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GUEST COMMENTARY- Eye on Wall Street- Surfs up for in
<html>Stock market investors in the U.S. and overseas are grabbing their surfboards and riding a wave of liquidity provided by central banks. In the U.S., the economy is growing at a modest pace despite a slowdown in government spending. The S P 500 was up 2.3 percent in May and 15.4 percent year-to-date.
In Japan, aggressive fiscal and monetary policies have the economy expanding. Stocks declined last month, but since the start of the year the Nikkei has seen a dramatic rise of 33.6 percent in yen, and a more muted gain of 14 percent in dollars due to yen depreciation. While the eurozone has now been in a mild recession for six quarters it may be bottoming as financial markets are improving. Germany has agreed to help some of its southern neighbors as the commitment to austerity seems to be waning. The Stoxx 600 gained almost 1 percent last month and is up 8.2 percent year to date. Bond wipe out! Bonds had a bit of a wipe out in May. Ten-year Treasury yields ended the month at 2.16 percent, up almost 50 basis points. That worked out to a total return of 3.7 percent, the worst monthly performance since December 2010. Better economic growth and worries over an early end to quantitative easing led to the selloff. The decline in bond prices certainly hasn t been because of rising inflation. The U.S. inflation rate has recently declined from over 2 percent to 1.1 percent year-over-year. Inflation overseas is also falling. That s partly due to the decline in commodity prices. While oil is flat year-to-date, metals including gold and copper have taken it on the chops. At this juncture, rising interest rates probably won t hurt stocks much. That s especially true if the increase in rates is because of faster economic growth that should help company earnings and sales. J.P. Morgan notes during the previous 50 years, when yields are below 5 percent, rising rates are generally associated with rising stock prices. But interest rates are at historic lows and that has many worried that investors who have poured money into bond funds over the past several years are in for a rude awakening if rates continue to rise. Bonds are overvalued and we have de-emphasized them in portfolios a bit. But remember, in a crisis, when there is a flight to quality, there is nothing like owning high quality bonds. They gained 13.7 percent in 2008 while stocks lost 37 percent. It is important to look at assets not on a stand-alone basis but in the context of a whole portfolio. High quality bonds serve as insurance and act as ballast in stressful market environments. Here s what Vanguard had to say in a recent post titled A look at today s bond market: Each asset class really does have a particular role to play in investor portfolios. Stocks are there for growth potential beyond inflation. With that potential growth comes potential volatility. Bonds are really there to help moderate that volatility and to help mitigate stock market risk and also to produce some income. Cash is there for short term spending needs and preservation of capital. The markets don t perform in tandem so by holding a mix across different asset classes you can participate in the strong performing ones but also mitigate the weaker ones in your overall portfolio. APCM uses 11 asset classes (primarily low cost index funds) as a way to get diversification and better balance in portfolios. They include traditional domestic and international stocks and bonds, commercial real estate,Nike Lions 9 Stafford White Limited Jerseys, commodities, and inflation protected bonds among others. Now,Week in Review- April 26, if you are a bond only investor and are looking for income, I feel your pain. The Federal Reserve seems bent on keeping rates low to assist the economy and help out borrowers. But that penalizes savers! Our best advice is patience. Diversify your bond portfolio, pay attention to taxes (own muni bonds),Wranglers part ways with head coach, and don t stretch for yield now. Avoid long bonds, which have considerable price risk. Jeff Pantages, CFA, is the chief investment officer for Alaska Permanent Capital Management,[1], a $2.4 billion investment management and advisory firm located Anchorage.</html>
Brooks Range moves toward 2014 startup for Mustang field
<html>Brooks Range Petroleum Chief Operating Officer Bart Armfield said his company is targeting a 2014 start for production at the Mustang discovery on the North Slope. Photo/Michael Dinneen/AJOC
Brooks Range Petroleum is pushing ahead with its plan to have the small Mustang discovery in production in the third quarter of 2014, and is already at work on possible new developments in the area, company Chief Operating Officer Bart Armfield says. At peak production Mustang is expected to produce about 15,000 barrels per day, Armfield said. The initial part of Mustang development, a five-mile gravel access road and a 19.2-acre production pad, has been completed. The road and pad were done in a joint venture with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, the state s development corporation. AIDEA announced completion of the facilities in an April 24 press release. Armfield said the road and pad work was very successful. The overburden (at the gravel site) was less than we expected, the gravel layer was thicker and very high quality, he said. The gravel must now sit over the summer to settle, and construction of facilities for production will begin next winter, he said. Meanwhile, engineering and design work on the production facility is under way now,Tjake Dn increav. e .,2012-13 Arsenal 17 Song Home Jerseys, and construction of those facility modules, which will be built in Southcentral Alaska and trucked to the North Slope, will be under way this fall. Brooks Range is meanwhile in discussions with AIDEA on a partnership deal on the production facility. AIDEA may take an ownership position in the facility as well as helping to provide financing. The state authority may also help bring other private partners to the project. For example, Ezion Holdings of Singapore, which has invested with AIDEA in the Endeavour jack-up rig in Cook Inlet, is also interested in the Mustang project on the Slope. Brooks Range must also do more drilling at Mustang, and the company will bring a rig back to the site in mid-2014. Twenty-two production and injector wells are planned, Armfield said. Most production will come from the Kuparuk C sandstone formation, which also supports production at the Kuparuk River field that is east of Mustang. Armfield said Brooks Range came out well in the Legislature s recent restructuring of state oil and gas taxes. Initially the company was very concerned when Gov. Sean Parnell proposed elimination of a 20 percent capital investment tax credit that greatly helps small companies like Brooks Range. As Senate Bill 21 made its way through the Legislature this spring, however, changes were made. The capital investment tax credit is gone but an enhancement of a Loss Carryforward tax credit and other incentives in the bill more than offset the loss of the capital investment credit, Armfield said. We re in good shape. We re now better off than we would have been under ACES, the state s production tax that is being replaced by SB 21, he said. AIDEA is meanwhile structuring its participation with Brooks Range in Mustang a way that it will be bought out by the partners. In the road and pad financing, AIDEA invested $20 million in Mustang Road LLC formed to build the gravel facilities, and now owns 80 percent of the company. AIDEA s interest will be purchased by its partners, mainly Brooks Range for now,Canadian Stout celebrates 10 years as an MMA fighter, after 15 years. Meanwhile the state authority receives a fixed dividend, is paid first, and receives the state s investment tax credits for the development. The production facility deal may be structured in a similar manner. AIDEA s involvement in Mustang is a strategic development in the Alaska industry. For the first time, the state is involved in helping finance infrastructure for industry on the Slope, and if the process plant venture is approved, AIDEA will be involved in financing and possibly owning a share of production facilities. AIDEA s strategic investment in this project is consistent with our growing involvement in developing Alaska s energy resources, said Ted Leonard, AIDEA s executive director,For firefighters, answer to why is- Someone has to, in a statement. The completion of the (Mustang) road and pad is a milestone as Alaska moves forward into a new area of North Slope production and development. AIDEA has already invested in Cook Inlet exploration infrastructure, the jack-up rig that is now about be begin drilling near Anchor Point. The authority has long been involved with the mining industry, since the mid-1980s with NANA Regional Corp. and Teck (formerly Cominco) at the Red Dog Mine in northwest Alaska, and in serving Yukon Territory mines with an export ore terminal at Skagway. Tim Bradner can be reached at tim.bradner@alaskajournal.com.</html>
Joe Downtown- Ferguson Motel being converted into taverns, r
<html>Facebook Fark Digg Reddit Stumble Joe Downtown: Ferguson Motel being converted into taverns, retailspaces By () Wednesday, July 3, 2013 | 1:57 p.m. Built more than 60 years ago, the Ferguson Motel is one of the nicer-looking pieces of Vegas memorabilia still upright on Fremont Street. It???s been closed for several months, however, after Downtown Project partners purchased it in December for $5 million. A fence surrounds the more than 1 acre of property at 1028 Fremont. When the fence comes down, according to plans submitted with the city,Photos- Photographer Denise Truscello documents life at 2013, it won???t be a motel anymore. Instead,Nike 49ers 10 Kyle Williams Red Game 2013 Super Bowl XLVII Jersey, there will be three separate taverns run by three different owners, plus nearly three dozen retail shops. The current parking lot serving three buildings, which form a horseshoe around the lot,Movers & Shakers 06-02-13, will be converted into nearly 9,000 square feet of patio, according to the plans. In city documents, staff confirm parking requirements aren???t needed for the space because it lies within the city???s Downtown Centennial Plan boundaries. And in a justification letter, Todd Kessler, hired as part of a team to work on Downtown Project???s real estate purchases, pointed out that 2.75 acres of vacant land just a block away are soon to be converted into parking by Downtown Project. ???Retail Center??? patrons will be allowed to park there ???for a discounted fee,??? Kessler wrote. The motel???s 69 rooms will be converted into 31 retail outlets in sizes ranging from 280 to 1,040 square feet. According to a schematic, the motel???s registration office will become a coffee shop. Two buildings just north of the motel will be converted into private offices. Kessler also wrote the project would "provide a much needed amenity to the new wave of urbanites that are now living Downtown, as well as attract other suburban area residents to come experience what is occurring Downtown.??? The three tavern owners will require three separate special-use permits, which the city's Planning Commission will consider at its 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday, July 9. ,
89101 Joe Schoenmann doesn t just cover downtown, he lives and works there. Schoenmann is Greenspun Media Group s embedded downtown journalist, working from an office in the Emergency Artsbuilding. Facebook Fark Digg Reddit Stumble Discussion: 2 comments so far Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Additionally, we now display comments from trusted commenters by default. Those wishing to become a trusted commenter need to or sign in with Facebook Connect to tie their Facebook account to their Las Vegas Sun account. For more on this change,Entrepreneurs glass engravings help celebra, Only trusted comments are displayed on this page. Untrusted comments have expired from this story. By July 3, 2013 2:14 p.m. apparently the gentry like to drink . . . .I wonder if metro will set up dui check points on Freemont . By</html>
Promising signs for the future
<html>March 17, 2013 10:49 a.m. Part Two Next, is the predominance of rejection in our western culture and associated philosophies. Although I ve never been one who believed in forcing our American ways of life upon foreign people,Artist Cristina Paulos depicts bipolar disorder at Blackbird, one doesn t have to look hard to see that internationally, extreme terrorist organizations both at home and abroad are growing at a swift pace and so is the absolute hatred for the once typical and respected American methods. Once again, you won t have to look hard to see it. Simply put, our government has lost the war on illicit drugs. There have been many debates over whether or not to legalize the dangerous drugs that cartels bring into America and sell to the tune of enormous profits. Now, do we just sit and watch as the influence of drug money continues to flourish in every aspect of American life? Again,Red states are discriminating, you won t have to look hard to see it. We have credible threats of nuclear attack on our country from both North Korea and Iran. We owe our financial hearts and souls to Communist China. We still have the fears of 911. Osama bin laden is dead, but his spirit of destruction is still firmly in place throughout the world. The wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan have accomplished nothing more than a symbolic killing of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin laden. Other than that,Puerto Rico sees surge in homeless population, there was nothing significant in our war against terrorism. One won t have to look hard to see it. Americans face every day the great possibility of perilous acts against our infrastructure resulting from that of cyber warfare. We are also greatly concerned about the toxins in the air we breathe,Phillies 16 Romero cream Jerseys, the water we drink, and the foods we eat. And, in somehow consuming all the above, there looms a certain future in space warfare where our satellites, communication and navigation systems will be greatly susceptible to compromise, if not destruction from our enemies around the globe. Do you still think there are promising signs for our futures? You shouldn t have to look hard to see that the election of a Pope and the hiring of a new school superintendent have little meaning to an auspicious future. By</html>