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Home prices  in London’s wealthiest neighborhoods fell on a monthly basis for the first time in four years as uncertainty over property taxes and national elections next year deterred buyers. Values in the 13 neighborhoods including Chelsea and Mayfair that Knight Frank LLP defines as prime central London declined 0.2 percent in November from October, the first drop since October 2010, the broker said in a report today. London’s luxury-home market is running out of steam after outperforming the rest of the U.K. since 2009. The opposition Labour Party  plans to raise 1.2 billion pounds ($1.9 billion) from an annual tax on homes valued at more than 2 million pounds if it wins the election next year. Labour and Prime Minister  David Cameron ’s Conservative Party  were tied with 31 percent support in a YouGov/Sun poll published Nov. 28. “It is difficult to rank individual reasons for the decline in order of importance, but anecdotally they appear to include the l...

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC)  targets black and Latino borrowers for more costly home loans than their white counterparts in the  Chicago  area, helping to prolong a local and national foreclosure crisis, the biggest county in  Illinois  said. Cook County, which has a population of more than 5 million and includes the third-biggest U.S. city, accused the bank of engaging in predatory lending in a complaint filed today in Chicago federal court, following similar efforts by municipal governments in Los Angeles and Miami. The bank’s tactics start at home-loan origination and continue through refinancing and foreclosure, the country said, a process its lawyers summarized in the complaint as “equity stripping.” The process may have involved as many as 26,000 loans, the county said. “Equity stripping is an abusive form of ‘asset based lending’ that maximizes lender profits based on the value of the underlying asset and onerous loan terms, while in disregard for...

For the first time in  five years , $2 gasoline is making a comeback in some areas of the U.S., just in time for the Dec. 25 Christmas holiday. Retail stations scattered across the U.S. South and Midwest are about 20 cents shy of the $2-a-gallon mark. In New York, gasoline futures slid more than 13 cents Nov. 27 after OPEC failed to cut oil production to stem a glut. That decline alone could drag down pump prices by as much as 20 cents a gallon,  Michael Green , a spokesman for the Heathrow, Florida-based motoring club AAA, said yesterday by phone. “We could see the cheapest 1 percent of stations get within a few pennies of $1.99 over the next two weeks,” Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy Organization Inc., said yesterday by phone from  Chicago . “We’ll see at least one station in the nation at $2 by Christmas. And that’s not really a prediction at all. That’s more like a certainty.” The motor fuel has slid by almost a dollar a gallon in the U...

Oil plunged below $70 a barrel for the first time since 2010, leading a selloff in commodities  and energy shares. Treasuries advanced and the dollar reached a five-year high, while retailers rose amid Black Friday sales. West Texas Intermediate tumbled 10 percent to $66.15 for the biggest drop in more than five years. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot  Index  climbed to a five-year high as of 3:24 p.m. in New York, while gold sank 1.8 percent. Yields on 10-year Treasuries dropped 8 basis points to the lowest in more than five weeks, and Japan’s two-year rates turned negative for the first time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index  dropped  0.3 percent and the Russell 2000 Index fell 1.5 percent, as U.S. markets reopened after the Thanksgiving holiday. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept its production ceiling unchanged, underscoring the price war in the crude market and challenge to U.S. shale drillers. The rout in oil is damping inflation, wit...

Canada ’s biggest energy producers now face the same prospects of shrinking budgets and declining profit as their smaller rivals as prices drop for what’s already the world’s cheapest oil. Producers including  Suncor Energy Inc. (SU)  and  Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNQ) , which each fell the most in at least three years yesterday, operate in one of the most expensive places on earth to produce oil. If crude prices continue sinking following OPEC’s decision not to cut global oil supplies, Canada’s producers big and small will have to tighten their belts to prepare for declining profits. “This is a pretty big shock,” said Justin Bouchard, an analyst at Desjardins Securities Inc. in Calgary. “There’s no question there’s going to be a slowdown. Even the big guys will have to look at their  capital spending  plans.” Western Canada Select, the Canadian benchmark, has lost more than a third of its value since June, in step with declines for West Texas In...

SABMiller Plc (SAB)  wants to strengthen its partnership with French drinks company Groupe Castel after forming the biggest  Coca-Cola Co. (KO)  bottler in  Africa  with the world’s largest soft-drink maker. Castel “are partners of ours, so what we’d want to do is show them the benefits of what we’re doing and try and see if we can work together on further opportunities,” Mark Bowman, managing director of SABMiller Africa, said in an interview in Johannesburg yesterday. The shares rose as much as 0.9 percent to 3,578.50 pence and was little changed as of 1:31 p.m. in  London . The maker of Grolsch and Peroni lagers yesterday agreed to combine bottling operations for non-alcoholic beverages with Coca-Cola in southern and  East Africa . Castel is often mentioned as a potential takeover target for the world’s second-largest brewer, which already owns 20 percent of the French winemaker. In turn, Castel has a 38 percent stake in SABMiller’s Africa bus...

Shares of energy producers led global equities lower after oil tumbled to a four-year low on OPEC’s refusal to ease a supply glut. Bonds advanced, setting record-low yields from Japan to Germany , and the dollar gained. The MSCI All-Country World Index fell 0.2 percent at 8:06 a.m. in New York as the Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 0.4 percent. Total SA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc lost more than 2 percent as Brent crude headed for its biggest weekly decline since 2011. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index  futures  dropped 0.1 percent as U.S. markets reopen after the Thanksgiving holiday. Treasuries rose, Japan’s two-year rates turned negative for the first time and Germany’s 10-year  yield  declined to 0.694 percent. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed to a five-year high, while gold and silver slid for a third day. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept its production ceiling unchanged, underscoring the price war in the crude market and challenge to ...

Mitsubishi Estate Co. (8802) ’s 159 ($1.34 billion) sale of a building in  Tokyo ’s most expensive business district shows that commercial property prices have surpassed their 2007 peak, according to Credit Suisse Group AG. Mitsubishi Estate said yesterday it will sell the former Mizuho Bank headquarters in Marunouchi to Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (8411)  The price Mizuho is paying is estimated to be 77.4 million yen per tsubo, Credit Suisse analyst Masahiro Mochizuki said. That is higher than 69.3 million yen per tsubo  Sumitomo Mitsui (8316)  Banking Corp. paid for an adjacent building in March 2007, he said. A tsubo, a standard measure of area in  Japan , is 3.3 square meters or 36 square feet. Tokyo’s real estate prices have risen about 20 percent since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office two years ago and introduced measures to end deflation and boost economic growth. Overseas buyers are prepared to pay even higher prices for Japanese real estate t...

Citigroup Inc. (C)  is counting on fees from managing bond sales and share offerings to drive revenue in Spain after selling dozens of branches in the country as part of a wider retreat from consumer banking. The bank expects its revenue in Spain to increase five to 10 percent in 2015, Country Officer William Van Dyke said in an interview. Spain is one of the five biggest sources of income for New York-based Citigroup within Europe, the Middle East and  Africa , according to a spokesman for the bank, which gets more of its revenue outside its home market than any other U.S. lender. It doesn’t provide a breakdown by country. “Large market capitalization companies always had access to capital markets, but medium-sized ones and companies with lower than investment grade rating needed access, and this has started to change in recent years,” he said. “Equities will also have a good year in 2015, mainly through capital increases and accelerated equity offers.” Citigroup is p...

Labor agency said that demand for workers on the way now. German unemployment fell and the jobless rate reached a record low as businesses and investors become more confident that  Europe ’s largest economy will keep growing. The number of people out of work fell a seasonally adjusted 14,000 to 2.87 million in November, the Federal Labor Agency in Nuremberg said today. Economists forecast a decline of 1,000, according to the median of 34 estimates in a  Bloomberg News survey . The adjusted jobless rate  was 6.6 percent, matching the revised number for the previous month and marking the lowest level in records going back more than two decades. Germany’s economy returned to growth in the third quarter and business confidence and investor sentiment both improved in November as the  European Central Bank  added stimulus to the euro area. Even so, the Bundesbank says momentum will be lacking until at least the end of the year. “The German labor market is ru...

Chilean  unemployment  unexpectedly fell in the three months through October, the first month of a quarter that Finance Minister Alberto Arenas forecasts will see a “small and moderate reactivation” in the economy. The jobless rate slid to 6.4 percent from 6.6 percent in the month earlier period, the National Statistics Institute said on its website today, compared with the 6.7 percent median forecast of 17 economists polled by Bloomberg.  Retail sales  fell 0.2 percent in October from the year earlier, while  manufacturing output  gained 1 percent, the institute said in a separate report. Policy makers have cut interest rates by more than any other country in the past 14 months as the economy grows at the slowest pace since the 2009 recession. While Arenas forecasts the beginning of a pick-up this quarter, central bank director Enrique Marshall told El Mercurio over the weekend that growth would remain weak into the first few months of next year. “...

Luxembourg, home to equity funds with about $1.2 trillion of assets, gave its first approval to trade through the Shanghai- Hong Kong  exchange link as international investors seek greater access to Chinese shares. Luxembourg’s financial regulator granted the authorization to a fund yesterday, Patrick Hommel, a member of the secretariat general at the  Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, said in an e-mailed reply to questions without naming the beneficiary. Funds domiciled in the country that aren’t yet invested in the Chinese market should refrain from using the link until they get regulatory approval, he said. Overseas money managers have been working to finalize trading and compliance systems since Chinese authorities gave them a week’s notice for the program’s start date on Nov. 17. While foreigners bought the  maximum  daily amount of mainland shares allowed on the link’s debut, inflows have since slowed and Mirae Asset Global Investments (HK)...

U.S. oil production has risen to 9.077 million barrels a day, the highest level in weekly data from the Energy Information Administration going back to 1983. Output will climb to 9.4 million next year, the most since 1972, it forecasts. Middle Eastern exporters including Saudi Arabia,  Iran  and  Iraq  can break even at about $30 a barrel, while some U.S. producers need more than $80, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said in a report last month. OPEC’s policy will spur a crash in the U.S. shale industry,  Leonid Fedun , a vice president and board member at OAO Lukoil,  Russia ’s second-largest oil producer, said in an interview in London before the group’s decision. “In 2016, when OPEC completes this objective of cleaning up the American marginal market, the oil price will start growing again,” said Fedun. “The shale boom is on a par with the dot-com boom. The strong players will remain, the weak ones will vanish.” The share prices of U.S. oil produ...

All currencies are dropping like a stone, in order to match the US Dollar ROFL. With the price of Oil dropping it's going to be Turbo Race to the bottom, and it's all to make the US Dollar look good. Australia’s dollar slipped 0.4 percent to 85.15 U.S. cents, the Norwegian krone weakened 0.6 percent to 6.9696 per dollar and touched a five-year low, and Canada’s dollar fell 0.4 percent to C$1.1379 versus the U.S. currency. The dollar strengthened on speculation lower crude prices after OPEC’s decision to keep oil output unchanged will stimulate the  U.S. economy  while weighing on the euro and currencies of commodity-producing nations. The greenback rose against most of its 16 major peers. The Aussie declined with the Norwegian krone and Canadian dollar after the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept its output target at 30 million barrels a day even after the steepest slump in oil prices since the global recession.  Japan ’s yen fell against...

In the sixth century,  St. Brendan , an Irish monk who was widely reputed as a skilled seafarer, is said to have undertaken an ambitious voyage. Brendan, along with a crew of fellow monks, sailed looking for Paradise, the Land of Promise of the Saints. After seven years exploring mysterious lands, he came upon what he believed to be the fabled paradise. It was an island so vast that he and his crew failed to reach the far shore after 40 days of walking. It contained a river that was too wide to be crossed. It was a wooded land, filled with lush fruits. He and his men filled their boats with gems they found there and returned home to tell of the news. It wasn’t until the ninth century that an account of Brendan's voyage surfaced, the  Navigatio Sancti Brendani  (“Travels of St. Brendan” in Latin). It was an instant hit, translated into several languages. The account talks of Brendan’s experiences, including his being pelted with rock from an island of fire, seeing...

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Offshore drilling

Energy Saves the Day Expediting the approval process for liquefied natural gas exports will do much to help our bottom line. The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council released a report titled the “Benefits of Natural Gas Production and Exports for U.S. Small Businesses: Nationally and Key States.” The findings indicate that while much of the economy was reeling from the turbulent downturn following 2008, increased natural gas production has been bolstering growth, especially among small businesses. Between 2005 and 2012, the U.S. economy lost, on a net basis, more than 378,000 jobs across all sectors. During the same time, energy production and the industries that directly support it created more than 293,000 positions. And that doesn’t include the ripple effect that reached even further – the jobs created in other segments of the economy because of increased demand for goods and services in non-energy industries. Also, lower energy overhead can free up resources that busine...

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Below is a list of the 10 schools with the least expensive room and board for 2014-2015. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report. Military academies were not included on this list, as they waive room and board fees in exchange for military service.  School name (state) Room and board (2014-2015) U.S. News rank and category Rust College (MS) $4,000 RNP, National Liberal Arts Colleges Oklahoma Panhandle State University $4,200 RNP, Regional Colleges (West) Cameron University (OK) $4,664 RNP, Regional Universities (West) Blue Mountain College (MS) $4,800 23 (tie), Regional Colleges (South) Thomas University (GA) $5,050 RNP, Regional Colleges (South) Auburn University—Montgomery (AL) $5,390 76 (tie), Regional Universities (South) Alabama State University $5,422 RNP, Regional Universities (South) Mayville State University (ND) $5,430 RNP, Regional Colleges (Midwes...

Select your state for 529 Plan

A 529 plan is a college savings account that's exempt from federal taxes. The plans were introduced in 1996 to help taxpayers salt away college expenses for a designated beneficiary. These plans, named for Section 529 of the federal tax code, often have tax benefits at the state level for in-state residents. This only applies to states that have an income tax. In many cases, if the maximum deduction is surpassed in a calendar year, the deduction can roll over into subsequent years. However, each state enforces a specific total contribution limit. As of 2014, these limits are generally between $300,000 and $400,000. Any U.S. citizen or resident alien at least 18 years or older can open a 529 account. Usually, the beneficiary is a child, grandchild or younger relative. However, an adult can also open a 529 plan to save for his or her own higher education costs; there are no age limits.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for November delivery dropped 54 cents to $93.00 while Brent crude for November fell 31 cents to $96.69 in afternoon trade.

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THE SUPPLY SIDE STORY :;how ' voodoo economics ' cost US $12 trillion

(Reuters) - The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan said on Thursday his office was taking a close look at payday lending as part of a broad crackdown on wrongdoing involving the handling of consumer debts. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said his office has added payday lenders to the list of potential targets of investigations involving the consumer-debt arena that have already ensnared debt collection and debt relief businesses. "That's absolutely something we are and will be looking at as well," he said. The comments by Bharara, whose office is more often associated with prosecuting crime on Wall Street and terrorism, came amid a series of prosecutions by his office of businesses that target consumers struggling with debt. On Wednesday, a Manhattan federal judge sentenced the owner of New York debt settlement company Mission Settlement Agency, Michael Levitis, to nine years in prison for a fraud scheme that victi...

(Reuters) - World shares headed for a second week of gains on Friday after more reassuring U.S. data, while the yen pulled out of its dive as Japan's finance minister warned its recent weakening had been "too rapid". Euro zone stocks were set for their first weekly gain this month after an early rise, with traders spurred on by signals from Mario Draghi that the European Central Bank is becoming increasingly agitated by the bloc's feeble growth and inflation. The region's markets have been lagging those of the United States, Japan and faster-growing Britain over the last month, but a ramping up of ECB rhetoric this week has stoked hopes the bank will take more aggressive measures. "We will continue to meet our responsibility -- we will do what we must to raise inflation and inflation expectations as fast as possible," Draghi said in a speech. "If on its current trajectory our policy is not effective enough to achieve this ... we would step...