VOL. 37 | NO. 3 | Friday, January 18, 2013
REAL ESTATE
Remember the days before the housing market tumbled in 2007, back when it was possible to attend a social gathering and not hear a conversation about foreclosures, sub-prime loans or short sales?
2012 real estate trends for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford and Wilson counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
Top 2012 residential real estate transactions for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
REALTY CHECK
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released its assessment of how the H.R. 8, legislation that averted the “fiscal cliff,” will affect homeowners. In a section that NAR refers to as “Real Estate Extenders” there are four categories:
TERRY McCORMICK
Kenny, Kenny, Kenny. I can just picture Titans coach Mike Munchak shaking his head and mumbling that to himself over the latest alleged incident involving the Tennessee receiver.
NEWSMAKERS
Launch Tennessee, a public-private partnership focused on supporting the creation and development of high-growth companies in Tennessee, has named Charlie Brock as the organization’s new president and chief executive officer and Stuart McWhorter as the organization’s new vice chair.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
This year, you’re really going to do it.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
A whopping 70 percent of consumers globally report trusting online reviews from strangers when making purchase decisions, according to Nielsen’s most recent Global Trust in Advertising study. In fact, four out of five consumers say they reverse their purchase decisions based on negative online reviews, according to a Cone study of online trends.
THE WORLDLY INVESTOR
Forecasting 2013 The fiscal cliff episode proved bullish for stocks. Fearful asset owners facing tax code uncertainty pulled outsized income and capital gains into 2012.
SMART STUFF 4 WORK
Several years ago a short video went viral and spread the word throughout the land that you could pretty much have anything you want in life, including health, wealth and happiness, if you simply ask the universe for it in the right way. In a nutshell, it was yet another of the periodic Wallace Wattle-like rediscoveries of the power of positive thinking and creative visualization. In this case, the discovery was categorized as a so-called “Secret” that you too could gain access to for the price of the video.
I SWEAR
Last week’s column concluded with Susan and me in a hotel room in a neighboring city, to which we’d journeyed in a roundabout way to escape a cold, dark house on my birthday. We and 200,000 others were without electricity.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
What better time to “mentally” wipe the slate clean of the old junk that fills our brain and scribble on some new! The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to learn and apply new ideas and habits. Out with the old and in with the new!
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NEW YORK (AP) — The Black Keys are remaining vigilant when it comes to sound-a-like songs.
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) — A bill filed in the state Senate would end an automatic hotel allowance for lawmakers living within 50 miles of the Statehouse.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee is one of five states to receive a federal grant to establish an Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) — The libraries at Vanderbilt University are lending electronic tablets to students, faculty and staff.
AUTO INDUSTRY
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. and BMW Group are working together on next-generation batteries for green vehicles called "lithium-air" as their collaboration, first announced in late 2011, moves ahead in fuel cells, sports vehicles and other fields.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A measure of the U.S. economy designed to signal future activity increased in December from November, suggesting growth may strengthen in early 2013.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix stock is on its way to its biggest one-day gain since the video subscription service went public more than a decade ago.
NEW YORK (AP) — Apple shares plunged Thursday after the company reported quarterly results that point to growth slowing after five blowout years.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages rose this week but remained near record lows, keeping home buying more affordable.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will nominate Mary Jo White to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, tapping an attorney with broad experience in prosecuting white-collar crimes to lead an agency that has a central role in implementing Wall Street reform.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to the lowest level in five years, evidence that employers are cutting fewer jobs and may step up hiring.
NEW YORK (AP) — A sharp drop in Apple's stock is pulling the Nasdaq down with it after the tech giant predicted weaker sales. Other market indexes were mixed.
The price of oil rose Thursday on positive economic news from the U.S. and China.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Art Liscano knows he's an endangered species in the job market: He's a meter reader in Fresno, Calif. For 26 years, he's driven from house to house, checking how much electricity Pacific Gas & Electric customers have used.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Martin Ford saw it everywhere, even in his own business.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has saluted the outgoing Timothy Geithner as one of the best U.S. Treasury secretaries ever. He's surely been among the most contentious.
LONDON (AP) — British and Irish burger fans could face a Whopper shortage. Burger King says it has stopped buying beef from an Irish meat processor whose patties were found to contain traces of horsemeat.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation's sharp disagreements over taxes and spending are on a re-routed collision course, as Senate Democrats launch a plan that includes new taxes and House Republicans vow to speed up their plan to balance the federal budget with spending cuts alone.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than half the Senate on Wednesday urged quick approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ramping up pressure on President Barack Obama to move ahead with the project just days after he promised in his inaugural address to respond vigorously to the threat of climate change.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23
NASHVILLE AREA
GOODLETTSVILLE (AP) - Dollar General, the Goodlettsville-based chain of discount retail stores, announced it would open 635 new stores this year and add 6,000 new jobs.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tim McGraw will be the focus of this year's Academy of Country Music concert special.
AUTO INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - German automaker Volkswagen on Wednesday flipped the on switch for a new solar park at its Tennessee assembly plant.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - A Nashville judge has ruled that the Tennessee Department of Children's Services must provide records to the public of children who died or nearly died after the agency investigated reports they had been abused or neglected.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's U.S. senators have been named the top Republican members of two key committees.
HEALTH CARE
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — WellPoint Inc.'s fourth-quarter earnings jumped 38 percent compared to the final quarter of 2011, when the nation's second largest health insurer incurred a big hit from its Medicare Advantage business.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Strong earnings from tech giants nudged the stock market to a five-year high Wednesday. Investors drew encouragement from a vote by the House of Representatives to let the government keep paying all of its bills for another four months.
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil declined the most this year Wednesday on reports that the amount of oil moving through a key pipeline to the Gulf Coast had been cut in half.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Union membership plummeted last year to the lowest level since the 1930s as cash-strapped state and local governments shed workers and unions had difficulty organizing new members in the private sector despite signs of an improving economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund is projecting a modest rise in global economic growth for 2013, but also warning that problems in the eurozone and the United States could derail momentum.
NEW YORK (AP) — Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Leading bankers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, are on the defensive amid demands to regulate their industry more closely following the financial crisis that battered the global economy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman's approval of a revised route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline puts the long-delayed project back in the hands of the federal government.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House overwhelmingly passed a bill Wednesday to permit the government to borrow enough money to avoid a first-time default for at least four months, defusing a looming crisis setting up a springtime debate over taxes, spending and the deficit.
WASHINGTON (AP) — With tacit support from President Barack Obama, House Republicans are moving to try to defuse a potential debt crisis with legislation to prevent an economy-rattling fiscal crisis for at least three months.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Taxpayers preparing to file their 2012 returns can breathe a collective sigh of relief.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 22
MUSIC INDUSTRY
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ke$ha is an all-American girl — or at least she was following Inauguration Day at a concert Monday night.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The state is opening self-service kiosks that will allow drivers to renew or replace their driver licenses and state identification cards that will hopefully reduce lines and wait times.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Gov. Bill Haslam has no public events scheduled this week as he prepares to deliver his annual State of the State address.
COURTS
NASHVILLE (AP) - The state lawyers group is recommending changes in state law governing conservatorships.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google's fourth-quarter earnings rose 7 percent as online advertisers spent more money in pursuit of holiday shoppers.
NEW YORK (AP) — For many investors, Apple's best days are behind it. Competitors are catching up, they believe, and the latest iPhone is stumbling.
NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft has joined the negotiations to buy struggling computer maker Dell, according to media reports.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — As high-powered CEOs flock to the snowy Swiss resort of Davos, they are loaded down with baggage — not just skis and iPads but concerns about the global economy, public mistrust, disappearing jobs and a heap of other challenges.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. sales of previously occupied homes dipped in December from November, in part because of a limited supply of available homes. But for all of 2012, sales rose to their highest level in five years,
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is alerting its global suppliers that it will immediately drop them if they subcontract their work to factories that haven't been authorized by the discounter.
Strong earnings reports from big U.S. companies helped push the Dow Jones industrial average to its eighth gain in nine sessions Tuesday.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil closed at a four-month high Tuesday as global economic reports point to improving conditions.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Delta Air Lines said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter profit was nearly wiped out by Superstorm Sandy and special charges.
NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon Communications' fourth-quarter loss widened, dragged down by restructuring, pension and Superstorm Sandy costs. The company activated a record number of new devices on its contract-based plans during the period.
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — Higher sales helped Johnson & Johnson post a much bigger fourth-quarter profit than a year ago, when a slew of charges depressed results.
DOVER, Del. (AP) — Chemical and bioscience company DuPont Co. says weakness in its performance chemicals and electronics and communications businesses, coupled with costs associated with growth initiatives, led to a sharp drop in fourth-quarter income.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says a House Republican bill to extend the government's borrowing authority for three months still faces concerns in Congress but press secretary Jay Carney says that if it reaches President Barack Obama's desk, "he would not stand in the way of the bill becoming law."
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama devoted one word — "deficit" — to the issue that brought Washington to the brink of fiscal crises time and again during his first term.
MONDAY, JANUARY 21
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The survival of short line railroads in the state may depend on small manufacturers and Tennessee farmers, who still use the older tracks and trains to move products in and out of rural areas.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Efforts to land the assembly of another Volkswagen model in Tennessee have been kicked into high gear following the German automaker's unveiling of its CrossBlue SUV prototype at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last week.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
LONDON (AP) — Hopes that U.S. politicians will be able to reach a deal on raising the government's debt limit, avoiding the risk of a disastrous default, supported global markets on Monday, when Wall Street will remain closed for a holiday.
The price of crude oil slipped closer to $95 a barrel on Monday, with energy investors keeping to the sidelines as U.S. markets were closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Public trust in business, government and media leaders has fallen in the wake of financial and political scandals, according to a new global survey.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese and U.S. investigators began a probe Monday into the maker of the lithium ion batteries used in Boeing's grounded 787 jets.
NEW YORK (AP) — The pension fund for one of Hostess Brands' unions has hired an investment bank to represent workers and pensioners as the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread sells off its brands.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Declaring "our journey is not complete," President Barack Obama took the oath of office for his second term before a crowd of hundreds of thousands Monday, urging the nation to set an unwavering course toward prosperity and freedom for all its citizens and protect the social safety net that has sheltered the poor, elderly and needy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's a good thing President Barack Obama considers himself a congenital optimist.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are looking to make new revenue part of the Senate's first budget in almost four years, which will be released soon after the start of President Barack Obama's second term.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 18
STATE LEGISLATURE
NASHVILLE (AP) - State Rep. Curry Todd pleaded guilty Friday to drunken driving and gun charges and was sentenced to 48 hours in jail and the loss of his firearm for a year.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to create a new national wildlife refuge in Middle Tennessee.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — State safety officials say they aren't surprised that traffic fatalities were up statewide in 2012.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The number of unemployed Tennesseans is at its lowest point since the economic meltdown of 2008.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Tennessee Attorney General's office says Friday is the last day for Tennesseans to file a claim form to receive a payment under the national mortgage settlement.
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Civil rights leaders say Nashville's lunch counter sit-ins were instrumental in ensuring that student demonstrators across the south would embrace nonviolence.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Federal prosecutors have charged a woman in Nashville with taking money from Veterans Affairs grants that she said was to be used for housing for homeless veterans.
AUTO INDUSTRY
Fiat and Mazda have signed a final agreement to jointly produce convertible two-seater Alfa Romeo and Mazda sports cars.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. has settled with family members of two people killed in a sudden-acceleration crash in Utah as part of a lawsuit that was to go to court next month and serve as a test case for a group of hundreds more that are pending.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials in 2007 underestimated the scope of the approaching financial crisis and how it would tip the U.S. economy into the worst recession since the Great Depression, transcripts of the Fed's policy meetings that year show.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The aftermath of the housing bust forced many homebuilders to dramatically scale back construction on new homes to avoid the risk of ending up saddled with a trove of newly built, yet unsold properties.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing higher on Wall Street, closing out a third straight week of gains.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil remained at a four-month high Friday after new data showed China's economy rebounded and a global demand forecast rose.
NEW YORK (AP) — General Electric Co.'s net income rose 8 percent in the fourth quarter as earnings at all of the conglomerate's industrial segments improved due to growth in developing economies.
NEW YORK (AP) — Profits roared back at the investment bank Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter, reversing a loss in the same period a year ago, when its results were weighed down by a costly legal settlement.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. builders started work on homes in December at the fastest pace in 4 ½ years and finished 2012 as their best year for residential construction since the early stages of the housing crisis.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid plummeted to a five-year low last week, a hopeful sign the job market may be improving. But much of the decline reflects seasonal volatility in the data.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The average U.S. rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage inched closer to its record low this week, helping to keep home buying more affordable.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled House will vote next week to permit the government to borrow more money to meet its obligations, a move aimed at heading off a market-rattling confrontation with President Barack Obama over the so-called debt limit.
NATIONAL POLITICS
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the middle of a bitter fight over a Republican president's nominee for defense secretary, a former White House occupant pleaded with senators to give the president his choice for the Pentagon job.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an unprecedented move, President Barack Obama's vaunted political organization is being turned into a nonprofit group — funded in part by corporate money — to mobilize support behind the president's second-term agenda.