, under the Costco program, the borrower’s identity is revealed only after they formally choose the lender.

Costco makes no profit on the lending itself, but it does get paid to market the service.

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New York City, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks opened mixed Thursday following weak jobless claims.

Just after 10 a.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lost 31 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 2 points and the NASDAQ gained 3.

Holding markets back were numbers from the Labor Department that showed while unemployment claims declined by 2,000 to 386,000 last week, they still came in higher than the 375,000 claims that had been forecast.

Prior to Thursday’s open, Bank of America reported mixed results but managed to show that that company’s earnings more than doubled from a year ago.

Morgan Stanley also reported that earnings and revenue were up from the same period a year ago.

Earnings overall have come in better than expected. Of the 77 companies in the S&P 500 that had reported their first quarter results as of Wednesday, 63 beat expectations, eight matched and only six have missed, Capital IQ reports.

In world markets Thursday, European stocks were mixed in afternoon trading and Asia ended the day also mixed.

In currencies and commodities, the dollar gained against the euro and the Japanese yen, but slipped against the British pound.

Oil for May delivery fell 15 cents to $102.52 a barrel and Gold futures for April delivery added $7.70 to $1,646.50 a troy ounce.

 

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New York City, NY, United States (AHN) – Short sales out paced foreclosures in 12 states in January, market research form Realty Trac reported Friday.

The increase highlights that more homeowners are finding an easier way out of a distressed home loans with short sales, and that more lenders are embracing them.

Short sales occur when a lender agrees to a home sale for less than what is owed. In January, the number surged 33 percent year-over-year, and preliminary data suggests February numbers will also come in robust.

Lenders have become increasingly acceptable to short sales, which tend to hurt neighboring homeowners less than foreclosures. In addition, homeowners may regain eligibility for a new mortgage quicker than those who go through a foreclosure.

Foreclosure sales occur after a bank has repossessed a property, and they still outnumber short sales, but the gap is narrowing.

Data from mortgage tracker Lender Processing Services, as reported this week from Bloomberg News, revealed that short sales exceeded foreclosures in January for the very first time.

States which led in short sales include those beaten up most in the housing downturn, and include California, Arizona and Florida, and nine others.

New rules have slowed foreclosures in many states, spurring short sales, industry analysts note.

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Kayes, Mali (IRIN) – “It was the drought that made people move away from here,” Ousmane Touré said in Kayes, 450 kilometers northwest of Bamako, the capital of Mali, and a 10-hour bus ride across the scorched scrubland of the western Sahel. “There had been a tradition of emigration, but it was when the harvests failed in the 1970s that we saw a real surge in emigration. There was simply not enough to eat, so people took off for France, Germany and the United States. They knew it was only the way of feeding their families back home in Kayes. The same thing is happening this year.”

Touré heads the Association of Returning Migrants of Kayes (AMRK), a welfare organization that tries to provide short-term shelter and counseling to people coming back to this part of the country. The returnees, particularly those from the ethnic Soninké community, which spreads across Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, have played a major role in developing western Mali through their remittances and other cash transfers, giving it a stronger identity and economic base. Many of them are now deportees who have fallen foul of immigration restrictions in France and other countries.

“The emigrants have been well-organized and have always ensured money gets channeled back, building health centers, schools, even roads,” said Touré, but the economic crisis in Europe and tighter immigration controls are having a serious knock-on effect, and impoverished villages can no longer count on the same level of support.

In Mali the three-month rainy season starts in June, with the heaviest falls in July and August. This is the time when everyone participates in the intense agricultural activity of the main cropping season, which provides most of the food for the rest of the year. The lean period occurs in the driest months, just before the next rains come.

For Kayes, the capital of Mali’s First Region, which borders Mauritania, Senegal and Guinea, 2012 is a particularly tough year. Besides the effects of political turbulence elsewhere in the country and a rebellion in the north, serious food security problems appeared months ago, after sparse rains. Surveys by the government and international agencies identified Kayes and the surrounding areas as particularly vulnerable, and likely to be exposed to severe food shortages as an already impoverished population experienced the impact of failed harvests.

By February, market prices for sorghum, millet, groundnuts and other basic foodstuffs were grossly inflated; food reserves were depleted well ahead of the usual lean season, with alarming shortages of seeds. There were complaints that the government’s emergency food rations had given temporary respite to some villages but had ignored dozens more, as well as serious nutritional concerns, particularly for children. The UN estimated that 1.6 million Malians would be food insecure in 2012.

The events in the capital and the north have overshadowed the food crisis in the west. “A lot of things have been put on standby,” said Abdoulaye Samoura, advocacy officer for NGO Oxfam. “There have been serious delays in getting food distributed.” The dramatic price hikes at local markets in January and February have eased off, but there is no reason for complacency.

“What do you do when there is no food and you have to take care of five, 10, 20 people?” Touré asked. The answer is an exodus of men to Bamako, or across the border into Senegal, or to the gold-mining areas 75 kilometers to the south.

Mariam Cissoko, who heads the women’s section of the Association des Organisations Professionnelles Paysannes – Association of Professional Peasant Farmers (AOPP) – in Kayes, confirms that 2012 has been markedly worse. “It rained for only month of the usual three (in 2011) and that has meant drought and everything that comes with it,” she said.

“For us, the Bambara people, we don’t have the same tradition of emigration as the Soninké. We are agro-pastoralists. If you work the land, you will also have some livestock. But there is a strong spirit of solidarity here. In normal times, if you have something in reserve, you will give to those who don’t. But times like these, people just don’t have anything to spare.”

The priorities are stark. “Feed us and feed our animals,” stressed Cissoko. “If NGOs come and talk to us about education, that is all well and good, but we need food first. Without that, everything falls to pieces. People will get sick. Children won’t go to school. Men may be able to take off and look for opportunities elsewhere, but women and children are stuck where they are.”

Kayes has been described as the second hottest place in Africa after Djibouti. “I grew up here and I remember an abundance of corn. We didn’t have droughts like we get now,” Cissoko told IRIN. “In the hottest months, the temperature normally goes to 42 or 43 degrees Celsius, but last year it was 47 or 48 at times, in the shade. The desert is advancing and the climatic changes are here for everyone to see. It has all come progressively.”

Food aid from the UN World Food Program (WFP) and others may ease the problem, but Cissoko says rural communities in the Kayes region are exhausted by the cycle of drought and dependency. They need long-term practical help as they confront shrinking pasture and ongoing food deficits.

“We need proper cereal banks in villages; we need irrigation systems that protect agriculture; we need a credit system that can work, where people can afford the interest rates,” she told IRIN.

Kayes town lies on the banks of the Senegal River. In stark contrast to the dominating barrenness of the western Sahel, the riverbanks are studded with neatly tended plots yielding tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and other crops. This is all part of the maraîchage, or market gardening, that provides women in particular with a livelihood. “When I was a child, people said: ‘You will never get to plant fruit and vegetables here,’” but they were wrong. That was forty years ago. It began timidly, but the gardening has really picked up.”

But Cissoko acknowledges that cereal production is critical, and Ousmane Touré is equally blunt in demanding that the state and its international partners step up their efforts to help Kayes cope with the food deficits and the devastating drought. “What do you do when there is no food?” he asked. “People will not stay here. Families will disappear.”

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– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The U.S. economy created 120,000 new jobs in March, causing the unemployment rate to drop slightly to 8.2 percent, down from 8.3 percent in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

Nonfarm employment rose in manufacturing, food services and drinking; however, it was down in retail trade.

Although the report was good news, it was not great news. The economy needs to create from 120,000 to 200,000 jobs monthly to keep up with growth in the labor force. Many economists had expected job growth closer to the top of that range.

March growth was less than that of the previous three months, and not sufficient to fuel a recovery in the jobs sector of the economy.

The official number of unemployed persons remained virtually unchanged at 12.7 million, compared to 12.8 in February. However, the percentage of working-age Americans who had a job also dropped slightly to 63.8 percent in March, compared to 63.9 percent in February. Before the recession, 89 percent or more of working-age Americans had a job.

The gap between the percentage of working-age people who have jobs and the official unemployment rate is because people are only counted as unemployed if they actively look for jobs. Many discouraged workers eventually stop looking for jobs.

Long-term unemployment is defined as individuals who are jobless for 27 weeks or more and who continue actively to look for work. That number was essentially unchanged in March at 5.3 million, with those people accounting for 42.5 percent of the unemployed. That number has fallen by 1.4 million since April 2010.

The number of people who were working part-time because their employers cut their hours or because they were unable to find full-time work also fell. That number dropped from 8.1 to 7.7 million people.

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