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| Pulte to buy rival Centex for $1.3 billion
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| Pulte Homes said it would buy rival Centex Corp in a $1.3 billion all-stock deal to create the largest U.S. homebuilder, in what may be the first big merger in the consolidation of the badly beaten up sector. Shares of Pulte were down 11.6 percent, or $1.25, at $9.52 in late afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Centex shares were up 18.4 percent, or $1.40, at $9.02. The merger would result in about $350 million in annual savings from job cuts, other cost reductions and debt relief, the companies said. They expect to retire more than $1 billion of debt maturities by the end of the year. Based on 2008 closings, Builder magazine ranked Pulte No. 2 and Centex No. 3. The combined company would control 189,452 lots.
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| @ Reuters | Posted: 04/09/09 at 0201 EDST
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| Pulte Homes' merger with Centex Corp. will cost Florida jobs
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| Pulte employs about 150 in its Central Florida division, which includes Tampa. Close to 70 people work for Centex in west Florida. Overlap is inevitable. "Neither Centex nor Pulte people have enough to do. So they can trim their overhead, especially staff, and manage the same amount of construction." Tampa hasn't seen such a large merger of home builders since Lennar Homes doubled its size by buying U.S. Home in 2000. Pulte will now be the country's biggest home builder with combined sales of $11.6 billion. The No. 2 builder, D.R. Horton, took in $5.82 billion last year.
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| @ St. Petersburg Times | Posted: 04/09/09 at 0652 EDST
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| Monthly wholesale: sales and inventories - down
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| $319.7 billion, up 0.6 percent from the revised January level and were down 14.3 percent from the February 2008 level. The February inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, based on seasonally adjusted data, was 1.31. The February 2008 ratio was 1.14.
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| @ U.S. Census Bureau | Posted: 04/09/09 at 0315 EDST
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| Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee March 17-18, 2009
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Economic activity had fallen sharply in recent months. The contraction was reflected in wide-spread declines in payroll employment and industrial production. Consumer spending appeared to remain at a low level after changing little, on balance, in recent months. The housing market weakened further, and nonresidential construction fell. Business spending on equipment and software continued to fall across a broad range of categories. Despite the cutbacks in production, inventory overhangs appeared to worsen in a number of areas.
Editor's Comment: This is an excellent read, and it presents a detailed review of everything the Fed has done from 1/1/09 to the meeting.
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| @ Federal Reserve Bank | Posted: 04/09/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Big firms staking claims in ethanol
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| Valero Energy Corp., the country's largest oil refiner, broke into the farm-grown business last month, buying seven ethanol mills and a development site from bankrupt VeraSun Energy Corp. at a 70 percent markdown. Other mills could soon be up for auction, after Aventine Renewable Energy Inc. in Pekin, Ill., filed for bankruptcy Wednesday and the recent disclosure that Pacific Ethanol Inc. in Sacramento, Calif., is struggling to repay lenders after its $147 million loss last year.
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| @ Chicago Tribune | Posted: 04/09/09 at 0330 EDST
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| What will $120,000 buy you?
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| At the height of the real estate boom, a buyer would be lucky if $120,000 bought a B-grade condo in a thin-walled apartment building. At the height of the real estate boom, a buyer would be lucky if $120,000 bought a B-grade condo in a thin-walled apartment building. Now in Sarasota County, a nearly 1,700-square-foot house in one of the most desirable of middle-class neighborhoods, where the elementary and middle schools earn the state's "A" ranking year after year.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 04/09/09 at 0345 EDST
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| Florida Atlantic University moves to create energy from Gulf Stream
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| The long awaited first step in generating clean energy from the powerful Gulf Stream has been taken by Florida Atlantic University researchers with the sinking of Dopple- equiped measuring devices off the coast of Dania Beach. The profilers range in depth from 725 feet to 2,116 feet, and are between five and 22 miles from the coast. Although the Gulf Stream is generally clocked at about 5-knots, the speed differs by depth and closeness to shore.
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| @ Palm Beach Post | Posted: 04/09/09 at 0400 EDST
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| Ag Land Value Down 26 Percent in Florida
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| In South Florida, which takes in Citrus, Marion and Volusia counties and all others to the south, the average value of a mature orange grove dropped 16.8 percent to $13,500 per acre in May 2008, the survey shows. New groves only 5 to 7 years old declined 25 percent to $10,461 an acre while grapefruit groves on average slumped just 5 percent to $10,640. Other types of agricultural lands in South Florida also declined significantly, including irrigated cropland down 25.6 percent to an average $7,763 per acre and improved pastureland off 13 percent to $7,862.
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| @ Lakeland Ledger | Posted: 04/09/09 at 0419 EDST
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| Ratings cut drives bank volatility in Ireland
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| Shares of Ireland's three leading banks plunged and then rebounded in volatile trading Wednesday after ratings agency Moody's cut the credit-worthiness of 12 banks operating in the country, citing growing exposure to tens of billions' worth of bad property loans.
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| @ Miami Herald | Posted: 04/09/09 at 0646 EDST
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| Fitch cuts Ireland's AAA rating by one level to AA-plus
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| Fitch subsequently confirmed the move in a statement. Ireland’s GDP is expected to decline by 8 per cent in 2009, and Government revenues may fall by 16 per cent, following similar declines in 2008, said Fitch.
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| @ Irish Examiner | Posted: 04/09/09 at 0655 EDST
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| UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans subsidy for electric cars
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| Buyers of electric cars will be offered discounts of more than £2,000 – paid for by the state – under plans by Gordon Brown to make Britain a leading centre for manufacturing “greener” vehicles. Other European countries, including France, Switzerland and Denmark, have introduced generous tax incentives that encourage consumers to buy cars that use alternative fuels
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| @ Financial Times - UK | Posted: 04/09/09 at 0415 EDST
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