Author: Press Room

By Jorgelina do Rosario and Rodrigo Campos WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A committee of Sri Lanka’s international private creditors sent its first debt rework proposal to the country’s authorities to rework over $12 billion in bonds outstanding, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the matter. This is the first bondholder proposal after the 22 million people island-nation defaulted on its debt over a year ago. The proposal is a first step to engage with the country’s authorities, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because discussions are private. Representatives for the government did not immediately…

With no resolution on the U.S. debt limit, the cost of insuring Treasuries against default continues to edge up steadily. The U.S. hit its debt ceiling in January, and the Treasury is currently using extraordinary measures to pay the bills, essentially borrowing from long-term government funds to make operational payments. That’s not sustainable and funds would be exhausted by the summer or early fall on current estimates from the Bipartisan Policy Center. Market Assessment The market’s view on the risks from the debt ceiling can be measured via credit default swaps. These are essentially a measure of the risks associated…

The USDA’s latest estimates show China as the world’s largest producer, importer, and holder of wheat inventories. Everyone knows China is the most populous country on the planet. But most people don’t realize that China is also the largest producer of wheat in the world behind India. Both countries have enormous populations that have to be fed, and wheat is a primary food staple, so it makes sense that China and India are the world’s number one and number two wheat growing countries. But the most recent USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) released this week show China…

The coming banking crisis, and suggestions of an incoming bust in commercial real estate, has given rise to some questions about recourse versus non-recourse debt and what impact the differences in those types of debt may have on these areas of the economy. The bottom line is that it probably will not make much difference, if indeed any, to the banking crisis, but it may have some probably slight consequences for the commercial real estate market. Let’s first start with the basic differences between recourse and non-recourse debt. We will start with recourse debt, because then it will be easy…

Not every home in Los Angeles’s storied Bird Streets neighborhood comes with panoramic views and guaranteed privacy. Those that do get it right, melding the beauty of the hills above Sunset Boulevard with the peacefulness of living in a gated retreat. The view home at 9405 Sierra Mar Place in Los Angeles is one example. The contemporary-style home has three bedrooms on two levels, including a guest suite with a private entrance on the lower level. It’s located slightly west of the streets that give the neighborhood its name. The home’s open floor plan brings a warm, airy feel to…

Annual home price growth slowed in January for the seventh consecutive month as high mortgage rates continued to stifle homebuyer demand, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices report. Home prices across the U.S. increased by 3.8% annually in January, down from the 5.6% annual increase in December, Case-Shiller’s National Home Price NSA index showed. Home prices have fallen by 5.1% since the market peaked in June 2022. Prices have been cooling for seven months, but the decline in January was slightly smaller than in months prior. That was likely due to the recent dip in mortgage rates and a resulting jump in…

Americans pulled back on spending at retail stores in March as demand cooled sharply in the face of banking turmoil, persistent inflation and high interest rates. Retail sales, a measure of how much consumers spent on a number of everyday goods, including cars, food and gasoline, tumbled 1% in March, the Commerce Department said Friday. That is well below the 0.4% decline projected by Refinitiv economists and a marked drop from February, when sales fell 0.2%. It is the biggest decline since December.Excluding the more volatile measurements of gasoline and autos, sales fell 0.3% last month. The figures are not…

Cash App founder Bob Lee was fatally stabbed by an IT consultant near downtown San Francisco after the two men got into an argument over the suspect’s sister, according to court documents obtained by NBC News on Friday.The suspect — 38-year-old Nima Momeni of Emeryville, a suburb of San Francisco — drove Lee to a secluded area and stabbed him three times with a 4-inch kitchen knife, including twice in the chest, according to the documents. At least one of the stab wounds punctured Lee’s heart.In the wake of the dispute, Momeni’s sister sent a text to Lee, the documents show. “Just wanted…

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Friday temporarily blocked lower court rulings that imposed tighter restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone.U.S. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. Northern District of Texas suspended the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone last week.related investing newsThe U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked that part of Kacsmaryk’s order and kept the FDA approval in place. But the appeals court temporarily re-imposed tighter restrictions on how mifepristone is used and distributed, which would make it more difficult for women to access the drug.Alito blocked those rulings restricting mifepristone access until 11:59 p.m.…

David’s Bridal, one of largest sellers of wedding gowns in the United States, is laying off thousands of workers nationwide, according to a notice filed to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor. The notice said the retailer is eliminating 9,236 positions across the United States. In Pennsylvania, the layoffs are set to begin on April 14 and end on August 11 and will affect 15 stores in nine counties in the state. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications did not specify when the layoffs would begin or how many stores would be affected in other states. The Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based retailer employs…