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Friday, September 30, 2011
Leading Economic Indicators Down Sharply in August
Fleet Science Center Fun Summer Exhibits & Programs October, 2011
Your Guide to the Fleet OCTOBER 2011
Family-Friendly Film Returns 
IMAX®UNDER THE SEA returns to the Heikoff Dome Theater October 1. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Howard Hall of Del Mar, CA this film takes you to the most exotic and isolated undersea locations on earth, no passport required! More>>
Kids Free Admission in October All month long, kids 12 and under get into the Fleet for FREE with the easy-to-download coupon found at the San Diego Museum Council website. Reference the coupon for details of the offer. Twenty-four museums in all are offering free admission. Get up, get out, and explore San Diego's museums with your children throughout the month of October!
October 1 - 31
Visit the Discovery Lab to learn about all things scary from glow in the dark Flubber to spider webs and shocking activities. Recommended for ages 5 - 12. $2 with admission. More>>
ScholarShare College Savings Plan is a proud sponsor of Family Science Saturdays at the Fleet.
Saturdays in October
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Young Scientists 
"Spine Tingling Science" is the theme for the fall session of Young Scientists. Your preschooler will learn about spiders, shadows and skeletons, and of course a fall favorite -pumpkins! More>>Sessions begin mid-October
Mornings 9:00 - 10:30 a.m.
Halloween Family Day 
Kids 12 and under admitted FREE to the exhibit galleries with paid adult admission on October 29th! Halloween-themed hands-on activities will take place from 11am to 3pm in "Kid City." For more activities taking place in Balboa Park on Halloween Family Day click here.Saturday, October 29
Private Events at the Fleet 
Did you know the Fleet offers space for business meetings, company private events, and employee holiday parties? From sit-down dinners to cocktail receptions, from corporate awards banquets to proms, and even wedding receptions, we've got private events down to a science. For more information, please call 619-685-5761. More>>.
Two Museums Free in October! 
Now, through October 16 only! San Diego Air & Space Museum: present your Fleet membership card for FREE admission. Located at 2001 Pan American Plaza, at the south end of Balboa Park. Featuring: Space: A Journey To Our Future (Fleet members receive a discount). Open daily 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (last entry: 4 p.m.). For more museum info: SDASM or (619) 234-8291Oct. 16 through Nov. 23 only! The New Children's Museum: present your Fleet membership card for FREE admission. Located at 200 Island Avenue, in downtown San Diego. Featuring their new exhibition, TRASH. Open daily except Wed., 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (Thursday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday: 12 noon - 4 p.m.) For more museum info: The New Children Museum or (619) 233-8792More information on these two offers. One TWO more reasons that Fleet membership is a great value all year long!Not a member yet? Click here or call the Membership Office at (619) 238-1233 ext. 713.*Membership Reminder: Always arrive 20 minutes before a film starts to exchange your member IMAX Vouchers at the Ticket Counter before you line up at the Theater.
This Month's Experiment: Rainbows of Color WATCH THE VIDEO
INSTRUCTIONS (PDF)Watch the October edition of This Month's Experiment to learn how to make a rainbow in a test tube. Learn about density as colored liquids settle into layers right before your eyes. Do try this at home!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Five Refinance Tips for Borrowers
FOR ALL YOUR MORTGAGE NEEDS, CONTACT THE BEST IN SAN DIEGO:
Mike Savoca
Mortgage Consultant
Homeservices Lending
890 W. Washington Street
San Diego, CA 92103
858.361.7276 Cell
866.205.8385 Fax
NMLSR ID: 461738
msavoca@hsl-ca.com
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Adams Avenue Street Fair, September 24 & 25, 2011
| | Adams Avenue Street Fair | |
Monday, September 12, 2011
ArcLight Cinemas Expanding to San Diego
Nine years after opening its first theater in Hollywood, ArcLight Cinemas is bringing its brand of premium cinema to San Diego.
The new 14-screen, 1,800-seat cinema will open in late 2012 in the Westfield UTC mall, representing ArcLight's first theater outside of Los Angeles County and its fifth overall.
A subsidiary of Los Angeles-based Pacific Theatres, the chain already has locations in Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Pasadena and most recently in El Segundo, which opened in November.
The San Diego cinema will feature ArcLight's signature amenities and services, including extra-wide seats in sound-proofed auditoriums where patrons can reserve seats and watch commercial-free movies, from Hollywood blockbusters to art house films. ArcLight customers pay a higher ticket price than at conventional theaters.
Like other ArcLights, one of the 14 auditoriums will allow patrons who are at least 21 years of age to bring in beer, wine and cocktails from the theater's bar during special screenings.
"Since 2003, our mission has been to create the ideal movie-going experience for film lovers and casual moviegoers alike,'' said Gretchen McCourt, executive vice president, cinema programming, for ArcLight. "Today's announcement represents a milestone for ArcLight and we cannot wait for San Diego residents to rediscover the joy of going to the movies."
via: LA Times, Richard Verrier
Sunday, September 11, 2011
NEW Record Low Mortgage Rates - 4.12% on 30 Yr Fixed / 3.33% on 15 Yr Fixed
Industry data released Thursday show borrowing costs for home loans falling to new lows, slipping further from what was already reported as the lowest level for mortgage interest rates in more than a half-century. Economists attribute the continuing declines to ongoing employment concerns and economic uncertainty.
Freddie Mac reports that all fixed- and adjustable-rate mortgage products covered in its regular market study hit all-time record lows for the week ending September 8th.
The GSE now puts the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage at 4.12 percent (0.7 point), a drop of 10 basis points from 4.22 percent last week. As a point of reference,
Freddie says last year at this time the 30-year rate was averaging 4.35 percent.
The 15-year fixed rate came in at 3.33 percent (0.6 point) this week in Freddie’s survey. That’s down from 3.39 percent last week. A year ago at this time, the 15-year rate averaged 3.83 percent.
The 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) was unchanged this week, matching its all-time low set last week at 2.96 percent (0.6 point). This time last year, the 5-year ARM carried an average rate of 3.56 percent.
Freddie Mac’s study shows the 1-year ARM is now averaging 2.84 percent (0.6 point), down from last week’s average of 2.89 percent. It was 3.46 percent 12 months ago.
“Market concerns over Eurozone sovereign debt default and a weak U.S. employment report for August placed downward pressure on Treasury bond yields and allowed fixed mortgage rates to hit new lows this week,” explained Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.
He notes that last month’s jobs data showed no net gains, the poorest showing since September 2010, with the national unemployment rate holding above 8 percent for the 31st consecutive month. That’s the longest stretch of such elevated joblessness in 70 years, according to Nothaft.
Monday, September 5, 2011
California Distressed Sales Decline
California’s pending home sales dipped in July, as did the share of distressed property sales, according to a report released by the state’s Realtor group this week.
The California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) says 44.5 percent of home sales contracts accepted last month involved distressed properties. That’s down from both a month earlier and the same period last year, when the distressed share was 46.9 percent and 47.7 percent, respectively.
C.A.R.‘s data show that California counties with an extremely high portion of REO and short sale transactions a year ago continue to be flooded with distressed property sales.
Madera County leads the way, with 86 percent of July’s home sales counted as distressed. Other notables include Lake County (73%), Tehama County (72%), Merced County (71%), and Solano County (70%).
Of the distressed properties sold statewide, 26.7 percent were REO. That figure represents a decline from 27.3 percent in June, but is up slightly from the 26.3 percent REO share reported in July 2010.
Short sales were down by both comparisons. They made up 17.5 percent of July’s total sales contracts, versus 19.3 percent in June and 20.9 percent in July of last year.
C.A.R. says short sales will remain a part of the California real estate landscape for years to come, but the organization is concerned that lenders’ requirements have made closing these transactions a difficult process.
The state’s Realtors recently sent letters to the heads of the nation’s largest lenders – JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo – making recommendations on how the process can be improved and calling for the lenders’ urgent attention to address the issue.
Beyond the customary requests for realistic timelines and explanation for short sales that are rejected, the trade group is asking the lenders to disclose up front whether or not they actually own the original loan and be clear on who has the final authority to approve a short sale offer.
Realtors also say the process would move along much more quickly if lenders would pre-approve the short sale and price upon request, prior to the property being listed.
They want the lenders to increase the amount junior lien holders are given for agreeing to a short sale; second mortgages can often derail a transaction
Sunday, September 4, 2011
San Diego Leading Economic Indicators for July, 2011
Note: The tentative release date for next month's report is September 27.
August 30, 2011 -- The USD Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators for San Diego County rose 0.2 percent in July. Leading the way to the upside were strong gains in help wanted advertising and the outlook for the local economy. Local stock prices were also up moderately. These outweighed a sharp drop in consumer confidence and smaller declines in building permits and initial claims for unemployment insurance to push the USD Index to its eighth gain in nine months.
 | Index of Leading Economic Indicators The index for San Diego County that includes the components listed below (July) Source: USD Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate | + 0.2 % |
 | Building Permits Residential units authorized by building permits in San Diego County (July) Source: Construction Industry Research Board | - 0.35% |
 | Unemployment Insurance Initial claims for unemployment insurance in San Diego County, inverted (July) Source: Employment Development Department | - 0.22% |
 | Stock Prices San Diego Stock Exchange Index (July) Source: San Diego Daily Transcript | + 0.59% |
 | Consumer Confidence An index of consumer confidence in San Diego County, estimated (July) Source: The Conference Board | - 1.19% |
| | Help Wanted Advertising An index of online help wanted advertising in San Diego (July) Source: Monster Worldwide | + 1.13% |
 | National Economy Index of Leading Economic Indicators (July) Source: The Conference Board | + 1.01% |
There was some concern when last month’s report showed the first drop in the USD Index in 27 months. While the gain in July reduced some of those concerns, there are still some worries about the possibility of a double dip recession, both locally and at the national level. The probability of a recession is probably less than 50 percent, but the probability is significant and is growing. A drop in consumer confidence and the lack of income due to high unemployment has adversely affected personal consumption expenditures, which is about 70 percent of economy activity. That, combined with a drop in government expenditures as all levels of government cut back to deal with deficits, has caused the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to slow to a crawl. Add to that a weak housing and real estate market, increased inflation, and political turmoil over fiscal policy and the ingredients for a downturn are there. Whether this is enough or whether a further triggering mechanism is needed remains to be seen.
Highlights: The trend in residential units authorized by building permits was negative for the second straight month. A moving average is used to determine the trend by smoothing the month-to-month fluctuations in volatile components such as residential units authorized. . . The labor market variables remain mixed, with initial claims for unemployment insurance negative for the second month in a row, while help wanted advertising was up for the seventh straight month. The latter move put online help wanted advertising at its highest level since November 2008. The net result was that the local unemployment rate rose to 10.5 percent in July from 10.4 percent in June. The increase in the unemployment rate is not as negative as it seems since July is usually the highest month of the year in terms of the unemployment rate, as students and others involved in education entered the labor force looking for summer jobs. . . Consumer confidence continues to plummet as the drumbeat of bad news about the economy takes its toll. Particularly impacted are purchases of big ticket items such as automobiles, furniture, housing, etc., as consumers tend to be more hesitant to take on debt when they are worried about their jobs and income. . . Although the stock market has been very volatile (mostly to the downside) in August, local stock prices registered a solid gain in July. . . Despite all the bad economic news and worries about a double dip recession, the national Index of Leading Economic Indicators continues to move upward. One negative item was the second estimate of GDP growth for the second quarter of 2011, which showed the national economy growing at an anemic 1.0 percent annual rate. This was down from the advance estimate for the quarter, but was still higher than the even more anemic growth rate of 0.4 percent for the first quarter. July’s increase puts the USD Index of Leading Economic Indicators for San Diego County at 117.1, up from June’s revised reading of 116.9. Revised data for building permits, local stock prices, and consumer confidence led to the revision of the level of the USD Index for June, but there was no revision in the previously reported change of -0.2 percent for the month. Please visit the Website address given below to see the revised changes for the individual components. The values for the USD Index for the last year are given below:
| Index | % Change | ||
| 2010 | JUL | 110.0 | +0.3% |
| AUG | 110.0 | +0.0% | |
| SEP | 110.0 | +0.0% | |
| OCT | 110.0 | +0.0% | |
| NOV | 110.2 | +0.3% | |
| DEC | 110.7 | +0.4% | |
| 2011 | JAN | 111.7 | +1.0% |
| FEB | 114.0 | +2.0% | |
| MAR | 115.3 | +1.2% | |
| APR | 116.4 | +1.0% | |
| MAY | 117.2 | +0.7% | |
| JUN | 116.9 | -0.2% | |
| JUL | 117.1 | +0.2% | |
For more information on the University of San Diego's Index of Leading Economic Indicators, please contact:
| Professor Alan Gin School of Business Administration University of San Diego 5998 Alcalá Park San Diego, CA 92110 | TEL: (858) 603-3873 FAX: (858) 484-5304 E-mail: agin@san.rr.com |
Credit Risk Declining for Sixth Straight Quarter Per TransUnion
CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - August 29, 2011) - TransUnion's proprietary Credit Risk Index (CRI) declined for the sixth consecutive quarter as consumers continue to pay off their outstanding debt and maintain low delinquency levels on their credit obligations. Compared to one year ago, the 2Q2011 CRI for the U.S. decreased 1.9 percent to 121.22. The Credit Risk Index is benchmarked to 1998 consumer credit risk levels and measures changes in consumer credit risk within various market segments.
"The lengthy, broad and steady decline in the Credit Risk Index, which reflects declines in consumer delinquency and debt levels, has placed the consumer credit market on a firmer footing," said Chet Wiermanski, global chief scientist at TransUnion. "This responsible use of credit has given some lenders confidence to ease lending standards and invest more in the acquisition of new credit customers."
According to TransUnion's TrendData, for the past several quarters there has been increased lending activity among banks and finance companies across revolving and installment loan categories. "Increases in the percentage of consumers with new accounts with generally higher credit limits, coupled with lower utilization rates for revolving account types reflect a healthier balance of risk," continued Wiermanksi.
Except for Massachusetts and Vermont, every state experienced at least a 0.76 percent decline in their credit risk. The 234-basis point quarterly decrease (121.22 from 123.56) at the national level was the largest decline since the first quarter of 2007. This decline places the CRI at a level not witnessed in the U.S. since the third quarter of 2008. The index has declined by 845 basis points or 6.5% since reaching its peak of 129.67 during the fourth quarter of 2009.
TransUnion's Total Inquiry Index (TII), which measures the demand for consumer credit benchmarked to consumer-initiated credit inquiries levels observed in 2000, increased to 68.93 in the second quarter 2011. Although the demand for credit remains low when compared to 2000 benchmark levels, the annual increase in the TII during the second quarter of 2011 was 0.7 percent. TII levels increased across most major categories monitored, especially inquires from finance and sales finance companies. Lending activity from these sectors generally reflects sales of consumer durable goods such as electronics, appliances and furniture.
"Lenders are making new credit available to an increasing percentage of consumers, who in turn are conservative with their use of it," said Wiermanski. "Continued responsible use and repayment of credit by consumers during the rest of 2011 should modestly improve the CRI to levels witnessed just prior to the early stages of the credit and mortgage crisis," added Wiermanski.
Q2 2011 CRI/TII Statistics
- The CRI now stands 5.04 percent lower than it did at the end of the second quarter of 2010.
- For the third quarter in a row, 48 states and the District of Columbia experienced appreciable declines in their credit risk indices, signaling that a broad improvement in consumer credit conditions is taking root.
- Despite experiencing a 4.39% decline in the CRI, Mississippi (155.73) has the highest CRI, followed by Nevada (154.72) and Texas (152.56).
- States with the lowest Credit Risk Index continue to be concentrated in Upper Midwest and New England where seven of the ten lowest CRIs exist. The three states with the lowest CRIs are North Dakota (77.87), Minnesota (86.38) and Vermont (90.06).
TransUnion's Trend Data Database
The source of the underlying data used for this analysis is TransUnion's Trend Data, a one-of-a-kind database consisting of 27 million anonymous consumer records randomly sampled every quarter from TransUnion's national consumer credit database. Each record contains more than 200 credit variables that illustrate consumer credit usage and performance. Since 1992, TransUnion has been aggregating this information at the county, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), state and national levels.
www.transunion.com/trenddata
About TransUnion
As a global leader in information and risk management, TransUnion creates advantages for millions of people around the world by gathering, analyzing and delivering information. For businesses, TransUnion helps improve efficiency, manage risk, reduce costs and increase revenue by delivering high quality data, and integrating advanced analytics and enhanced decision-making capabilities. For consumers, TransUnion provides the tools, resources and education to help manage their credit health and achieve their financial goals. Through these and other efforts, TransUnion is working to build stronger economies worldwide. Founded in 1968 and headquartered in Chicago, TransUnion reaches businesses and consumers in 23 countries around the world. www.transunion.com/business
Graphics and/or photographs to accompany this release can be obtained by members of the media by contacting Cliff O'Neal at 312-985-2540 or coneal@transunion.com or Dave Blumberg at 312-972-6646 or dblumbe@transunion.com.
Contact
Dave Blumberg
TransUnion
E-mail: dblumbe@transunion.com
Telephone: 312 972 6646
