VOL. 36 | NO. 43 | Friday, October 26, 2012
REALTY CHECK
Quite often there are ghoulies or ghosties or things that go bump in the night, or in the day, lurking about houses around our fair city.
REAL ESTATE
Top September 2012 commercial real estate transactions for Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner counties, as compiled by Chandler Reports.
TERRY McCORMICK
Matt Hasselbeck can read a defense with the best of them. He proved that with his game-winning touchdown toss to Nate Washington against the Buffalo Bills.
NEWSMAKERS
LifePoint Hospitals has promoted Christy Green to vice president, corporate secretary. In her new role, Green will work directly with LifePoint’s board and will oversee various corporate functions.
BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW
You saw something the other day that you wanted to remember forever.
GUERRILLA MARKETING
Virtual scrapbooking site Pinterest is a force to be reckoned with. That’s why brands nationwide will integrate Pinterest campaigns into their promotional strategies this holiday season. This 2-year-old social media phenom has already attracted roughly 20 million users, making it the third-most popular social network in the U.S.
THE WORLDLY INVESTOR
The 10-year Treasury bond, which historically yields 5 percent, yields 1.75 percent today. At these levels, the risk/reward features of low yielding bonds and higher yielding stocks favors stock dividends over bond interest payments. However, with dividend yields in hot pursuit, investors have driven valuations higher for U.S. dividend payers. In fact, high yielding U.S. stocks now carry higher valuations than the market on average, far above their normal 20 percent discount. This is the highest valuation premium they have commanded since the 1950s. This does not foretell an immediate valuation collapse, but it does beg the question, are there better alternatives?
SMART STUFF 4 WORK
So, if you are reasonably conscientious about your health, you probably get dental checkups semi-annually and a general physical exam annually. If all goes well, you catch and treat any little problems before they become big problems. Maybe you should consider establishing a similar routine related to your co-worker relationships.
I SWEAR
The infield fly rule is neither a rule of law nor one of equity; it is a rule of baseball,” wrote William S. Stevens in The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule, Univ. of Penn. Law Review, vol. 123, p. 1474.
KAY'S COOKING CORNER
Spring sprang, summer sizzled and now fall has fallen, and it’s feeling good. I sometimes wish we could have these beautiful autumn days year-round. Cool, crisp mornings and short-sleeve, sunny afternoons. That’s a perfect combination.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — There's a sea change going on in Music City and the Country Music Association Awards are right in the middle of it.
MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. (AP) — Bill Dees emerged from his days as an out-of-cash young songwriter to pen tunes recorded by Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and other country music greats, but the centerpiece of his career was his work with Roy Orbison, including co-writing the classic rock hit, "Oh, Pretty Woman."
STATEWIDE
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Scripps Networks Interactive Inc., the operator of pay-TV networks such as Food Network and HGTV, said Thursday that its third-quarter net income grew 20 percent thanks to higher revenue from both advertising and distributor fees.
NASHVILLE (AP) — The Department of Safety will open eight driver service centers Saturday to help voters who need photo identification cards before the Tuesday general election.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee's high school graduation rate is up and assessment tests taken by elementary and middle school students improved last year, according to data released Thursday by the Education Department.
MIDSTATE
MURFREESBORO (AP) - A new Murfreesboro mosque that faced vocal opposition from some community members is requesting a permit for a cemetery.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Former Democratic state Sen. Rosalind Kurita of Clarksville has written a $5,000 check to the Republican candidate seeking to win her old seat.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Most major automakers reported sales increases in October despite losing at least three days of business to the punishing rain and wind from Superstorm Sandy.
DETROIT (AP) — Ford's leaders have watched Mark Fields, a brash Harvard MBA, turn the company's North American business into a profit machine. Now the CEO job is his to lose.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — A flurry of reports Thursday showed that U.S. consumers are growing more confident and spending more, boosting a still-weak economy just five days before the presidential election.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' confidence in the economy surged last month to the highest level in nearly five years, as many were encouraged by an improving job market.
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans spent briskly in October before Superstorm Sandy hit the Northeast at the tail-end of the month. But the question is whether they're still willing to buy an iPhone for Christmas if they plunked down hundreds on a generator for Sandy?
Payroll provider ADP said on Thursday that businesses added 158,000 jobs in October, picking up the pace set in the previous month.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. builders spent more on home construction in September, a gain that helped offset weakness in nonresidential building and government projects.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 363,000 last week, a level consistent with modest hiring.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. worker productivity grew at the same modest rate this summer as in spring, a sign that companies may be nearing the limits on how much output they can get from their employees.
Stocks are closing sharply higher on Wall Street after a series of encouraging economic reports, including a surge in consumer confidence.
The restart of refineries in the storm-hit northeastern United States gave a small boost to crude oil prices on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The average U.S. rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage slipped this week and stayed near its record low, a trend that's helped boost home sales and refinancing.
NEW YORK (AP) — Subways started running again in much of New York City on Thursday for the first time since Superstorm Sandy, but traffic at bridges backed up for miles, long lines formed at gas stations, and tempers flared as commuters waited for buses.
New York's three major airports will be operating under reduced schedules on Thursday as flight services start returning to normal following Superstorm Sandy.
IRVING, Texas (AP) — Exxon Mobil says its profit fell 7 percent in the third quarter as it produced less oil and gas and fetched lower prices.
ISSAQUAH, Wash. (AP) — Costco's revenue at stores open at least a year rose 7 percent in October, topping analysts' expectations.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Discount retailer Target Corp. says a key revenue measure rose 2.4 percent in October as customers spent more on food and health and beauty items, but the number of people buying items was even with a year ago.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tom T. Hall is a bit of a loner, so he found the red carpet at the BMI Country Awards a little overwhelming Tuesday night.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Spend a lot of time with a guy over five years and you get to know him pretty well. In the time Carrie Underwood has spent co-hosting the Country Music Association Awards with Brad Paisley, she's learned there's nothing fake about the man with the white hat.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tim McGraw has announced a Feb. 5 release date for his first album since leaving Curb Records.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — The chairman of the Tennessee Conservative Union on Tuesday called for Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais to resign after reports including that the congressman once urged a mistress to terminate a pregnancy.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee election officials are hoping to break another record when the early voting period ends on Thursday, but they acknowledge remnants of superstorm Sandy could affect voter turnout in the northeastern part of the state.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Shares of General Motors surged Wednesday after the company announced big job cuts in Europe and reported third-quarter earnings that were far better than Wall Street expected.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has seized on Netflix's recent troubles to build a 10 percent stake in the Internet video service.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are closing mixed on Wall Street after the market reopened following a two-day shutdown caused by Superstorm Sandy.
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook's stock price is falling now that employees are able start selling restricted stock in the company.
Gasoline prices fell Wednesday as travel in the storm-battered Northeast remained restricted by felled trees, power outages and flood damage.
NEW YORK (AP) — Two major airports reopened and the floor of the New York Stock Exchange came back to life Wednesday, while across the river in New Jersey, National Guardsmen rushed to rescue flood victims and fires still raged two days after Superstorm Sandy.
Superstorm Sandy grounded more than 18,000 flights across the Northeast and the globe, and it will take days before travel gets back to normal.
GENEVA (AP) — A day after UBS AG announced it was cutting up to 10,000 jobs by 2015, the Swiss banking giant's chairman Axel Weber warned Wednesday that many of its global rivals may have to follow suit.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker and the Tennessee treasurer will be teaching Nashville high school kids a new educational video game and curriculum called Financial Football.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford's third-quarter profit eased 1 percent to $1.63 billion as European losses swamped record North American profits.
ROME (AP) — Italian automaker Fiat's plan to increase capital investments in Italy will slow the completion of its acquisition of Chrysler.
ROME (AP) — Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne says he will ramp up production of the Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Jeep brands in Europe by 2016 to put idled Italian plants back to work.
TOKYO (AP) — Mitsubishi Motor Corp.'s fiscal second-quarter net profit improved 60 percent to 10.1 billion yen ($126 million) on cost cuts, but the Japanese automaker lowered its projection Tuesday for China, where a bitter territorial dispute is sending sales plunging.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Superstorm Sandy will end up causing about $20 billion in property damages and $10 billion to $30 billion more in lost business, according to IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm.
NEW YORK (AP) — Hurricane Sandy knocked out a quarter of the cell towers in an area spreading across ten states, and the situation could get worse, federal regulators said Tuesday.
Air travelers stranded in the Northeast are a little closer to getting home.
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Stock Exchange will reopen for regular trading Wednesday after being shut down for two days because of Hurricane Sandy.
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of gasoline fell Tuesday after Hurricane Sandy left a wide swath of flooding, power outages and disrupted transportation in the eastern U.S.
NEW YORK (AP) — Water welling into southern Manhattan drenched one of the world's densest communications nodes, taking out popular websites and forcing carriers to reroute international traffic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Home prices rose in August in nearly all U.S. cities, and many of the markets hit hardest during the crisis are starting to show sustained gains. The increases are the latest evidence of a steady housing recovery.
U.S Steel doubled its third-quarter net income as a tax benefit helped balance pressure from price decreases and a challenging global economy.
NEW YORK (AP) — Boeing is selling 35 of its redesigned 737 aircraft to a Russian state-run leasing company in a deal that would be worth $3 billion, if sold at current list prices.
LONDON (AP) — Oil company BP is rewarding long-suffering shareholders with a substantial dividend increase just days after it sold a stake in a Russian joint venture for billions of dollars.
The Conference Board is delaying the release of its Consumer Confidence Index for October until Thursday because of Superstorm Sandy.
GENEVA (AP) — Swiss banking giant UBS AG is to cut as many as 10,000 employees, or some 15 percent of its staff, to drastically shrink its ailing investment bank.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Nearly a million Tennesseans have cast ballots during early voting.
MUSIC INDUSTRY
NASHVILLE (AP) - Taylor Swift will co-host the Grammy nominations television special.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed Keith Siskin to the 16th Judicial District Circuit Court, which serves Rutherford and Cannon counties.
NASHVILLE (AP) — A national political action committee on Monday launched $180,000 worth of television ads against Republican Rep. Scott DesJarlais, who is anti-abortion rights, for reports that he once urged a mistress to terminate a pregnancy.
HEALTH CARE
WASHINGTON (AP) — You'd think health insurance CEOs would be chilling the bubbly with Republican Mitt Romney's improved election prospects, but instead they're in a quandary.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — And the winner is ... Japan.
DETROIT (AP) — Strong U.S. sales powered Chrysler to a healthy third-quarter profit.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans increased their spending in September at twice the rate that their income grew, a sign of confidence in the economy. Still, consumers made up the difference by saving less for a third straight month, a troubling trend.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stock trading will be closed in the U.S. for a second day Tuesday as Hurricane Sandy bears down on the East Coast. Bond trading will also be closed.
NEW YORK (AP) — Hurricane Sandy brought air travel to a halt in the Northeast Monday, grounding thousands of flights and upending travel plans across the globe. Planes and passengers are likely to remain stranded Tuesday and it could be a number of days before airport operations are back to normal.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Airlines canceled thousands of flights and stranded travelers. Insurers braced for damages of up to $5 billion. Retailers expected shrunken sales.
The biggest refineries in the Northeast shut down or throttled back sharply on Monday as Hurricane Sandy moved in. Oil prices fell as it appeared the massive storm will reduce demand by keeping drivers off the road and shutting businesses.
LONDON (AP) — Two of the world's biggest publishing houses are to link up in a deal that will bring the writings of classics like George Orwell's "1984" and this year's literary phenomenon "Fifty Shades of Grey" under one umbrella.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Costco, eBay, Google and the nation's top art museums are backing a Thai graduate student against book publishers, the movie and music industries and other manufacturers in a Supreme Court battle over copyright protections with important implications for consumers and multibillion dollar annual sales online and in discount stores.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26
NASHVILLE AREA
NASHVILLE (AP) - Members of Occupy Nashville have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging new rules governing the use of the War Memorial Plaza next to the capitol.
STATEWIDE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Another person has died in Tennessee from a fungal meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated steroid injections for back pain.
NASHVILLE (AP) — State election officials say Tennessee voters are continuing to make a strong turnout for early voting in the Nov. 6 election.
NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee election officials have filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court seeking to overturn a ruling that enabled voters to use photo identification issued by the Memphis Public library at the polls.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Embattled Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester has decided not to seek a third term in charge of the state party, a spokesman confirmed Thursday.
MIDSTATE
NASHVILLE (AP) — Even if U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais wins re-election after the revelation that he once urged his mistress to get an abortion, he could soon face a challenge from a fellow Republican.
MURFREESBORO (AP) - Two fired Rutherford County property assessor employees have filed a federal lawsuit against their former boss claiming sex discrimination and sexual harassment.
AUTO INDUSTRY
DETROIT (AP) — Toyota has widened its global sales lead over General Motors because its factories have recovered from last year's earthquake.
NATIONAL BUSINESS
BOSTON (AP) — The top securities regulator in Massachusetts has fined Citigroup $2 million for failing to supervise analysts who improperly disclosed confidential information about Facebook's initial public offering.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a slightly faster 2 percent annual rate from July through September, buoyed by more spending by consumers and the federal government.
Stocks closed mostly lower Friday after investors found little to like in weak corporate earnings reports and news of only tepid growth in the U.S. economy in the third quarter.
The price of oil is down slightly as the market eyes a massive storm heading for the East Coast with the potential to force refinery closures and delays in import deliveries.
DETROIT (AP) — A U.S. government safety agency has opened an investigation into complaints that the throttles can stick on some older-model Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable sedans.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Cable giant Comcast Corp., the nation's largest provider of TV and high-speed Internet services, more than doubled its net income in the third quarter, helped by fewer cancelations of video service than expected and by breaking even on the expensive-to-produce London Olympics on NBC.
NEW YORK (AP) — Apple's stock fell below $600 on Friday for the first time in three months, after the consumer electronics behemoth warned that costs of making new products will cut into profits in the holiday quarter.
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times Co. reported a sharp decline in its third-quarter net income on Thursday and said revenue fell below analysts' expectations amid weakness in print and digital advertising.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The McClatchy Co. reported lower net income in the third quarter, hurt by declining circulation and ad revenue at its newspapers.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose only slightly, suggesting sales may level off in the coming months after solid gains in the past year.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. mortgage rates rose only slightly this week and continued to hover near record lows, a trend that has helped boost home sales and refinancing.
NEW YORK (AP) — With the launch of Windows 8, buyers are about to discover a computing experience unlike anything they've seen before. Here's a guide to getting past some of the hurdles.
NEW YORK (AP) — For a company that has launched products with Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and Jay Leno — and has even paid to light up the Empire State Building in its signature colors — Microsoft's unveiling of Windows 8 on Thursday was a subdued affair.