Author: Scott Hodges

Sophocles N. Zoullas to Join 1st Annual Marine Money Geneva Forum

Posted on by Scott Hodges

The 1st Annual Marine Money Geneva Forum will take place on Thursday, June 27th at the President Wilson Hotel in Geneva. The forum brings together many of the most important ship finance professionals from around the globe. As part of a panel at the conference, Sophocles N. Zoullas, Chairman and CEO of Eagle Bulk Shipping, will provide market commentary.

The program will start with coffee and registration at 8:30 am and will be co-hosted by Erasmus Shipinvest B.V. During the opening remarks, both Mrs. Mia Jenson, the Greek Director of Marine Money International, and Mr. Kevin Oates, the Managing Director of Marine Money Asia Pte. Ltd. will address the audience.

Some of the topics to be discussed include: Global growth prospects and their impact on commodity demand; Assessing Market Prospects and Risk; Legal Issues with Letters of Credit; The trading houses and shipping and many more. The panel discussion where Sophocles Zoullas of Eagle Bulk Shipping will participate will also include Fabrice Piard, George Wells, Minas Sorotos, and John Su. It will be moderated by George Cambanis.

Good News for Small Businesses

Posted on by Scott Hodges

Good news for small businesses. Optimism in this sector has been on the rise, peaking in May. The National Federation of Independent Business said on Tuesday that is Small Business Optimism Index increased 2.3 points to 94.4 last month. This is the highest that it’s been since May of last year.

As NFIB said, “Expectations about the future course of the economy clearly improved over the past few months, but not to levels seen in a ‘recovery’ or even in periods of solid growth.”

40% of the index’s rise was due to share of owners expecting better business conditions for the next six month. This level increased 10 points. There were also those who expect a rise in their inflation-adjustment sales and those who think this is a good time to expand their operations and to increase inventories.

Housing Prices on the Rise: Good Signs for Economy

Posted on by Scott Hodges
Home owners may be pleased to learn that home prices have accelerated by the most in almost seven years. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas has climbed 10.9% year over year. This has beaten the expectation that was set at 10.2%. This showing is the biggest increase since April of 2006.

According to the experts, the housing market has finally turned the corner as a result of historically low mortgage rates, tightening of inventory and easing of foreclosures. Consumer confidence in general has also picked up as a result of the stock market rally and the lower gas prices.

Home prices in Phoenix, for instance, continued to climb, rising 22.5% from a year earlier. San Francisco, in addition, is up 22.2%. Vegas is showing gains of 20.6%. The Case-Shiller report showed, as well, that Los Angeles prices rose 16.6% from a year ago.

As Michael Gapen, an economist at Barclays in New York, said, “Low inventories and gradually improving housing demand have combined to push housing starts higher and support home price appreciation. We see these factors as remaining in place and expect residential investment to add to GDP growth in the coming quarters. We also expect rising real estate wealth to support household balance sheets and underpin consumption, helping the broader economy to offset a substantial fiscal drag in 2013.”

Vehicle Production Group Shutting Down

Posted on by Scott Hodges

Vehicle Production Group LLC, the maker of wheelchair-accessible vans, has closed after running out of money. The company produced a six-passenger MV-1 van that ran on compressed natural gas. Investors includes billionaire T. Boone Pickens and they had received a $50 million in low-interest federal loans as well.

As Department of Energy spokeswoman Aoife McCarthy said, “While this is unfortunate news about a very promising company, it is the exception rather than the rule for our portfolio of more than 30 projects.”
The company had already built and sold more than 2000 vehicles and had a backlog of orders. The news comes at a time when there are many doubts and worries about green car start-ups. 

Made in America Makes a Rebound

Posted on by Scott Hodges

The pendulum on “Made In America” products and its importance swings a great deal. Twenty years ago, Roger Simmermaker, an electronics technician, wrote a book called “How American Can Buy American.” Recently, he has seen more American-made products and they are often even available without a higher price tag.
Many industries are still dominated by imports, including toys and textiles. Simmermaker and many others still believe that buying American is important and they see others shifting towards that mindset. As Simmermaker said, “It’s definitely easier. Especially in the last year or so, things have really changed.”

Last year, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced that it would be standing behind the movement. In January, they said they planned to spend an additional $50 billion over the next 10 years on American-made products. Apple Inc. also has plans to build some of its iMac lines in the US instead of in China.

It’s certainly worth watching in the coming year or more to see which companies focus their efforts in America.

Jan Brewer Vetoed Gold and Silver Measure

Posted on by Scott Hodges

In a move that many were watching for its legal precedent, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer just vetoed a measure on Thursday that would have allowed gold and silver to be legal tender in the state. She explained that her veto was due to the fact that the legislation could have resulted in lost tax revenue. The bill would have allowed gold and silver to become legal tender beginning in mid-2014.

The Republican-controlled state legislature voted the measure through last month. Brewer, in an open letter to state Senate President Andy Biggs explained, “While I believe the concern over a devalued dollar as a result of an unsustainable federal deficit is justified, I am unable to support this legislation.”

In recent years, the desire to establish gold and silver as currency has become popular in the US with hardline fiscal conservatives. They’ve been backed by the Tea Party movement, American Principles Project, the Gold Standard Institute and others.

Brewer, however, noted that the “administrative and fiscal burdens” for taxpayers and the revenue department “remain vague.”

Had the measure been signed, Arizona would have become only the second state in the US to establish precious metals as legal tender. Utah has such measures in place. 

Florida Adopts a Record Spending Plan

Posted on by Scott Hodges

Florida may be a place worth watching for states that are still struggling with the recession. Florida legislators just adopted a record $74.5 billion spending plan on Friday at the close of their 2013 lawmaking session.
As Republican Joe Negron told the Senate just before the unanimous vote to approve the plan, “While it’s true that our spending did go up, we have held $2.8 billion in reserve, we paid back a $300 million loan and we are spending $500 million for our state pension plan.”
Amy Baker, the coordinator of the state Revenue Estimating Conference, said that general revenue collations are now projected to increase by $1.1 billion in the coming year. 81.1% of that total comes from the state’s 6% sales tax, while 18.8% of it comes from the stamp tax on real estate activities.
 Standards & Poor’s Rating Service has shown that Florida’s situation isn’t entirely unusual.  State governments across the country are showing surprisingly strong gains from income and sales taxes. 

New Adviser at Andreessen Horowitz

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Andreessen Horowitz, the venture-capital firm in Silicon Valley, has recently added a new software veteran to its advisers’ list. Kenneth Coleman, 70, will provide advice, mentorship and introductions for Andreesen Horowitz’ portfolio companies.

Coleman explained his plans, as he said, “I hope to be asked good questions, be a good listener, provide insight, open doors, make connections that might matter.” He has already been instrumental in helping Andreessen Horowitz by helping some of the portfolio companies to make presentations at a pharmaceutcal company that he advises.

Coleman founded ITM Software, which is a provider of information-technology management services. He has spent many years, as well, in management positions at Silicon Graphics Inc., Activision and Hewlett Packard.

ValueAct Capital Invests $2 Billion in Microsoft

Posted on by Scott Hodges

In recent hedge fund news, activist hedge fund ValueAct Capital just took a $2 billion investment in Microsoft. CEO Jeffrey Ubben announced the hedge fund industry investment news at a conference in New York on Monday.

He explained the investment as he said, “In three to five years, which is our time horizon, we’ll stop talking about PC cycles and instead talk about Microsoft as the largest cloud-computing company in the world.”

ValueAct describes itself as a fund that performs hedge fund due diligence as it “combines intensive due diligence, a concentrated number of investments, and active, constructive involvement in the value creation of those investments.”  It currently has $10 billion in assets under management and it works to have significant ownership in only a small number of companies and to perform hedge fund due diligence with these companies.

According to Reuters, ValueAct does not plan to change any of Microsoft’s current strategies. As Microsoft said, “Microsoft’s Board of Directors and management team welcome the perspectives of shareholders. We are committed to enhancing value for all shareholders, and will continue to take actions that we believe will enable us to achieve this objective.”

Crowdfunding Taking Off in 2013

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Interest in crowdfunding has taken off after President Barack Obama signed the Jumpstart our Business Startups Act (JOBS) a year ago. This act legalized equity crowdfunding, subject to certain new rules still in the works.

Crowdfunding started in the US as a way to raise money for creative projects and it has expanded quickly as an alternative source for financing. Many websites now have ways for small investors to earn interest from lending money to individuals or small businesses.

Worldwide crowdfunding volumes have reached $2.66 billion in 2012. This is up from $1.47 billion in 2011, according to a survey by Massolution. Massolution predicts that $5.1 billion will be raised through crowdfunding platforms in 2013.

One of the most highly watched crowdfunded deals last year happened through Kickstarter when smartwatch maker Pebble Technology raised more than $10 million with Kickstarter. This was 100 times their target!