Connecticut shed 2,900 jobs in May, but the the Labor Department said a revision of April’s numbers uncovered an additional 500 jobs, briging last month’s gain to 8,400.
According to the report, releasedd at just after 2:40 p.m. June 16, the retailers cut 1,300 jobs in the month of May, with professional and scientific employers, educational services and arts and recreation employers each cutting 1,000 or more.
This is a preliminary report, so some businesses might have missed the reporting deadline.
The biggest single gain was in Government, which added 2,300 jobs in May.
The casinos, run by the tribal governments, are included in this figure.
The unemployment rate stood 9.1 percent in May, which is identical to the U.S. rate.
For May, the nation reported a gain of 54,000 jobs.
Financial Mines
Conn. drops 2,900 jobs in May
Greenwich homes only 8th least affordable!
Coldwell Banker released new data on affordability this morning. While Greenwich remains the most exclusive and unaffordable market in Connecticut it has yet to claim the top spot nationally.
Here is the release from the realty group.
New Britain is Connecticut’s Most Affordable Market; Greenwich Tops the State’s Most Expensive List
RIDGEFIELD, Conn. (June 15, 2011) – Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC today released its Home Listing Report (HLR), a snapshot survey of listing prices for four-bedroom, two-bathroom homes in more than 2,300 North American markets. The survey reviewed 59 real estate markets in Connecticut and found New Britain led the list of most affordable markets in the state, with an average home listing price of approximately $165,310 for property listings meeting the subject home criteria. The report identified Greenwich as the state’s most expensive market, where the average four-bedroom, two-bathroom home has a listing price of $1,154,293. The difference of nearly $1 million between most expensive and most affordable Connecticut housing markets is just one of the many findings in this comprehensive market report. Compared to the national average of $293,251, the average four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Connecticut overall was $451,012.
“This report clearly illustrates the local nature of real estate. Connecticut has a range of housing markets and overall has a higher average home price than other parts of the country because of our stronger economy and higher employment numbers,” said Cathleen Smith, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Connecticut and Westchester County, N.Y. “Greenwich, which is among the most expensive housing markets in the nation, continues to be a desirable community because of its close proximity to jobs, its picturesque neighborhoods and its top-performing schools.”
The Coldwell Banker HLR provides the average home listing price of four-bedroom, two-bathroom properties on coldwellbanker.com that were listed between September 2010 and March 2011 from more than 2,300 North American markets. Markets included in the U.S. report were required to have at least 10 properties fitting the above criteria within the relevant timeframe.
“This year’s home listing report is by far the most in-depth local market source of data that Coldwell Banker has ever released,” said Jim Gillespie, chief executive officer, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. “We’ve included nearly ten times more markets than ever before, which gives us unmatched real estate insight into thousands of North American cities. For instance, we can see that there are 775 U.S. markets averaging $200,000 or less for these types of aspirational homes. We know that home buying remains a deeply personal lifestyle decision, and we believe that reports like this, along with trusted real estate agents, will help to today’s buyers make smart decisions.”
The Connecticut markets featured in the 2011 Coldwell Banker Home Listing Report are:
Connecticut
Market Name
State Rank
National Rank
Average Price
NEW BRITAIN
1
366
$165,310
EAST HARTFORD
2
675
$191,514
NEW HAVEN
3
980
$218,598
BRIDGEPORT
4
1,032
$223,447
BRISTOL
5
1,043
$224,640
BLOOMFIELD
6
1,079
$230,155
VERNON
7
1,201
$245,013
WEST HAVEN
8
1,203
$245,238
TORRINGTON
9
1,205
$245,592
ENFIELD
10
1,240
$249,825
NAUGATUCK
11
1,267
$252,901
EAST WINDSOR
12
1,391
$269,000
MANCHESTER
13
1,435
$277,275
WINDSOR
14
1,483
$285,231
HAMDEN
15
1,612
$316,271
STAFFORD
16
1,624
$318,640
WETHERSFIELD
17
1,683
$337,833
SIMSBURY
18
1,728
$349,961
NORTH HAVEN
19
1,729
$350,345
SEYMOUR
20
1,772
$362,806
WEST HARTFORD
21
1,795
$371,596
CHESHIRE
22
1,811
$376,365
WALLINGFORD
23
1,814
$376,850
DANBURY
24
1,821
$379,520
SOUTH WINDSOR
25
1,845
$385,815
COLCHESTER
26
1,880
$400,210
SOUTHINGTON
27
1,911
$411,227
AVON
28
1,914
$411,911
NEW MILFORD
29
1,932
$419,465
SOMERS
30
1,943
$423,752
OXFORD
31
1,944
$423,870
SHELTON
32
1,953
$428,820
ORANGE
33
1,967
$436,276
WOODBRIDGE
34
2,006
$455,986
OLD LYME
35
2,010
$458,331
SOUTHBURY
36
2,014
$461,042
CLINTON
37
2,016
$463,550
GLASTONBURY
38
2,017
$464,077
GUILFORD
39
2,022
$469,953
NEWTOWN
40
2,041
$483,502
BETHEL
41
2,057
$491,170
GROTON
42
2,084
$505,764
TRUMBULL
43
2,085
$505,765
MONROE
44
2,090
$507,800
BROOKFIELD
45
2,105
$518,411
GRANBY
46
2,106
$518,643
MILFORD
47
2,131
$541,317
STAMFORD
48
2,143
$550,609
OLD SAYBROOK
49
2,162
$571,845
FAIRFIELD
50
2,205
$626,735
NORWALK
51
2,207
$628,330
REDDING
52
2,220
$652,339
RIDGEFIELD
53
2,225
$661,605
MADISON
54
2,231
$669,023
WILTON
55
2,269
$752,264
WESTON
56
2,295
$910,725
DARIEN
57
2,303
$951,125
WESTPORT
58
2,308
$1,030,227
GREENWICH
59
2,313
$1,154,293
Non profit to dad: You’re a financial dunce
The national Foundation for Credit Counseling has tapped into a way to make its opinion poll on financial literacy relevant this week — calling fathers financially illiterate.
The press release headlined, “FATHER KNOWS BEST – OR DOES HE? Survey Reveals Definite Lack of Financial Skills,” regards the NFCC’s poll on financial literacy.
The poll itself asks people where they learn about finance and how they rate themselves.
The leap to calling into question Dad’s financial skills comes from eight percent of respondents. NFCC puts it like this, “men were four times as likely as women to give themselves failing grades for their knowledge of personal finance, eight percent versus two percent, respectively.”
So, eight percent of men admit they’re lousy and that equates to dads. Here’s the main question, are all eight percent fathers? Is this eight percent of all fathers? If so, then does that mean that 92 percent of fathers are average or better?
Anyway, I think blasting dads before Father’s Day is a lousy thing to do.
The survey itself does offer some interesting stats, though the conclusions, like the one about dads seem like a leap.
About 42 percent of respondents said they learned about finances from their parents. And, according to the survey, 41 percent of adults gave themselves a grade of C, D or F on financial acumen. The survey said last year, just 34 percent graded themselves so harshly. As a result, the NFCC says this is a sign parents are ill prepared to to teach their children sound financial principles. (Of course 59 percent, the majority graded themselves with a B or higher.)
That may or may not be the case. The truth is that the economy has blasted families for years in this country and forced more than a few to confront the reality that they were carrying too much debt and that they’re financial plans had more holes than Swiss cheese. If you haven’t hit a problem in this financial downturn and learned a lesson from the tough times, you’re better than me.
Gauging any group’s financial literacy through an opinion poll is probably misguided, but as a whole of perception in the country, it might be useful when weighed against data on foreclosures, late payments and profit from investments.
And despite recent improvements, there are tough lessons yet to be learned in kitchens everywhere.
Anyway, my dad and mom, taught me lots of lessons about finance. Among them was to know the difference between what you need and what you want and whether you can afford both. And knowing that comes down to a simple evaluation. You look at what it costs for what you need, home, food, transportation plus some savings for down the road, and whatever you have left is for what you want.
Hack attacks and regulators
Hackers have stolen more credit card data, this time about 200,000 accounts from Citi.
And regulators are once again saying the banks need to improve security.
AP’s Kelvin Chan has a good piece on this on today’s CTPost.com.
“Federal regulators have taken notice and are asking banks to improve security.
“Both banks and regulators must remain vigilant,” said Sheila Bair, chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. She said federal agencies, including the FDIC, are developing new rules to push banks to enhance online account access.”
For the rest of the article, visit http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Hackers-nab-card-data-from-200-000-Citi-customers-1418101.php.
Foregive me, but weren’t banks supposed to have done this already? As I recall mroe than a few years ago, banks were gearing up to prepare to roll out higher security measures for online access. They were supposed to have thumb drive-enabled security and other measures in place, I thought by now. Too inconvenient, I guess.
Those demands for changes came in the wake of a rash of lost, hacked and data that was even just sold to fake companies in 2005. The big name back then was data aggregator Choice Point. But several banks got hit when back up tapes went missing that provided lots of private information on customers.
So, here we are today.
I guess the question is, given the continuing problem, what role should regulators play in this? Maybe they shouldn’t play any at all?
A company that loses data will eventually lose customers and then it won’t be such a big problem, unless a regulator steps in, props up that bank and assures customers everything is cool as a cucumber.
Maybe a better response would be to turn the matter over to law enforcement who could determine if there was negligence on the bank’s part.
I’m not saying there was negligence. I’m sure the hackers had a real tough time breaking in and getting this information
Funny thing happened on the way to the disaster
A cab broke down on State Street and Park Avenue in Bridgeport Monday morning. Traffic was building up at the busy corner, yes there are such things in the Park City. Then, a man in a white T-shirt and shorts came over, talked to the cab driver and pushed the car out of the way.
Traffic began flowing again, but a curious thing happened. The cabbie talked to the good Samaritan “Sam”, who offered a shrug, walked behind the cab and started pushing it further down the street. He pushed that vehicle down State to West Ave and then down Prospect to the under pass. That’s about .35 miles. The cabbie said he had broken down at this spot and called the tow truck that said it would be there in an hour. He got the car started in the meantime, moved and then stalled again on State. So he asked the Sam to push him back to the spot where the tow was coming.
Sam explained somewhere on West Avenue why he pushed the car.
“No one was doing anything,” he said. “They were all just sitting there watching.”
It’s an interesting thought in this day and economy.
Been hearing chants of a failing economy and concerns about a new recession or worse. And sure, there are definitely reasons to be pessimistic. Employment growth slowing, debt ceiling roulette in D.C., QE3, volatile energy prices, stocks diving, war, cancerous cell phones …
But, with all due respect to the experts who spend a lot of time watching the economy and betting, I mean investing, in business, I gotta figure the mathematics involved in creating a predictive model will always be jinxed because such a model can’t account for people willing to do things.
People like Sam, who are willing to jump into a street after dropping their kid off at daycare and pushing a cap more than a quarter of a mile just to start things moving.
Just a thought and a forced allegory on a Monday.
Derecktor’s Cakewalk up for sale
Superyacht is reporting that the Derecktor Shipyard’s built Cakewalk V has been listed for sale for 152.5 euros, which is about $215 million.
Derecktor built and dropped the giant yacht into the water in Bridgeport in 2010. It’s the largest private yacht built in America since the 1930s.
Here’s the link to the Superyachts’ story. But please return to Financial Mines later today for more interesting fodder.
http://www.superyachts.com/news/superyacht-cakewalk-now-available-for-sale-1252.htm
Where the jobs are
While the economy has continued to limp along for the last couple of years now, generating few jobs, Stamford-based Indeed.com, is reporting an 80 percent increase in job postings in the state with much of the activity centered in Fairfield County.
There were 84,277 job openings posted in the state in April, according to Indeed
Here’s where indeed sees the most job postings in the state:
Hartford –6,614
Stamford – 5,268
New Haven – 2,564
Norwalk – 1,752
Danbury – 1,725
Waterbury – 1,396
Bridgeport – 1,331
Greenwich – 1,253
Shelton and Stratford both had more than 700 job postings.
The top organizations for posting jobs included Yale University, Pratt & Whtiney, Boehringer Ingelheim, United Health Group, Travelers, Yale New Haven Hospital and General Electric Co.
A big issue for job hunters remains competition and qualifications as companies are seeking people with specific certifications and training. Because there are so many candidates per job, the companies can wait for the candidate that most fits their specifications.
But the jobs are starting to appear and human resoruces and finance directors are saying budgets are now allowing for hiring this year.
Good luck
Ponzi scheme charges tie up Highview funds
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced monday it has charged Highview Point Partners LLC, a Stamford-based investment adviser, with engaging in a multi-year Ponzi scheme involving hundreds of millions of dollars.
The charges come just days after Highpoint filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Here are excerpts from the SEC’s press release on the situation.
Highview was added as a defendant to a case the SEC previously filed in January 2011, and three hedge funds managed by Highview were named as relief defendants because, according to the SEC’s charges, they are in possession of funds tainted by the Ponzi scheme. After a hearing, the Honorable Janet Bond Arterton, U.S. District Judge for the District of Connecticut, entered a consented-to order on May 13 temporarily freezing the assets of Highview and the three hedge funds it advises. A hearing on the SEC’s motion for a preliminary injunction is set for May 23.
Highview appears to be entagled in the case involving Francisco Illarramendi and MK Capital Management, another alleged ponzi scheme that might have cost investors $53 million. Illarramendi and MK Capital’s funds were already frozen by a court order.
On May 10, the SEC filed a second amended complaint adding Highview as a defendant, and charging that Illarramendi conducted his alleged fraud while he was a partial owner of Highview, a Commission-registered investment adviser, and that he used the two advisory firms (Highview and MK Capital Management) in tandem to conduct the scheme. In particular, the second amended complaint alleges, among other things, that Highview Point Partners, acting through Illarramendi, misappropriated money from the three hedge funds it advised: Highview Point Master Fund, Ltd., Highview Point Offshore, Ltd., and Highview Point LP. The second amended complaint alleges that Illarramendi hid the misappropriation in the Highview hedge funds by misappropriating money from different hedge funds managed by MK Capital Management. According to the second amended complaint, this acted as a fraud on both sets of clients, in that Illarramendi used money from one set of investors to repay earlier investors.
