offshore-finances.com

The recent house price falls in Florida have made areas once beyond the budgets of most buyers much affordable to many more people, it has been stated.

Director at property firm Mayfair International Realty Annette Reeve said such factors applied to many places, including Orlando, near the Disney resort.

She stated: "From Orlando’s point of view, your pound is going so much further that you can buy a much nicer house in Orlando than you would have been able to four years ago."

Other locations have also come within the reach of UK buyers in recent times, Ms Reeve noted, including coastal resorts like Cocoa Beach and Sarasota, adding that Reno is a good place to look on the west coast of the state because of its high number of foreclosures, leading to many bargains being offered.

Figures for foreclosures in Florida from property research firm RealtyTrac revealed that one in 33 homes there had received at least one filing in the first half of 2009.

Written by Chris Moore

Converting disused churches is an increasingly popular option for those looking to move abroad to Italy, it has been stated.

Rural areas in Tuscany have seen old buildings such as abandoned farmhouses being refurbished, but with these now in short supply the practice is now being applied to former places of worship as well, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The paper noted the example of a 1900s church and priest house in the La Marche area, where theatre director Michael Fields spent €220,000 (£187,000) in grants and €350,000 of his own funds renovating the buildings, including adding windows and floors.

Roger Coombes from Cluttons Italy told the news provider one of the best features of such buildings is their spaciousness, making them good for entertaining guests.

Another place that may be popular for buyers in Italy is the Dolomites region.

The mountainous area has just been added to Unesco’s world heritage site list after its 33rd annual meeting, with the body stating that it has "some of the most beautiful mountain landscapes anywhere".

Written by Charles Mackay

The dollar is coming under pressure in NY trade.  The USDCHF moved below the 100 hour MA in a large liquidaton bar on the hourly chart.  The pair extended above the trendline resistance this week, but could not maintain any momemtum.

The pair remains largely non trending over the last few … [visit site to read more]

Sugar prices are sharply higher once again this morning, due to rain issues in India and Brazil, which may curb production for the 2009-2010 crop year. A much milder than expected monsoon season in India has traders changing their initial opinions that Indian production will resume normal levels after a disastrous 2008-2009 crop year. This could very well result in India continuing to be a net importer instead of a net exporter of Sugar cane.

Analysts are suggesting that India’s … [visit site to read more]

The EURUSD came down to test the support/remembered prices from the last few days.  The level comes in at the 1.4086 to 1.4093 level.  This level was outlined as support for day in the prior post.

Holding the level has led to a sharp rebound back higher for the pair.  Upside continues to have the resistance against the 1.4144 to 1.4156 … [visit site to read more]

The pace of economic contraction slowed to a 1.0% pace in the second-quarter, far better than economists had expected. (The consensus forecast called for a 1.5% drop.)

More importantly, the Q2 number cements the observation many of us have been drawing — the economy is starting to hit bottom. Several economic reports have shown signs of a slowing pace of deterioration over the past few months. And, in the most recent Beige Book, the Fed discussed “stabilization” 5 times.

Though the … [visit site to read more]

We are all finding it tough to trade the equity market at this point in time. Despite rising share prices, earnings reports are coming in one after another that shows the harsh reality of today’s economy. The majority of them affirm that revenues, cash flow, earnings, and even dividends are down. Unable to raise the required revenues from corporate, personal and property taxes, local, state and national governments are breaking contracts, unable to remedy massive budget deficits.

In … [visit site to read more]

In late January, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), the world’s most ubiquitous oil giant, capped off a whipsaw year in the global oil markets by reporting net income of $45.2 billion, an all-time record for corporate profits that shattered the former record it had set a year before.

The number was so big and the results beat Wall Street estimates by so much at a time when the credit crisis was wreaking havoc on so many other sectors that Oppenheimer & Sons (OPY) oil analyst Fadel Gheit … [visit site to read more]

US Dollar (USD)

The Dollar did not manage to maintain its strength and fell against its most major trading counterparts after the initial jobless claims showed a third weekly reduction in the number of people collecting unemployment, boosting higher-yield demand. After 2 days of declining, Wall Street ended the day with gains. Dow Jones rose 0.90% and closed at 9150, the highest level since November of 2008 and NASDAQ closed by 0.84%. Crude oil soared, rising by more than 5%, closing at … [visit site to read more]

The higher than expected GDP was as a result of higher government purchases.  The negative were consumption and inventories.  The 3rd quarter should see improvement on increased stockpiling but will need to see the consumer come back in and the question is will they show up with depleted balance sheets.

The fact is, it is what the market focuses on which will dominate on the economy.  Deficits will continue to be an issue and will employment improve and boost the consumer … [visit site to read more]