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| Pause in foreclosures in SW Florida area ends
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| After what seemed like a reprieve earlier in the year, the flood of foreclosures in Southwest Florida picked up speed in June, with both Charlotte and Manatee counties posting increases of 50 percent or more. In percentage terms, Sarasota County was far behind its neighbors, with a 2 percent increase from this time last year. But its 1,153 filings far outstripped either Charlotte’s 829 or Manatee’s 890.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 07/16/09 at 0201 EDST
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| Metro Orlando foreclosure filings fall 24 percent in recent period
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| In four-county Metro Orlando, one in every 132 households faced some type of foreclosure-related legal action in June. That compares with one of every 75 homes in the hard-hit Fort Myers area and one of every 424 homes in Gainesville, home of the University of Florida.
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| @ Orlando Sentinel | Posted: 07/16/09 at 0315 EDST
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| Apartments fill in Lee County, Ft. Myers; as homes empty
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| Rental occupancy in apartment complexes with 100 or more units increased 10 percent to 87.3 percent compared to a year earlier. When people move out of foreclosures, it's very often into an apartment. The brief shining upside of the down market is that it's helped apartment complexes. Apartments tend to be the least expensive alternative compared to single-family homes.
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| @ Ft. Myers News Press | Posted: 07/16/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Inflation inches up in South Florida, boosted by rising gas prices
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| Consumer prices in the Miami- Fort Lauderdale metropolitan region ticked up just 0.3 percent for the two months ended in June, a turnaround from the previous two-month report in which prices, on an annual basis, fell by the largest amount ever recorded.
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| @ Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel | Posted: 07/16/09 at 0330 EDST
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| Foreclosure filings in Illinois down from May
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| Almost 10,800 Illinois households, or 1 in every 486, were in foreclosure last month. The number of foreclosure filings in the state, which include initial notices of default, auction sale notices and bank repossessions, was down 1.3 percent from May but up 32.4 percent from June 2008.
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| @ Chicago Tribune | Posted: 07/16/09 at 0345 EDST
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| Chicago-area consumer prices jump
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| Consumer prices in the Chicago metropolitan area shot up 0.6 percent in June from May, but were down 2.2 percent from a year earlier. Increases in the cost of transportation and housing were responsible for the month-over-month gain. The cost of transportation rose 4.6 percent in June due mostly to a 15.1 percent jump in prices at the gasoline pump. But compared to last June, gas prices were down 32 percent. Year-over-year, overall transportation costs dropped 13 percent. Housing costs rose 0.2 percent over the month as shelter costs rose 0.8 percent. Household fuel and utility costs fell 2.2 percent.
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| @ Chicago Sun Times | Posted: 07/16/09 at 0400 EDST
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| Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April suggests that the pace of economic contraction is slowing.
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Conditions in financial markets have generally improved in recent months. Household spending has shown further signs of stabilizing but remains constrained by ongoing job losses, lower housing wealth, and tight credit.
Editor's Comment: This is a good read
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| @ Federal Reserve Bank | Posted: 07/16/09 at 0415 EDST
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| 1.5 million homes in foreclosure
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| A record 1.53 million properties were in the foreclosure process -- default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions -- during the first six months of 2009. That was 9% more than the previous six months and 15% more than the same period of 2008.
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| @ CnnMoney.Com | Posted: 07/16/09 at 0419 EDST
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| $20 Oil This Year on ‘Devastating’ Crude Glut
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| Crude oil will collapse to $20 a barrel this year as the recession takes a deeper toll on fuel demand, according to academic and former U.S. government adviser Philip Verleger. A crude surplus of 100 million barrels of will accumulate by the end of the year, straining global storage capacity and sending prices to a seven-year low, said Verleger, who correctly predicted in 2007 that prices were set to exceed $100. Supply is outpacing demand by about 1 million barrels a day, he said.
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| @ Bloomberg News | Posted: 07/16/09 at 0646 EDST
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| Short-Term Energy Outlook. A different perspective.
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| Crude oil prices rose in June for the fourth consecutive month, in part because of stronger-than-anticipated global economic activity, primarily in Asia. Market sentiment continues to reflect expectations of an economic recovery and a future rebound in oil demand that are outweighing weak current oil consumption and high inventory levels. Continued production restraint by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and unrest in Iran and Nigeria, respectively OPEC’s second- and seventh-biggest oil producers, are also supporting prices. The downside price risks of this forecast are a delayed or weaker-than-expected global economic recovery, ample global surplus production capacity, and high commercial inventories.
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| @ Energy Information Administration - US Department of Energy | Posted: 07/16/09 at 0652 EDST
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| UK industry’s energy bills to soar
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| British industry’s energy bills are set to rise by 17 per cent over the next decade as a result of the government’s plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
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| @ Financial Times - UK | Posted: 07/16/09 at 0655 EDST
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