The county of Los Angeles has tentatively agreed to buy the Gas Company Tower, a prominent office skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles, for $215 million in a foreclosure sale.

The price is a deep discount from its appraised value of $632 million in 2020, underscoring how much downtown office values have fallen in recent years.

LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England has cut interest rates for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 as inflationary pressures in the economy have eased.

In a statement Thursday, the bank said that by a 5-4 margin, its policymaking panel backed a quarter-point reduction in its main interest rate to 5%, from the 16-year high of 5.25%.

It's the latest central bank to cut interest rates following a long stretch of increases. The U.S. Federal Reserve has yet to take the step but many think it will be ready to next month.

Many economists thought that the Bank of England, which is independent of government, would join the Fed in keeping rates on hold once again given persistent price pressures in the services sector, which accounts for around 80% of the British economy.

... Though those concerns remain, certainly among the four opting to keep borrowing rates on hold, the majority on the panel think the hard medicine of higher borrowing costs has worked, with inflation in the U.K overall down at the bank’s target of 2%.

“Inflationary pressures have eased enough that we’ve been able to cut interest rates today,” said Bank Gov. Andrew Bailey, who voted for a cut. “But we need to make sure inflation stays low, and be careful not to cut interest rates too quickly or by too much. Ensuring low and stable inflation is the best thing we can do to support economic growth and the prosperity of the country.”

Bailey’s comment suggests that interest rates will not be falling dramatically over coming months, certainly nowhere near the pace that the bank had hiked them in recent years.

Central banks around the world dramatically increased borrowing costs from near zero during the coronavirus pandemic when prices started to shoot up, first as a result of supply chain issues built up during the pandemic and then because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine which pushed up energy costs.

Though no one is anticipating rates to fall to those previous lows, there are widespread expectations that the bank will cut again in coming months, especially as its forecasts suggest inflation will be below target in the next couple of years, despite a modest increase in the second half of the year.

“But ultimately it is the data that will determine how interest rates evolve from here, with the bank hoping its conviction that underlying inflation pressures are fading will be vindicated,” said Luke Bartholomew, deputy chief economist at abrdn, formerly known as Aberdeen Asset Management.

The cut — and the potential of future cuts — are welcome news to millions of mortgage holders, certainly those whose borrowing costs track the bank’s headline rate, though it will likely mean that the savings rates offered by banks will be reduced.

David Hollingworth, associate director at L&C Mortgages, said the prospect of further rate cuts will help boost consumer confidence and that could help the housing market.

“That will be important reassurance to many that have been scarred by the turbulent and volatile periods in the mortgage market over the last couple of years," he said.

Higher interest rates — which cool the economy by making it more expensive to borrow — have helped ease inflation, but they’ve weighed on the British economy, which has barely grown since the pandemic rebound.

Critics of the Bank of England say it has being overly cautious about inflation in recent months and that it had maintained high interest rates for too long, unnecessarily harming the economy. Borrowing costs had been held at 5.25% since August last year, even though inflation was clearly on a downtrend while the economy stagnated.

It is a charge that’s also been leveled against the U.S. Federal Reserve, which kept rates unchanged on Wednesday. It is widely anticipated that the Fed will

Other central banks, including the European Central Bank, have opted to cut rates but are doing so cautiously. July 31, 2024|Updated August 1, 2024 8:00 a.m. PAN PYLAS

Two of the largest banks in the US are declaring a loss on a whopping $3.5 billion in debts that customers can’t pay back.

JPMorgan Chase says its net charge-offs, which are delinquent debts that banks do not expect to receive, hit $2.2 billion in the second quarter of the year.

That’s a $200 million increase from the previous quarter and an $800 million increase from Q2 of 2023.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo says its net charge-offs surged from $764 million in Q2 of 2023 to $1.3 billion last quarter – a 70% increase.

Although the pace of inflation has reduced, Wells Fargo’s chief financial officer Michael Santomassimo says many customers are clearly struggling as their credit card balances rise and savings dwindle, reports the New York Times.

“[Inflation is] still cumulatively having a bit impact. The folks on the lower end of the wealth or income spectrum are struggling more than folks that are on the higher end.”

In addition to its charge-offs, JPMorgan declared an additional $500 million in losses from failing mortgage investments.

US banks have been sounding the alarm on their customers’ growing credit card balances and issues in the commercial real estate industry since last year.

In its new report, Wells Fargo says it earned a Q2 profit of $4.9 billion, although the bank’s shares tumbled 6% on Friday after net interest income fell short of estimates.

JPMorgan Chase reported a quarterly profit of $13.1 billion as its stock hovers near its all-time high.

Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin at current age wearing a generic fast food worker uniform standing at order counter of fast food restaurant...

So a sub-penny stock in a dead company suddenly changes registrars.

And none of the search engines I use seem to work this morning. The revolution will not be searchable.

EDIT; turns out it's just Bing and Copilot failing... https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/23/bing_and_copilot_fall_from/

Nice to know they're on top of their tech when my DRS depends on it...

"And Computershare is big: the Australian company had revenue of $3.3 billion last year, its 14,000-plus staff work across more than 20 countries, serving 40,000 clients and 75 million end-customers. All of which requires 24,000 VMs – a fleet few orgs will match."

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/s/9Mrw1OnwkS

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/s/6UCtww93UB

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/s/0riinDTG2l

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/s/UAtkfWwG1d

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/s/ZwBH9KL425

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/s/BizpwMAzvb

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/s/cgg6iKqXsi

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/s/ueWSGIFTdm

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/s/7E17M2dfPY

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/s/1MRCid7h7v

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/s/qRaAcvbGN8

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/s/mDwUgyTwwj

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/s/MomNsGbfsC

=========== End of Message

Now, this is something I personally want to add: this what happened to him it's the last of many shitty things that happened during this saga. When the time comes, remember all these events, how people got abused and harrassed - and make them pay the RIGHT price (which is a cell and all they own and more). Because I will. Oh, if I will...

💎🤲🏻

This one's been around in other media, tallest building in Ft Worth just sold for 10% at a foreclosure auction.

This on top of the pressure from work from home and GME investors not budging.

Looks like an interesting day ahead.

I'm drinking lots of water.

Edit: I ffnd myself in agreement with speculation that this might be a dangerous and expensive (desperate?) rug pull to buck more investors off their back. Likely will just demonstrate how disconnected they are and might run away from them.

I get an error and need to reload nearly every time.

https://sitereport.netcraft.com/?url=http://lemmy.whynotdrs.org

I wonder if cloudflare has any connections with shf's.

Second time around, they're hoping we'll miss this one.

Link...https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/1ciqum4/simians_smash_sec_rule_proposal_to_reduce_margin/

From post, full post has long template... "Well done fellow Simians! 👏 Thanks to OVER 2500+ of you beautiful apes, the SEC has decided the OCC Proposal to Reduce Margin Requirements To Prevent A Cascade of Clearing Member Failures is dog shit wrapped in cat shit. We need to kick this while it's down so it's out of the game.

... the Commission is providing notice of the grounds for disapproval under consideration.

[SR-OCC-2024-001 34-100009 (pg 4); Federal Register]

​

Notice of the grounds for DISAPPROVAL

The phrase "notice of the grounds for DISAPPROVAL" is formal speak for "here are the reasons why this is bullshit". HOWEVER, the rule proposal isn't dead yet. Part of the bureaucratic process is this notification of why it should be disapproved followed by a comment period where the rule proposer and supporters (e.g., OCC, Wall St, and Kenny's friends) can comment and try to push this through by convincing the SEC otherwise.

Apes can also comment on the rule proposal IN SUPPORT OF THE SEC and the grounds for disapproval. It's time to kick this to the curb.

SEC's Reasons This Proposal Is BS..."

So far today the CEO of HSBC has suddenly resigned… https://archive.ph/SgxD2

archive.today webpage capture Saved from https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czkvnd4g44ro no other snapshots from this url 30 Apr 2024 13:31:34 UTC

HSBC chief executive unexpectedly steps down 7 hours ago

João da Silva, Business reporter

Noel Quinn has led the banking giant for nearly five years.

HSBC’s group chief executive Noel Quinn is unexpectedly retiring after nearly five years in the role.

Europe’s largest bank says it is in the process of finding a successor for 62-year-old Mr Quinn, who will stay in the role until a new chief executive is named. HSBC is considering candidates from both inside and outside the firm.

It comes as the UK-based lender reported a 1.8% drop in profit for the first three months of 2024, compared to the same time last year. The company said that its pre-tax profit for the period came in at $12.7bn (£10bn), which was a little better than expected by market analysts. "After an intense five years, it is now the right time for me to get a better balance between my personal and business life,” Mr Quinn said.

Mr Quinn, who has worked at HSBC for 37 years, was first appointed as its chief executive on an interim basis in 2019, after his predecessor John Flint was ousted from the role. In March 2020, he took the reins of HSBC on a permanent basis. “[Mr Quinn] has driven both our transformation strategy and created a simpler, more focused business that delivers higher returns,” HSBC’s chairman Mark Tucker said. Along with its quarterly results, the bank announced an interim payout to investors of $0.10 per share and said it would buy back up to $3bn of its shares.

HSBC recently completed the sale of its operations in Canada and announced plans to do the same with its business in Argentina. The sales are part of efforts by the London-based bank to focus more on faster-growing markets in Asia.

Shanti Kelemen, chief investment office at M&G Wealth, told the BBC’s Today programme that it “has probably been a very intense five years” and that Mr Quinn “has had a very long career”.

She said that Mr Quinn had changed the shape of the bank during his time at the top, by such actions as selling HSBC’s Argentina business, leaving Canada, and stepping up Asia operations. “What he’s done will probably reverberate and determine the path of their success for certainly several years to come,” she added. UK banking International Business HSBC