New home sales decline last month
Sales of new homes plunged sharply in September to the slowest pace in 10 months, as higher prices and slower overall economic growth weigh on the housing market.
The Commerce Department said Monday that new-home sales slumped 11.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 468,000, the lowest level since November of 2014. September’s drop ended a two-month streak of accelerating sales.
“A stronger pace of sales will need to be seen for the recent stronger pace of single-family housing starts to be sustained,” said Ted Wieseman, an economist at Morgan Stanley.
Job gains slowed in September, while profit margins for many of the largest U.S. businesses with a global footprint stopped growing. The stronger dollar has punished exports abroad and cheaper oil prices have forced energy firms to cut workers and slash orders for pipeline and equipment.
Advisor sentenced for Ponzi scheme
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A former investment adviser has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for his role in the $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme operated by disbarred attorney Scott Rothstein.
Michael Szafranski got less than the five-year maximum Monday because of his cooperation with prosecutors against others in the scam. Szafranski pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy earlier this year.
Szafranski also repaid investors $6.5 million.
Prosecutors say Szafranski lured investors to Rothstein through various deceptions, including assurances he reviewed confidential legal settlements that did not actually exist. Rothstein’s scam was based on investments in these fake settlements.
More than two dozen other people have been convicted in the Rothstein scam, operated out of his former Fort Lauderdale law office until its October 2009 collapse. Rothstein himself is serving a 50-year prison sentence.
Economists cautious on year-end economy
Many business economists expect modest economic growth for the rest of the year, with only a small percentage taking a more bullish outlook, according to a new survey.
Four-fifths of the experts surveyed by the National Association of Business Economics expect fourth-quarter growth of at least 2 percent. But only 7 percent predicted growth will top 3 percent, down from the 16 percent who held that optimistic view in July.
Expectations are declining for fourth-quarter wages and employment, said Jim Diffley, senior director at consulting firm IHS Inc. and chairman of the survey.
Only 29 percent of those surveyed expect their company to add jobs in the next three months, the lowest rate this year, according to the survey released Monday. But half of the economists said their firms had trouble filling some jobs, and one-third continued to say their companies face a shortage of skilled workers.
On pay, 44 percent expect their companies to boost wages, the weakest outlook since a survey one year ago. In the last quarter, a third of the firms in the survey raised pay, down from more than 40 percent in each of the previous two quarters.
Most of the economists said the slowdown in China’s growth and the strong U.S. dollar aren’t affecting their companies. Lower oil prices have helped nearly one-third of the companies and hurt about one-fifth.