QUOTE OF THE DAY “The demand for marijuana is insatiable.
You have a feeding frenzy for the birth of a new industry.” Bruce Perlowin, Hemp Inc. chief executive officer Article, 1DIncoming Fed chief upbeat on ’14 growth
Janet Yellen, confirmed this week by the Senate to succeed Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman, said in an interview with Time magazine that the U.S. economy will accelerate this year and more employment opportunities may follow.
“I think we’ll see stronger growth this year,” Yellen said. “Most of my colleagues on the Fed’s policymaking committee and I are hopeful that the first digit” of gross domestic product “could be 3 rather than 2.”
She said that “the recovery has been frustratingly slow, but we’re making progress in getting people back to work, and I anticipate that inflation will move back toward our longer-run goal of 2 percent.”
Yellen, 67, was confirmed by the Senate on Monday to replace Bernanke and is the first woman to head the Fed.
She will preside over an unwinding of the central bank’s unprecedented stimulus program if the economy performs as forecast.
The Fed took the first step toward the exit last month when it announced plans to reduce the monthly pace of asset purchases to $75 billion from $85 billion, citing evidence of improvement in the labor market.
EPA to require offshore fracking reports
LOS ANGELES - Oil and gas companies that are fracking off the Southern California coast will have to report chemicals discharged into the ocean under a new rule released Thursday by federal environmental regulators.
The Environmental Protection Agency published the requirement in the Federal Register, and the rule will become effective March 1.
The move comes after a series of stories by The Associated Press last year revealed at least a dozen fracking operations in the Santa Barbara Channel and more than 200 in nearshore waters overseen by the state.
Hydraulic fracturing, which involves pumping large amounts of sand, water and chemicals deep underground to release oil, was conducted with no separate environmental analysis of the fracking chemicals on the sea surroundings and little or no oversight.
“This requirement was added in response to recent concerns regarding the potential effects of discharges of fluids used for offshore hydraulic fracturing operations,” the EPA said in its notice.
The oil industry has insisted that fracking, which has been around for decades, does not harm the environment.
The new rule would apply to new drilling jobs on nearly two dozen oil platforms in federal waters off the Santa Barbara coast.
30-year mortgage slips a tad to 4.51%
WASHINGTON - Average U.S. rates for fixed mortgages barely changed this week, hovering near historically low levels.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average for the 30-year loan slipped to 4.51 percent from 4.53 percent last week. The average for the 15-year loan edged up at 3.56 percent from 3.55 percent.
Mortgage rates have risen more than a full percentage point since hitting record lows a year ago. The increase was driven by speculation that the Federal Reserve would reduce its $85 billion a month in bond purchases.
To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., surveys lenders across the country between Monday and Wednesday each week. The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.
The average fee for a 30-year mortgage declined to 0.7 point from 0.8 point. The fee for a 15-year loan slipped to 0.6 point from 0.7 point.
- The Associated Press
Lock work holds up barges at New Orleans
Barges are backed up on the Mississippi River near a New Orleans canal, delaying some shipments of gasoline and diesel to nearby states, after a 90-year-old lock gate that controls traffic in the area broke.
The best estimate is that repairs to the lock, which broke over the weekend, will be finished by Jan. 17, though they could take as long as 14 days, said Ricky Boyett, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ New Orleans District, which is conducting the work.
The 5.5-mile Industrial Canal, formally known as the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal, opened in 1923 and connects Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans with the Mississippi River. The canal allows vessels to move from the river to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
“There will probably be a bit of an impact on Florida gasoline stocks and prices,” James Williams, president of energy consulting firm WTRG Economics. “It’s too soon to tell exactly how much of an impact that will be, but a week’s interruption, just a week, is going to put pressure on the system.”
Barges traverse the intracoastal waterway to deliver gasoline, diesel and other fuels from Louisiana and Texas refineries to Florida markets. In 2012, 5.69 million tons of petroleum and petroleum products moved through the lock, according to the Corps’ website.
- Bloomberg News
As Manhattan rents dip, tenants get deals
Manhattan apartment rents fell for a fourth month in December and the share of new leases with landlord concessions jumped to an almost three-year high as potential tenants were lured to the surging homebuying market.
The median monthly rent dropped 1.6 percent from a year earlier to $3,100, according to a report Thursday by appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Incentives such as a month’s free rent were offered on 13 percent of new agreements, up from 4.3 percent in December 2012 and the biggest proportion since March 2011.
Rents began dropping in September after 27 months without a decrease, giving tenants more negotiating power. A spike in mortgage rates from near-record lows in May drove buyers to act before purchases could become costlier. In the fourth quarter, sales of co-ops and condominiums in Manhattan reached the highest total for the period in 25 years of record-keeping, Miller Samuel and Douglas Elliman said last week.
- Bloomberg News
Business, Pages 28 on 01/10/2014