QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It was definitely a mixed month.The gains in core orders and shipments in the month do not offset weakness in the last couple of months.”
Jennifer Lee, BMO Capital Markets economist, on the August durable goods report Article, 1D
Bank to pay Freddie Mac $395 million
Citigroup Inc., the third-largest U.S. bank, has agreed to pay Freddie Mac $395 million to resolve potential future repurchase claims tied to mortgages.
The accord covers about 3.7 million loans sold to Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., between 2000 and 2012, New York-based Citigroup said Wednesday in a statement. The $395 million sum was covered by repurchase reserves as of June 30, Citigroup said.
The biggest U.S. home lenders, including Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup, faced pressure to resolve claims on mortgages sold to Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association, and Freddie Mac, the U.S.-owned firms that took a $187.5 billion bailout. Citigroup announced a deal in July to pay Fannie Mae $968 million.
The deal with Freddie Mac is “another important milestone in successfully resolving Citi’s remaining legacy mortgage issues,” Jane Fraser, chief executive officer of CitiMortgage, said in the statement.
The deal doesn’t release the bank from liability tied to servicing the loans. It excludes less than 1,000 loans from the period, and Citigroup said it believes it is adequately reserved for those.
U.S. diesel fuel prices drop 2.5 cents
Diesel fuel prices dropped to $3.949 per gallon, a decline of 2.5 cents per gallon and the largest decline in weekly price since April, according to a weekly report from the Department of Energy.
Prices in the Gulf Coast Region, which includes Arkansas, were at $3.862. It’s a decline of 2.7 cents, according to the department’s calculations. For the same period in 2012, the price was at $3.995.
Average retail gasoline prices dropped more than 5 cents nationally to $3.495 per gallon, and they declined seven cents to $3.231 in the Gulf Coast region.
Average diesel fuel price is calculated from a sample of approximately 400 retail diesel outlets in the continental United States. Gas prices are figured from a sample of 800 gas stations nationwide.
Household worth rises by $1.3 trillion
Household wealth in the U.S. increased from April through June, supported by gains in the stock and housing markets that are improving Americans’ finances.
Net worth for households and nonprofit groups climbed by $1.34 trillion in the second quarter, or 1.8 percent from the previous three months, to $74.8 trillion, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday in its financial accounts report, previously known as the flow of funds survey.
Climbing stock prices and rising home values have helped ease the sting of higher payroll taxes and across the-board federal spending cuts this year. Further employment and wage gains, combined with cheaper borrowing costs made possible by the Fed’s record monetary stimulus, may provide more room for improvement in household balance sheets and consumer spending, which makes up 70 percent of the economy.
Household net worth is $6.7 trillion above its pre-recession peak of $68.1 trillion reached in the third quarter of 2007. It was $73.5 trillion in the first three months of 2013.
The value of financial assets, including stocks and pension fund holdings, held by American households increased by $674 billion in the second quarter, according to the Fed’s report.
- Bloomberg News
Abita Brewing Co. taps into solar power
COVINGTON, La. - Abita Brewing Co. is approaching its goal of becoming one of the most energy-efficient breweries in the country as it now is using a 340-panel rooftop solar system to power its brew house. New Orleans-based South Coast Solar installed the 84-kilowatt photovoltaic system, which the brewery recently unveiled.
It is one of the largest commercial solar systems in the state, according to South Coast Solar.
“It really fits in to what we do as a brewery - trying to be a good neighbor and a good environmental steward,” Abita Beer President David Blossman said. “We think that we have some of the most beautiful environment and nature here, and especially here in Abita Springs.”
St. Tammany Parish-based Abita now is one of a handful of breweries across the country using solar technology. Others include Sierra Nevada in Chico, Calif.; Arbor Brewing Co. in Ann Arbor, Mich.; and an Anheuser-Busch location in Newark, N.J.
Kevin Boone, a renewable energy coordinator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Abita’s new solar system would offset the company’s current energy consumption by about 10 percent. It should offset more than 2.7 million kilowatt hours, officials estimated.
The system, which took about three weeks to install, cost $199,585, and 25 percent of that - $49,896 - was covered by a grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program. The grant money came from Louisiana’s allotment of funds from the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 - better known as the farm bill - Boone said.
Test on French wine finds pesticides
Laboratory testing of 92 French wines from across the country found pesticide traces in every bottle, including those made from organically grown grapes, consumer organization UFC-Que Choisir reported Wednesday.
All findings were “well below” toxicity thresholds defined by European Union maximum-residue limits, the group wrote in a report for the October issue of its magazine. Que Choisir tested wines ranging from a $2.20 bottle of generic red to a $20.29 Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
The toxicity limits used are based on those for wine grapes before fermentation, as “bizarrely” no such European Union limits are in place for bottled wine, Que Choisir wrote. Wine producers in France account for 3.7 percent of farmland and 20 percent of the country’s pesticide use, the group said.
“By drinking a glass of wine, you have every chance of unknowingly swallowing a few micrograms of these pesticide residues,” Que Choisir wrote. “No wine today escapes the pollution by plant-protection products applied to the vines.”
The findings included an insecticide and a fungicide not allowed in the European Union, the group said.
- Bloomberg News
Business, Pages 26 on 09/26/2013