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As CPN reported exclusively in our Daily News REport Morning Edition(subscribe here), after the stock market continued its recent roller coaster ride yesterday–the Dow Jones index lost a massive 733 points just days after gaining a record 976 points on Monday–all eyes will be watching today. Global government largesse hasn’t helped much so far. European stocks are now taking their lead–down over 3 percent so for this A.M.–from Asia’s 11.5 percent overnight selloff. According to the folks on CNBC oil is heading to 60, the 2008 chart is starting to look like 1929’s, and the Dow could tank another 27…

The National Debt Clock in New York made news (including here) last week when its operators had to drop the dollar sign to make room for one more digit. But, James K. Galbraith, Ph.D., professor of economics and government at the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, told CPN that the more appropriate attitude is “Turn off the debt clock.” Galbraith is the son of the late John Kenneth Galbraith, the renowned economist and author, and his most recent book, The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too, was published…

The Australian-based developer building the Olympic Village for the 2012 Summer Games in London is having trouble getting loans to fund the construction because of the global credit crunch. Lend Lease Corp. has been seeking a debt-equity deal for the project but has been unable to find one because of the financial crisis, Mark Gell, a Land Lease official, told Bloomberg News today. In an effort to keep the construction schedule on track, the British government has used 95 million pounds from a contingency fund, according to the Bloomberg story by Rebecca Keenan and Brian Lysaght. The number of units…

Watch it fall! Watch it rise! And fall again, and then rise again! Most of the gains for the Dow Jones Industrial Average came today in the last 90 minutes of the day; it closed up 401.35 points, or 4.7 percent. The Nasdaq was up as well, gaining, 5.5 percent, and so was the Standard & Poor’s 500, gaining 4.3 percent. Why? Why not? The market is an exercise in bungee jumping these days. AIG execs must be a little spooked these days at the attention they’re getting–especially from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Late on Thursday, the company…

September usually sets the pace of the investment market through the end of the year, and if this September is any indication, the property markets are in for some troubling times, according to Real Capital Analytics’ Global Capital Trends September/October 2008 report. “The credit crunch that has been impeding deal flow in the U.S. and Europe is now spreading throughout Asia and erupting into a full-blown financial crisis in the West,” the report indicated. “In the course of the month, some of the largest lenders to the commercial real estate industry have fallen: Lehman, Hypo, Wachovia, Fortis, AIG, HBOS, Merrill…

Hersha Hospitality Trust has announced that it has entered into a $175 million revolving credit loan and security agreement with a consortium of lenders.The deal provides for a revolving line of credit is structured to allow for an increase of an additional $40 million to be arranged with new participants as well.The company expects to use the credit for working capital and general corporate purposes in addition to the purchase of hotels in the future.The interest rate is at the Prime Rate (or alternatively LIBOR plus 250 basis points)–at Hersha’s option. The group of lenders that has committed to financing…

As CPN reported exclusively in our Daily News REport Morning Edition(subscribe here), banks receiving funds from the Treasury Department under the financial bailout plan must turn around and re-deploy that money in order for the strategy to be effective in preventing a collapse of the financial system, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told them when he handed them their new deal yesterday. More details of the rescue plan’s first stages are emerging this morning, from a number of news sources. For $250 billion the Treasury gets preferred stock paying a 5 percent dividend for five years. After that the rate goes…

Oops, there it goes again. At the end of the day Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down some 733.08 points, or 7.87 percent. Most of the Monday’s surge has evaporated. The Standard & Poor’s 500 was off 9.03 percent, and the Nasdaq lost 8.82 percent. What’s stampeding investors now? Bad numbers from the wider economy, especially retail sales. Some of that dead-cat bounce was evident in Hong Kong Wednesday, as the Hang Seng Index lost about 5 percent. Japanese stocks also traded lower much of the day as well, but the Nikkei 225 ended up with a 1.1…

NorthMarq has announced that Mike Scott, senior vice president for retail, is retiring after 40 years. Scott was a leader in the advancement of the concept of shopping malls. As Dayton-Hudson Properties vice president of leasing for regional shopping center development in the 1970s, he was instrumental in getting tenants to commit to several Minneapolis shopping malls including Southdale, the first enclosed shopping mall in the country. Scott is the first-ever recipient of the Minnesota Shopping Center Association’s President Award for outstanding contributions to the industry. Spending his career in retail development, leasing and tenant representation, Scott recently completed his…

Turmoil in the financial markets and declining prospects in the general economy have so far failed to affect the U.S. commercial real estate market in a significant way, according to Martha Peyton, managing director of strategy and research for global real estate with New York City-based TIAA-CREF. But that can change. “We haven’t yet seen how many jobs will disappear in the coming weeks and month because of the interruption in credit,” Peyton (pictured) told CPN. “The sooner this is resolved the better.” Which of the proposed solutions–equity infusion or the purchase of bad subprime mortgages–will likely work faster? “The…