Bankrate: Jumbo Mortgage Rates Rise Again
Mon ,28/09/2009U.S. Newswire, August, 2007
To: REAL ESTATE EDITORS
Contact: Kayleen Keneally, Sr. Director, Corporate Communications
of Bankrate, Inc., 1-917-368-8677, kkeneally@bankrate.com
NEW YORK, Aug. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — It was a topsy-turvy
week for mortgage rates, with the average conforming 30-year fixed
mortgage rate falling to 6.66 percent. According to Bankrate.com’s
weekly national survey of large lenders, the average 30-year fixed
mortgage has an average of 0.25 discount and origination points.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040122/FLTHLOGO)
The average 15-year fixed rate mortgage popular for refinancing
pulled back similarly to 6.33 percent. But it was a much different
story on larger loans and adjustable rate mortgages
5 FREE THEME PARK TICKETS
Mon ,28/09/20090 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Feb 18, 2001
GET a set of FIVE fantastic FREE tickets for days out at some of Britain’s most thrilling theme parks and attractions with our great offer.
We’re giving readers of the Sunday Mirror and The Mirror a free set of up to five adult tickets – together worth over pounds 65.
So you can enjoy fun-packed days out at LEGOLANDWindsor; Pleasureland Southport; American Adventure; Lightwater Valley; and Flambards.
To qualify for your FREE tickets simply collect five out of the seven differently-numbered tokens we’re printing in the Sunday Mirror and Mirror from yesterday until next Friday, February 23
Classic wines, classic cars
Mon ,28/09/20090 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Aug 8, 2008 | by Gideon Rubin
CASTRO VALLEY — A local winery will play host to a retro-themed festival on Sunday benefiting the East Bay SPCA.
The “Hot August Wine-Fest” is part of a summer concert series intended to raise awareness of to Southern Alameda County’s wineries, organizer Adrienne Witte said.
The event will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. at Westover Winery, 34329 Palomares Road, in Castro Valley.
The three-event series began with the ’60s-themed “Winestock” event in May and culminates with the annual Harvest Wine Celebration on Aug. 31.
A spin-off of Danville’s “Hot August Nights,” Wine-Fest will feature live music and classic cars. Representatives from the SPCA are expected to attend
Destination News – Hotel, Resort & Spa Latin America / Caribbean
Sun ,27/09/2009Airguide Online, Dec 15, 2008
Dec 14, 2008
Bolongo Bay Beach Resort
Bolongo Bay Beach Resort in St. Thomas is offering a value-added vacation with its Inauguration Package honoring the new U.S. President Barack Obama. The package is valid through the month of January, and allows guests to celebrate this year[sup.1]s memorable and historical presidential inauguration in St. Thomas. The Inauguration Package is priced at $772 per person, based on double occupancy and includes five-night accommodations in an ocean view room; a $100 resort credit; a [sup.3]discover scuba diving[sup.2] in-pool lesson; complimentary use of non-motorized watersports equipment (snorkel gear, paddle boats, sunfish sailboats, windsurfing equipment and kayaks); 15 percent tax and service charges; and $5 per day energy surcharge. Guests staying at Bolongo on Jan. 20 can watch the inauguration festivities on television at Iggies Beach Bar & Grill. For more information, call 800-524-4746, email reservations@bolongobay.com or visit www.bolongobay.com. Dec 11, 2008
Hilton Hotels
Hilton Villahermosa & Conference Center refurbished its two meeting rooms and board room. The $2.2 million renovation created nearly 7,800 square feet of additional meeting space. Hilton Colon Quito spent $2 million to upgrade and refurbish all deluxe rooms and the Club floor located in its Santa Maria Tower. All guests rooms have received the Hilton Serenity Collection, which includes a mattress and box spring by Serta, fine linens, down comforter and down pillows, as well as the [sup.2]easy to use[sup.2] alarm clock/mp3 player, in-room coffee program and bath amenities
Clippings: what to do in the garden this month.(tips & tools)
Sun ,27/09/2009Country Living, October, 2008 by Ozawa, Melissa
EXPERT ADVICE
Put leaves to work in the garden. Autumn leaves are the best mulch for vegetable and flower gardens. They stifle weeds, retain moisture, and enrich the soil. Gather as many as you can this fall and stash them away until spring
Glam gifts
Sun ,27/09/2009Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Dec 24, 2007
ARE you all thumbs when wrapping presents?
If you are wrapping gifts tonight here are some top tips to make them look extra special.
Katherine Fisk, fundraiser for the Children’s Foundation, has been training wrappers who are helping shoppers in Eldon Square until Christmas.
She says: “Use as little paper as possible. Place the present on the paper on a hard surface Add ribbons and bows which take the eye away from the sticky tape. With bottles or tubes twist the ends like a cracker.”
Letter: YOUR SHOUT – The banks deserve no sympathy
Sun ,27/09/2009Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Oct 15, 2008
WITHOUT any mandate from the British taxpayer, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, pictured, have decided to bail out the banks to the tune of pounds 16,000 per taxpayer. Will it solve the problem?
Only time will tell but what concerns me is what happens next. Many bankers have said it is to easy to borrow so we may see high interest rates, credit card limit reductions and minimum payments on credit cards increased. It will be harder to get a mortgage as they will only lend you two to three times your salary so the low-paid will struggle again.
I was shocked to hear one banker say it was too easy to walk away from bad debt.
These fat cat bankers have not walked away from their bad debt, they have walked into Downing Street and begged for help.
What can the poor taxpayer do if we are faced with financial problems? We will lose everything.
How many bankers have lost their homes or jobs? Not many, I bet, and as for giving up their bonuses this year, so what, they “earn” more than pounds 1m per year; they can well survive.
How many of them sold their shares before all these problems started?
I hope the powers that be check all this out.
GEORGE HERSCHEL, Ashington Mews, Northumberland.
Nearby deals to the rescue as national park visitation slides
Sat ,26/09/20090 Comments | USA TODAY, July, 2009 | by Roger Yu
U.S. national parks enjoy a reputation as affordable destinations but haven’t been immune from the downturn in travel, which has prompted surrounding businesses to issue deep discounts.
In 2008, the number of visitors to the 391 national parks in the USA — including monuments, seashores, battlefields and historic destinations overseen by the National Park Service — fell for the first time in three years. It was down 0.4% to 275 million, says David Barna, a Park Service spokesman.
As more Americans cancel expensive European or Caribbean vacations amid the rough economy, travel experts expected better results for national parks. They envisioned families packing into their minivans and camping out at Yosemite, Yellowstone or Shenandoah.
Barna says several…
Emergency Medical Services Acquires Skyservice Air Ambulance
Sat ,26/09/2009Business Wire, Feb 3, 2009
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. — Emergency Medical Services Corporation (NYSE: EMS) (EMSC or The Company) today announced the acquisition by its American Medical Response subsidiary (AMR) of the air ambulance business of Skyservice Business Aviation Inc., which is a fixed-wing air ambulance operator based in Montreal, Canada, with operations in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. Founded in 1989, Skyservice Air Ambulance is a leading worldwide air ambulance service.
The purchase agreement was entered into on January 30, 2009, and the transaction is expected to close in 60-120 days, subject to customary closing conditions and Canadian regulatory approval. The acquisition is taking place through AMR’s wholly owned subsidiary, American Medical Response of Canada Inc. The Company anticipates that the acquisition will contribute approximately $20 million in new annual net revenue. At closing, Skyservice Business Aviation Inc. will also enter into an exclusive long-term relationship with American Medical Response of Canada Inc. with respect to air ambulance operations.
William A. Sanger, EMSC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Consolidation in the fragmented fixed-wing air ambulance industry will position companies with a strong infrastructure to meet increasing demand for patient repatriation. The Skyservice Air Ambulance business has significant market presence in Latin America and Europe, and combined with our existing service base at Air Ambulance Specialists, Inc., we will be better able to improve efficiencies through increased backhaul usage and scheduling efficiencies. We believe that the acquisition of the Skyservice Air Ambulance business further positions AMR as a worldwide leader of fixed-wing air ambulance services.”
Sam Cimone, Skyservice Business Aviation Inc. Vice President of Air Ambulance Operations, added, “We look forward to working within EMSC to expand air ambulance services in North America and internationally. Our companies’ respective footprints and core competencies complement one another well and afford opportunities for continued growth in a competitive market.”
About Emergency Medical Services Corporation
Emergency Medical Services Corporation (EMSC) (www.emsc.net) is a leading provider of emergency medical services in the United States. EMSC operates two business segments: American Medical Response, Inc
METALS: PRECIOUS LITTLE SUPPLY
Fri ,25/09/2009Futures, May 2008 by Zwick, Steve
The price of gold has surged more than 50% in the past year, even with the recent correction figured in, bringing platinum and palladium with it. So, is this the end of fiat currency as we know it, as gold bugs have claimed? Or were commodities in a bubble that has burst – and is gold on the way back down? What are the forces jostling the global metals markets?
Boris Schmitz-Thiersen’s family has been selling jewelry in the same location in Cologne, Germany, for more than 100 years, with a brief sabbatical during World War II. Only in the past year, however, has he begun offering bracelets made of a peculiar white metal mined in South Africa.
“It’s pure palladium,” he explains. “Pretty, isn’t it?”
Yes – and relatively cheap, trading around $450 per troy ounce at press time, compared to just under $2,000 for the same amount of platinum, and about $1,000 for gold. Silver, by contrast, is trading at between $17 and $18 per ounce.
Schmitz-Thiersen’s decision to peddle palladium instead of platinum is one of those quirky little flips of the mind that, if multiplied by all the jewelry stores in the planet, could have major ramifications for the price of these two most precious of metals, and a quick perusal of Cologne’s jewelry shops indicates the minds are, in fact, turning over.
Samantha Trickey, precious metals consultant at the Commodities Research Unit (CRU) in London, points out that jewelry currently accounts for about 20% of total platinum demand, but that, unlike gold, platinum and palladium are primarily industrial metals and not stores of value.
“If prices of platinum get too high, you could see a substitution on the industrial side to palladium,” she says (see “Precious industrials,” page 28). “This is why I’m more bullish on palladium than I am on platinum.”
Yet it is platinum’s secondary function as a precious metal that is driving prices to the stratosphere, along with a rickety South African electricity grid.
ELECTRIC GRIDLOCK
Most coverage of gold’s rise focuses on two factors: the plunge in the U.S. dollar and a general fear of exposure to paper assets. Less attention has focused on the supply side of gold and silver, but more of platinum, palladium and plain old copper.
“In South Africa, the main power supplier, Eskom, has run out of reserve capacity, and this has caused rolling power cuts,” Trickey says. “Many platinum and palladium mines had to close temporarily at the end of January, since power could not be guaranteed, and this posed a safety risk, especially for the underground mines.”
As a result, mines are operating at just 95% capacity, at a time when industrial demand, primarily in China, remains at full throttle. “They’re able to operate on that, but companies are looking at ways to find individual power sources of their own,” she says.
Palladium, thanks to these and other factors, rose from less than $200 per ounce in March 2003, to nearly $580 in February this year (after a one-month surge of about 40%), before settling down to its current mid-$400 range.
COPPER BOTTLENECK
Supply concerns also are dominating the copper market. “The supply side seems to perennially shoot itself in the foot, and so far in 2008 it seems to have shot itself in both feet,” says Trickey’s colleague, Allan Trench, who is CRU’s research manager for copper. He says many of the bullets hitting those feet left their chambers in the 1990s.
“You had a lack of investment then due to low prices