Is the Real-Estate Rebound for Real? - Hallmark Idaho Properties

The numbers point to a lasting recovery in housing and commercial properties. Here?s how to invest wisely.

For investors, ?home? is no longer a four-letter word.

The real-estate sector, for the first time in years, is serving as a beacon of relative strength in an otherwise weak economy. Standard & Poor?s on Tuesday reported that home prices in its S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index rose 0.9% in May from the prior month, after adjusting for seasonal trends, and have risen 2.6% since bottoming in January.

Some of the world?s smartest investors, including Warren Buffett, are taking notice, placing big bets on a continued recovery in the housing market. Other kinds of real-estate investments?including real-estate investment trusts that own shopping malls, apartment buildings and hospitals?also have been among the best performers this year.

For ordinary investors, the rebound serves as an opportunity to rethink how much of their portfolio should be in real-estate investments?and to participate in the rebirth of a sector they once left for dead.

?After the recent returns we?ve seen, people are naturally asking ?Have I already missed it or is there further upside to come?? From our perspective, yes, there?s further upside,? says Frank Haggerty, a portfolio manager at money manager Duff & Phelps Investment Management who comanages a $1.3 billion mutual fund that invests in commercial-real-estate companies.

There is reason for optimism. Not only are single-family home prices steadily climbing, but the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University in a June report said that inventories of new, single-family homes in March were at the lowest level in 49 years. The upshot: It would take fewer than six months to sell the current inventory, the traditional boundary between a strong and weak market, says Eric Belsky, managing director of the center.

To be sure, some promising signals during the recession turned out to be false alarms. In mid-2009, the 20-city S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index began a yearlong rise, only to fall again. Yale professor Robert Shiller, who called both the early 2000s stock-market crash and the recent real-estate bust, says he isn?t certain prices have bottomed.

But even if the absolute nadir hasn?t been reached, most economists say the odds are good that real estate will be stronger over the next few years than it has been in the past few.

Many investors, chastened by the bust, have sworn off real estate entirely. That could be a mistake.

Experts say, for example, that because commercial real estate is such a big part of the economy, it should make up about 15% or more of the stock portion of an investment portfolio. Yet these days, commercial real estate comprises only about 3% of funds that track the broad stock market?meaning investors who follow the major indexes are drastically underexposed.

With that in mind, here is how to play the real estate turnaround smartly in three main ways?investing in home builders, buying real-estate investment trusts and buying and managing individual properties:

At least some of the real-estate recovery already has been priced into the market, experts say. The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction exchange-traded fund has returned 35% this year including dividends, according to investment-research firm Morningstar, trouncing the S&P 500?s jump by 25 percentage points.

But even with the increase, housing stocks are still 66% below their May 2006 level, when the housing crisis was just getting started.

There is reason to believe some home builders have more room to run, says Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott. While valuations might look rich at first glance, the numbers are skewed, he says.

Investors commonly value home builders by looking at the ratio of their share prices to their book value, a measure known as the price/book multiple. But those ratios look artificially high because builders? land and other assets are just starting to reflect the recovery, he says.

The ratio ?is distorted,? he says. ?Even without making heroic assumptions on new-home sales, there?s room for home builders to go up.?

Another reason to be bullish: On average, after home prices reach their trough, upturns last seven years, according to a study by the International Monetary Fund of 55 housing rebounds world-wide since the 1970s. So, if a bottom has in fact been reached, home construction companies could be in for another 6? years of increasing sales.

The easiest way to make a broad bet on home builders is through an ETF, such as SPDR S&P Homebuilders or iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction. Given the market?s run-up, however, it might be smarter to stick with specific home-related stocks that have the most room for growth, says Bob Wetenhall, a senior analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

KB Homes, for example, has shown improving new-home orders that set it above other home builders, Mr. Wetenhall says. What?s more, after accounting for tax benefits that it accrued during the housing downturn, the company?s price/book ratio is 1, about 30% below that of other home builders, he says.

Lennar, which has a price/book ratio of 1.5 after adjusting for tax benefits, looks expensive next to its peers. But since it gets revenues not only from single-family homes but also multifamily housing and other kinds of real estate, it will be buttressed, Mr. Wetenhall says.

Although single-family housing made the headlines during the real-estate boom, the performance of real-estate investment trusts?which mostly manage portfolios of commercial properties such as office parks, malls and apartment buildings?was also spectacular.

The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts index of publicly traded REITs nearly tripled between January 2003 and the index?s peak in January 2007, including dividends?making large-company stocks? total return of 62% look paltry by comparison.

Then equity REITs, which primarily own real estate rather than mortgages, were crushed during the downturn, losing more than two-thirds of their value from their 2007 high. But equity REITs have risen 15% this year and now are about even with their peak, after dividends.

Many financial advisers argue that since REITs already make up about 3% of funds that track total stock-market indexes, they don?t deserve a separate allocation in a portfolio. Others say REITs should get up to 20% of the overall pie because of their low correlations with other asset classes and high dividend yields.

The right answer is in between.

In the last decade, REITs increasingly have moved in lock-step with the broader stock market, according to a Morningstar analysis, meaning their low-correlation benefits are nearly gone. And since the 1970s, REITs? dividends have also grown more slowly than inflation, knocking down that benefit, says money manager William Bernstein, author of ?The Investor?s Manifesto.?

But investors should put a hefty chunk of their portfolio in REITs, says Rick Ferri, founder of investment adviser Portfolio Solutions.

The reason? Most commercial real estate isn?t publicly traded, so broad stock-market funds grossly understate the sector?s importance to the economy, Mr. Ferri says. To make up the difference, investors should invest an extra 10% of their stock allocation in equity REITs?-which would turn a hypothetical 60/40 portfolio into one with 54% in a total stock-market fund, 6% in a REIT index fund, and 40% in a total bond-market fund, Mr. Ferri says.

Warning: Don?t confuse equity REITs with mortgage REITs, which use short-term debt to buy long-term mortgage-backed securities and are more of a bet on interest-rate and credit-quality trends than real-estate performance, says Mr. Bernstein.

The easiest way to capture equity REIT exposure is with a low-cost index fund, like the Vanguard REIT ETF, which has an expense ratio of 0.10%, dividend yield of 3.3%, and has returned about 17% this year, including dividends.

Finding bargains among specific REITs might be more difficult, given the recent rally. Experts suggest starting with valuation.

Rather than use a price/earnings ratio to value real-estate investment trusts, many REIT investors calculate a price/funds-from-operations ratio, which excludes depreciation and amortization?both hefty expenses for heavy property owners.

Based on that measure, the valuations of REITs in some sectors already are approaching their 2007 heights. REITs that own industrial properties, for example, had a forward P/FFO multiple of about 15.4, according to Nareit, the same level as in January 2007. And REITs that own regional malls have a P/FFO of 15.4, above 2007?s 13.7.

On the plus side, apartment REITs? multiple of 17.2 is still well below the 19.6 level seen in 2007.

REITs that will benefit most from an economic turnaround will be those with shorter lease terms that can quickly raise rents, says Mr. Haggerty of Duff & Phelps, making those that own hotels, apartments and storage units the strongest players. High-quality mall properties also will fare better in a slowly expanding economy, he says.

For example, as of the end of May, Mr. Haggerty?s fund had positions in self-storage REIT Extra Space Storage and apartment REIT Essex Property Trust. The fund also had holdings in mall owner Simon Property Group and shopping center REIT Taubman Centers.

Although home builders and REITs have risen in anticipation of the real estate turnaround, the prices of single-family homes have barely begun to increase.

To value single-family homes, some investors divide average home prices, as measured by an index such as that run by S&P/Case-Shiller, by ?owners? equivalent rent,? which is calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

By that measure, home valuations are almost as low as they were in the first quarter of 1998, well before the most recent real-estate run-up began.

That has caught the attention of many investors, including Mr. Buffett, who in February said he would buy ?a couple hundred thousand? homes if it were practical. Instead, Mr. Buffett has said he plans to bid on the loan portfolio of failed mortgage lender Residential Capital and also has profited from gains at some of Berkshire Hathaway?s home-related subsidiaries, including paint maker Benjamin Moore and modular-home builder Clayton Homes.

Smaller investors could benefit from the trend as well, experts say, by directly buying properties.

Of course, renting out homes and apartments can be tricky. Investment property owners have to deal with problems ranging from prolonged vacancies to deadbeat tenants. They also might underestimate maintenance and insurance expenses and overestimate rents.

Cash buyers often are favored by sellers and might even command a better price. But banks are willing to lend for investment properties as long as the investor can make at least a 30% down payment on the home, says Bankrate.com senior financial analyst Greg McBride.

For investors who aren?t keen on dealing with such obstacles but want exposure to single-family housing, an alternative is coming. In May, private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and home builder Beazer Homes announced plans to soon go public with a REIT that will own and rent single-family homes. Other private-equity firms have announced similar intentions.

?There?s great opportunity in actually buying residential homes directly for investors who have the capital,? Mr. Luschini says. ?Prices are clearly turning the corner, and housing affordability is the highest in a generation.?

SOURCE: Wall Street Journal

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Source: http://hallmarkidahoproperties.com/archives/4109

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Three firms share $1.1 billion of NASA space taxi work

PASADENA, California (Reuters) - PASADENA | Fri Aug 3, 2012 1:15pm EDT

PASADENA, California (Reuters) - PASADENA

Calif. Aug 3 (Reuters) - NASA will pay more than $1 billion over the next 21 months to three companies to develop commercial spaceships capable of flying astronauts to the International Space Station, the agency said Friday.

The lion's share of the $1.1 billion allotted for the next phase of NASA's so-called ?"Commercial Crew" program will be split between Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies, a privately held firm run by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Boeing will receive $460 million to continue developing its CST-100 capsule, which is intended to fly aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. ULA is a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, was awarded $440 million to upgrade its Dragon cargo capsule, which flies on the firm's Falcon 9 rocket, to carry people.

In May, a Dragon capsule became the first privately owned spacecraft to reach the station, a $100 billion outpost that flies 240 miles above Earth. The test flight was part of a related NASA program to hire commercial companies to fly cargo to the station.

Privately held Sierra Nevada Corp received a partial award of $212.5 million for work on its Dream Chaser, a winged vehicle that resembles a miniature space shuttle which also launches on an Atlas 5 rocket.

All three firms are prior recipients of NASA space taxi development work. The new awards will more than triple NASA's investments in commercial crew programs, which so far total $365 million.

Unlike previous NASA development programs, costs are shared between the government and its selected partners.

"The companies also are bringing money to the table. This is a way of allowing the United States to lead in the development of new space systems that are human-capability and then taking those systems for commercial purposes, as well as for NASA purposes in the future," program manager Ed Mango said.

Since the space shuttles were retired last year, NASA is dependent on partners Russia, Europe and Japan to reach the station. Russia will remain the sole entity capable of flying crew until U.S. companies develop systems, which NASA hopes will be within five years.

Shut out of the competition was Alliant Techsystems which hoped to parlay an ongoing unfunded NASA partnership agreement into a paying contract.

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos's startup Blue Origin, which won $25.7 million during two predecessor programs, did not bid for the integrated design contracts awarded Friday.

Three other firms - Space Operations, American Aerospace and Space Design - submitted proposals but were eliminated for not meeting requirements, NASA's associate administrator for space operations Bill Gerstenmaier said during a conference call with reporters.

(Irene.Klotz@thomsonreuters.com)

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/AXq9hSJz5Rg/us-space-spaceships-idUSBRE8720SC20120803

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Disciples of Gaming [DoG] is recruiting new ... - Xbox Live Clans

Disciples of Gaming is an organization dedicated to the betterment of online gaming experiences. Through the wisdom and dedication of its leadership, D.o.G. works tirelessly to create and maintain a community that makes online gaming a truly worthwhile and enjoyable experience for everyone. Professionalism and respect are essential to our communities. The leadership of our members and their dedication to the DoG community ensures that every member of the Disciples of Gaming has a fun, rewarding gaming experience.

We are a Xbox 360 online gaming community with clans in Modern Warfare 3, Halo:Reach and Call of Duty:Black Ops.

What you can expect from DoG:

- A professional and friendly forum full of interative threads and informative discussion.
- An existing rank structure perfected over the course of 6 years.
- Over 2000 friendly members to game with.
- CoD ELITE with Titles and Clan Ops available.
- DoG Machinima Youtube channel to showcase videos and clips.
- Multiple rosters to find members in additional games: Minecraft, AC, BF3, Ghost Recon, etc.
- Monthly tournaments within the community.
- Constant challenges with prizes to give back to the community.
- Game Battle Teams with different game modes and ladders.
- Graphic Design Team offered for members who specialize in design and like to show their skills.
- A friendly environment that is drama free and respectful.
- But most of all, Fun enjoyable gaming. The way it should be.

To become a full member:

- Contact the community either through the website or current member.
- Be at least 17 years of age(16 years of age may be discussed and approved)
- Must have a mic
- But beyond anything, be respectful and enjoy the game for what it is.

Contact us at www.DisciplesofGaming.com

Source: http://www.xboxliveclans.com/clan-recruitment/14284-disciples-gaming-dog-recruiting-new-members.html

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Essential Air Max Pas Cher Health Insurance Details That - Arty Apt

In today?s community, health insurance is essential Air Max for safeguarding not only your overall health, however, your banking accounts. It?s significant to determine what kind of medical health insurance would meet your requirements. Some people might only want insurance plan for urgent matters, and some might require long-term treatment. This short article gives some tips for getting the most out of your state of health insurance.

You need to consider cash with you when you go to view a medical professional because you might want to spend a co-pay out. Lots of insurance carriers need clients to cover a compact co-pay out whenever they go to the doctor. It is actually normally not over $50, but it should be paid during the time of the visit and many medical doctors need that it is compensated just before they will likely even see the affected person.

Ensuring you replace your state of health insurance plan is very important, specifically if you have children. Letting your insurance Air Max Pas Cher to lapse is really an awful strategy. Incidents or health issues can happen at any time, and the majority of insurance firms will not likely let you revisit using one of these wicked ?pre-present conditions.?

Invest some time when looking for a whole new health care insurance prepare. The final thing that you want to do is hurry this choice. It could possibly find yourself pricing you hundreds of thousands of money down the road when you speed to join a course which is not suitable for your household.

It?s important to note an pre-current health concerns you may have when contemplating switching medical health insurance policies. Companies have a long list of of the things conditions they could not cover. Some situations under some plans may still Air Max Pas Cher use a ?hanging around period? before protection takes place. These fluctuate by policy. All providers their very own individual listing of circumstances. Discover through your probable prepare what situations they already have shown and just what the hanging around period is made for any you could have.

If you have to pay money for your prescription medications away from your Health Shelling out Accounts, request your personal doctor to suggest you generic prescription drugs. A lot of doctors are given benefits by substance organizations to press their more expensive prescriptions, but when you explain to your physician that you need to spend less, he?s probable to help you out.

Consider using any adverse health insurance policy comparison website to select the right strategy Air Max Pas Cher and prices to suit your needs. Getting in contact with every single business separately will take a lot of time and become complicated. Employing a plan evaluation web site will enable you to enter in your information one time, and then compare many rates more quickly about the same site.

Carefully look into the premiums and deductibles you will be paying when you are getting a new medical health insurance plan. Your overall health insurance can easily wind up costing you a lot more than you would probably pay if you had no insurance plan. To avert this, keep yourself nicely well-informed on the true costs being covered with insurance.

It?s almost impossible to afford health care Air Max Pas Cher in the united states without being insured. New legal guidelines will hopefully help you to receive insurance policy, but you will still find many questions to take into account in choosing a plan. Sometimes you may think an expenditure is protected, only to find the insurer won?t shell out. Take advantage of the suggestions out of this post to ensure that you comprehend your wellbeing insurance options before you really want it.

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Source: http://artyapt.com/blog/essential-air-max-pas-cher-health-insurance-details-that-everybody-should-know-about/

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How not to switch credit companies and credit accounts a lot

August 2nd, 2012 by How to Find Finance Solution

Tip #57: Avoid changing switching credit companies and credit accounts a lot

?

Credit companies will often offer you special introductory rates, generous free gifts or other incentives to switch companies.? However, you should resist the temptation unless you have a reasonable reason to switch. Establishing a good credit relationship with one company ? having one credit card from your college days, for example ? is a good way to show lenders that you are a steady sort of person who is likely to take money matters seriously.? That is exactly what lenders want to see. Switching accounts and lenders makes you appear fickle and less than reliable.

?

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Source: http://finances.howtosolutionhere.info/personal-finance/how-not-to-switch-credit-companies-and-credit-accounts-a-lot/

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Beijing floods unleash online criticism of government ( video)

The heaviest rain in six decades left at least 37 people dead and raised criticism online about Beijing's infrastructure.

By Christina Larson,?Correspondent / July 23, 2012

A car damaged by floods is seen after heavy rainfalls hit Zhou Kou Dian Village, Fangshan district, near Beijing July 22. The Chinese capital's heaviest rainstorm in six decades killed at least 37 people, flooded streets, and stranded 80,000 people at the main airport, state media, and the government said on Sunday.

REUTERS

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For 16 hours on Saturday, sheets of unrelenting rain pummeled China?s capital, reportedly the heaviest storm in six decades.

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'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // --> Flooding from recent heavy rains across China has resulted in death and destruction.

By Sunday, Pan Anjun, deputy chief of the Beijing flood control headquarters, had tallied the damage. The Chinese newswire Xinhua reported that at least 37 people had died in storm-related damage or events, including 25 who drowned, 6 who were trapped in collapsing buildings, 5 who were electrocuted by fallen power lines, and 1 who was struck by lightning.

Some 500 flights into or out of Beijing Capital Airport were canceled. Reportedly 736 homes were flooded, and 66,000 residents in the hardest-hit areas had been temporarily located, many from the suburban district of Fangshan. At least 31 roads or bridges had collapsed.

All told, Mr. Pan estimated 2 million people were affected. And many of those have taken to online forums to express anger over what they see as ongoing lack of concern for proper construction amid Beijing's pell-mell growth ? as well as for people's needs amid the storm.

On Weibo, China?s Twitter-like social media site, some residents suggested that China?s Meteorological Bureau should have alerted Beijingers to potential dangers through text messages sent via China?s giant state-run telecoms, China Mobile and China Unicom. Of greater Beijing?s roughly 20 million people, roughly 95 percent have cellphones.

The impact of the unusual storm was exacerbated by problems in the municipal drainage system. Beijing?s total urban area has doubled in a decade, from about 700 square kilometers (270 sq. mi.) in 2000 to almost 1,400 square kilometers (500 sq. mi.) in 2010. Many of the city?s newer drains are built to absorb up to 45 millimeters (1.7 inches) of rain per hour, but at several points the volume of Saturday?s storm was much greater.

?When the city hosts big conferences, there are guards at every bridge. But when the big rain comes, there are none,? wrote Dong Lu, the popular sports anchor and commentator.

?We hosted the Asian Games and Olympic Games,? wrote someone on Weibo going by the name Wen. ?We spent billions of yuan to do monumental things. But now after after the heavy rains, we discover that we don't know how to build sewers.?

And as another concluded: ?The secret of Qingdao, a [coastal] city that not afraid of floods? Its drains were built by Germany.?

Pan, the flood control official, estimated the total cost of damages to be about 10 billion renminbi, or $1.6 billion. More than 13,000 vehicle insurance claims have already poured into the China Insurance Regulatory Commission?s Beijing branch.

Kevin Chou contributed to this report.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/vp1KVOo5PFI/Beijing-floods-unleash-online-criticism-of-government-video

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Judge: No mistrial in Drew Peterson murder case

CHICAGO (AP) ? Former police officer Drew Peterson's murder trial will go on after the judge decided against declaring a mistrial.

The Thursday ruling followed several blunders by prosecutors seeking to prove the 58-year-old killed his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004. He's also a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson. But he's not charged in her case.

The furious judge had admonished prosecutors Wednesday after a neighbor of Savio testified about finding a .38-caliber bullet on his driveway. The witness insinuated Peterson may have planted it to intimidate him.

Prosecutors later admitted there's no evidence to support the claim. The defense asked for a mistrial, saying the jury was tainted.

But the judge said Thursday that Peterson still can get a fair trial.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-no-mistrial-drew-peterson-murder-case-150832588.html

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An Easy Way to Track the 'Giving Pledge' - The Giveaway - The ...

For major-gift fundraisers and aficionados of the super rich and their charitable impulses, the Foundation Center has something for you: a new Web page profiling the 81 wealthy families who?ve joined the ?Giving Pledge.?

The pledge was hatched by Bill & Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage their fellow billionaires to give. People who sign on must commit to donating at least half their net worth; for the 81 families, that amounts to roughly $200-billion.

The Foundation Center?s ?Eye on the Giving Pledge? profiles those 81 megaphilanthropists and slices some data on the donors. It finds, for example, that the biggest share of donors (35 percent) are 65 to 79 years old. Health causes are the most favored by the donors, followed by human services and education.

More of the Giving Pledge members made their money in banking and investments (29 percent) than in other industries.

For more on the Giving Pledge, read this Chronicle?article?on its unveiling and listen to an interview with Bill Gates about the pledge. You can also learn more about big donors from our annual Philanthropy 50 database profiling the nation?s most generous donors and our list of publicly announced gifts of $1-million or more.

Source: http://philanthropy.com/blogs/the-giveaway/an-easy-way-to-track-the-giving-pledge/2925

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Study: US cities increasingly segregated by income

U.S. cities have become increasingly segregated by income since 1980, with the greatest divide in fast-growing Texas metropolitan areas, the Pew Research Center reported on Wednesday.

This rising segregation is seen in 27 of the 30 biggest metropolitan areas and stems from the long-term increase in U.S. income inequality, Pew said in its study of Census data.

Residential segregation by income is less widespread than segregation by race, even though U.S. black-white segregation has been falling for decades, the report said.

The analysis shows that 28 percent of lower-income households in 2010 were in a mostly lower-income neighborhood, up from 23 percent in 1980.

Eighteen percent of upper-income households were in a majority upper-income census tract, twice the level in 1980.

Rising income inequality "has led to a shrinkage in the share of neighborhoods across the United States that are predominantly middle class or mixed income," wrote Paul Taylor and Richard Fry, the report's authors.

The share of neighborhoods that are middle class fell to 76 percent in 2010 from 85 percent in 1980.

Among the 30 biggest metropolitan areas, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas show the greatest segregation of neighborhoods by income, the report said.

The least segregation was seen in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Portland, Ore., and Orlando, Fla.

Most of the metropolitan areas showing the greatest increase in segregation have seen significant population growth as people moved in.

For example, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio are among the fastest-growing U.S. cities, with growth partly fueled by low-wage immigrants moving in along with better-paid high-skill workers and well-off retirees.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48446184/ns/business/

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Exxaro H1 profits up 11 pct, sees stable H2

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African diversified miner Exxaro on Wednesday posted an 11 percent rise in first-half earnings, boosted by higher mineral sands prices, and said results for the remainder of the year are likely to be relatively stable.

Exxaro said headline earnings per share for the six months to end-June rose 11 percent to 11.62 rand.

Headline EPS is the main profit gauge in South Africa and strip out certain one-time items, such as the 5 billion rand impact from the sale of Exxaro's mineral sands and base metals units.

Revenue was up 3 percent to 9.76 billion rand, partially hit by lower coal volumes and export prices.

Exxaro, South Africa's second-largest coal producer and a big supplier to power utility Eskom, said total coal production decreased by 3 percent, mainly due to lower steam coal volumes.

Coal exports declined by 13 percent given limited availability of capacity on the rail line leading to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal and due to challenges at Exxaro's Mafuba mine.

In the second half of the year, Exxaro expects the coal export price index to remain under pressure, while domestic prices are expected to be marginally higher.

"Overall coal production volumes are expected to be higher in the second half but are likely to be offset by weaker international coal prices," the company said.

Exxaro said it would pay an interim dividend of 350 cents per share.

Shares in the company are up 2.4 percent this year, compared with an 8.1 percent rise in the JSE Top-40 blue-chip index.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exxaro-h1-profits-11-pct-sees-stable-h2-060657415--sector.html

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