Mortgage lending expected to drop almost 19 percent
Orlando, Fla. – Mortgage lending in the United States is expected to drop 18.7 percent in 2006 as borrowing costs rise, cutting into the demand for housing and mortgage refinancings that helped drive the real estate boom, a mortgage banking industry trade group said on Tuesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association, at its annual meeting, said it estimates mortgage lending will drop to $2.26 trillion in 2006 from this year’s expected $2.78 trillion.
The expected drop in mortgage lending likely will coincide with fewer home sales and will slow down the pace at which home prices rise, the group said.
According to the MBA, mortgages underwritten for consumers buying homes will total $1.47 trillion next year, down from $1.49 trillion this year. This drop comes as new home sales are expected to fall 3 percent and existing home sales are seen dropping 3.5 percent, the MBA said.
The association projects existing home sales to rise 3.7 percent this year from 2004. New home sales, the trade group said, likely will have risen by almost 5 percent this year.
WASHINGTON
Trade war planned over Japan’s beef ban
Lawmakers frustrated with waiting for Japan to reopen its markets to U.S. beef are pushing to impose tariffs on Japanese products.
Japan bought more than $1 billion worth of U.S. beef in 2003, making it the most lucrative overseas market for American beef products. But the country imposed a ban on U.S. beef in December of that year, days after the country confirmed its first case of mad cow disease.
Legislation to be introduced today would require President Bush to impose tariffs on Japanese products if Japan does not reopen its domestic market to U.S. beef by the end of the year.
Among the 20 co-sponsors of the bill are U.S. Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar of Colorado.
DENVER
Colo. engineer injured in Iraq sues employer
A Colorado engineer injured when his truck crashed into the Tigris River in Iraq is seeking at least $5 million from the company that sent him there, claiming it didn’t protect his safety.
Fred Ladd sued North Carolina-based Research Triangle Institute on Monday in federal court in Denver. Ladd said he went to Iraq as a municipal utility specialist in 2003 under a contract with RTI, which was performing work for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
In October 2003, a truck in which he was a passenger went off the road and landed in the Tigris near Kut in east Iraq. Ladd claims driver negligence and the company’s failure to provide a safe and properly equipped vehicle were responsible for the accident.
DOUGLAS COUNTY
Liberty completes Swiss cable buy
Liberty Global Inc. on Tuesday announced that it completed the previously announced acquisition of Cablecom Holdings AG, the largest broadband cable operator in Switzerland, from a group of shareholders led by Apollo Management, Towerbrook Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs’ affiliates.
Liberty paid $2.2 billion in cash for the company.
BOULDER
Casino operator reports revenue gain
Boulder-based Global Casinos, which owns the Bull Durham Saloon & Casino in Black Hawk, reported that its annual revenue rose to $3.9 million in fiscal 2005 from $3.1 million in 2004. The company’s net income increased to $941,603 from $252,175 for the year, which ended June 30. The company also said it recognized a gain of $841,241 from restructuring its debt.
CENTENNIAL
Specialty Foods stock to be delisted today
Centennial Specialty Foods Corp. announced Tuesday that its stock will be delisted at the opening of business today for failure to meet the minimum $1 per share requirement.
The delisting decision was made by the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel after an appeal by the company last month.
GREENWOOD VILLAGE
Ciber Inc. profits slip on project costs
Ciber Inc. on Tuesday reported lower profits in the third quarter despite benefiting from a lower income tax rate. Earnings were at the low end of guidance as two previously disclosed Danish public sector projects continued to incur costs.
The company reported net income of $6.8 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down 19 percent from $8.4 million in the comparable period of 2004. Revenues increased 8 percent to $237.4 million, from $219.5 million last year.
DENVER
Forest Oil reaches credit pact with banks
Forest Oil Corp. announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with its banks to amend its credit facility to accommodate the previously announced spin-off of its Gulf of Mexico operation and subsequent merger between Spinco and Mariner Energy Inc.
REDMOND, Wash.
Microsoft to offer online book searches
Microsoft Corp. is diving into the business of offering online searches of books and other writings, and says its approach aims to avoid the legal tussles met by rival Google Inc.
The software giant said it will sidestep hot-button copyright issues for now by initially focusing mainly on books, academic materials and other publications that are in the public domain.
NEW YORK
Cablevision owners drop bid to go private
The family that controls Cablevision Systems Corp. has abandoned a bid to take the company private in the latest twist in a year-long saga at the New York-area cable TV provider.
After months of feuding between the father-and-son team that runs Cablevision, the Dolan family had offered in June to buy out Cablevision’s public shareholders in a transaction that would have formed two separate companies, a cable TV system business to be run by Charles Dolan, and a publicly traded cable network company to be run by his son James.
MOSCOW
Lukoil, China in race for Kazakh company
OAO Lukoil, Russia’s biggest oil company, proposed buying PetroKazakhstan Inc. for $4.18 billion, threatening to derail acquisition of the Kazakh company by China National Petroleum Corp.
A Lukoil bid would match the $55 a share the Chinese company agreed to pay for Calgary, Alberta-based PetroKazakhstan on Aug. 22.
