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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mishedlo who wrote (46179)	2/9/2006 6:01:38 PM
From: shades	Respond to of 116555

=DJ NEWS WRAP: Perlos To Cut 1,250 Texas Jobs >POS1V.HE . FORT WORTH, Texas (AP)--A Finnish maker of mobile phone parts and other electronic accessories said it is laying off about 1,250 workers from its plant in Fort Worth, Texas, and transferring production to a new facility in Reynosa, Mexico. Officials with Perlos Oyj (POS1V.HE) said the measures, to be completed by the end of June, could save the company nearly $18 million annually. Construction on the new plant in Mexico began last year. It was unclear how many work at the Fort Worth plant or what would happen to the 181,000-square-foot facility, which made cell phone parts for companies such as Nokia Corp. (NOK). The announcement was posted on the company's Web site, and a representative with Perlos (Texas) Inc., said the company would have no further comment until Friday. Perlos arrived in Fort Worth in 1995 and later expanded. It was the company's only plant in the U.S. Perlos Oyj said it employs 12,900 workers worldwide. (END) Dow Jones Newswires February 09, 2006 17:17 ET (22:17 GMT) Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 05 17 PM EST 02-09-06

To: mishedlo who wrote (46179)	2/9/2006 6:04:47 PM
From: shades	Respond to of 116555

DJ 2 Arrested In Killing Of `Curious George' Collaborator move to fla and retire in style - that monkey one of my favorite characters BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (AP)--Two men have been arrested and charged with murdering Alan Shalleck, who collaborated with the co-creator of "Curious George" on a series of books and TV episodes about the mischievous monkey. Rex Spears Ditto, 29, and Vincent J. Puglisi, 54, were jailed after turning themselves in to police on Wednesday. Investigators said the two men knew Shalleck, and were tracked down using the victim's telephone records. "They came in .. and confessed to robbing and murdering this guy," Sgt. Gladys Cannon said. A maintenance worker Tuesday found Shalleck's body covered in garbage bags in the driveway of his home. The 76-year-old man had been stabbed. Authorities said the killers stole jewelry from Shalleck and money from his checking account. Shalleck was the writer and director of more than 100 short episodes of "Curious George," which aired on the Disney Channel, and co-wrote more than two dozen "Curious George" books with Margret Rey, who created the character with her husband, H.A. Rey, in 1939. (END) Dow Jones Newswires February 09, 2006 16:57 ET (21:57 GMT)

To: mishedlo who wrote (46179)	2/9/2006 6:05:54 PM
From: shades	Respond to of 116555

=DJ US Forecaster: Mortgage Equity Withdrawal Effect Limited . By Brian Blackstone Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--What have MEW done for us lately? Not much, says a top U.S. economic forecaster, who doesn't think mortgage equity withdrawals, or MEWs, had much of an effect on consumer spending when housing was on the rise and won't have much of an effect as the market cools. That view is at odds with some on Wall Street who expect falling mortgage equity withdrawals to accelerate the softening in housing that's already underway and perhaps lead to an easing of monetary policy late this year or in 2007. "Housing is going to slow" as part of a reallocation of capital to corporate investment, said Joel Prakken, chairman of St. Louis-based Macroeconomic Advisers, in a speech to the National Economists Club. However, it's "not a fundamental risk to the U.S. economy." MEWs work in the following manner: as interest rates declined and housing values increased, consumers have been able to tap into the equity value they've built up through cash-out refinancings and home equity borrowing. Some economists think a large chunk of that disposable income was channeled into consumption, so even a flattening out in home prices could have a significant damping effect on spending. Prakken co-founded the forecasting firm originally named Laurence Meyer & Associates in the early 1980s. It was renamed Macroeconomic Advisers in 1996 when Meyer became a Federal Reserve Governor. Meyer, who left the Fed in 2002, is now vice chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers. Prakken dismissed what he called the "hot potato" effect of MEWs that suggest a rapid shift in consumption behavior. Rather, he subscribes to the "life cycle" theory that suggests more moderate effects of mortgage withdrawals spread out over a longer period of time. Prakken's view on housing isn't all Pollyanna. He foresees a 4% to 5% inflation-adjusted decline in home prices over the next few years, two straight declines in residential investment, by 7% and 10%, in 2006 and 2007 and a decline in housing starts from their recent range around 2 million to about 1.8 million. And recent data already show considerable cooling. Housing starts tumbled 8.9% in December, and existing home sales fell three straight months to close 2005. A Fed survey of large banks released Wednesday showed weaker demand for residential mortgages in the past three months. Yet, "I don't expect anything like in the 1970s and 1980s," when housing declines had a steeper economic effect, Prakken said. Indeed, Macroeconomic Advisers only expects the housing slowdown to trim gross domestic product growth by 0.2 percentage point. Or as Prakken's colleague Meyer put it at the National Economists Club event: "What is the implication if housing flattens out? Oh my God, consumption will only grow at trend!" To be sure, some economists hold a darker view of housing and the economy. Economists at Goldman Sachs expect the housing slowdown to shave 1.5 percentage points from GDP growth next year. A sharp decline in MEWs - which Prakken downplays - will account for 0.75 percentage point of that hit, Goldman estimates. As a result of housing-induced slowdown under Goldman's scenario, the firm expects about 100 basis points in Fed easing next year. The Fed funds rate currently sits at 4.5% following 14-straight quarter-point hikes dating back to mid-2004. The Fed is expected to raise rates 25 basis points to 4.75% at Ben Bernanke's first meeting as Fed Chairman on March 27 and 28. Yet Meyer said that with economic models showing a "benign" housing effect, the Fed will focus more on the fact that its tightening campaign "has done nothing to withdraw financial stimulus" due to low long-term bond rates, robust equity markets and a low dollar. Meyer last week revised his Fed funds forecast from 4.75% to 5%.