Billionaire Bachelors And Bachelorettes

Looking for love? There are more than 70 billionaires around the world who are single--and loaded with cash.

Looking for someone who is outgoing, fun--and rich--to snuggle up with during the cold hard winter of economic despair? You're in luck.

This year, there are 72 single moguls on the Forbes list of the World's Billionaires. Of those plutocrats, 21 are perennial bachelors while the other 51 are divorcées yearning for a new chance at love.

The world's billionaire bachelors and bachelorettes have an average net worth of $3.5 billion and hail from 17 different countries across five continents. The greatest concentration of single billionaires is in the U.S., which more than 60% of them call home.

In Pictures: Billionaire Bachelors

The richest bachelor on the planet is New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The 67-year-old former Salomon Brothers trader struck it rich with his financial data and news outfit Bloomberg LP. Today, he's worth $16 billion, and has given away nearly $800 million to charity in the past five years. Divorced since 1993, Bloomberg hopes to stay in the public eye for a while. Last year, New York's City Council passed a law allowing him to run for a third term later this year.

America's most sought-after billionaire bachelorette is the Queen of All Media, Oprah Winfrey. Though she's been in a serious relationship with businessman Stedman Graham since 1986, the talk show queen (net worth: $2.7 billion) hasn't shown much interest in a trip down the aisle.

Maybe she's too busy: The Oprah Winfrey Show now airs in 144 countries. Her production company produces Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray, and is adding a new show hosted by frequent guest Dr. Oz. She's also launching the Oprah Winfrey Network with Discovery later this year or early next year.

For more news: http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/10/richest-bachelor-single-billionaires-2009-billionaires-richest.html

U.S. foreclosure filings rise in February

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. home foreclosure activity resumed its upturn in February after a brief dip, despite numerous programs meant to quell the record pace of failing mortgages, RealtyTrac reported on Thursday.

Filings, which include notice of default, auction sale or bank repossession, rose 6 percent in February after slipping 10 percent in January, and leaped 30 percent from a year ago, the Irvine, California-based real estate data firm said.

One in every 440 households with loans drew a filing last month, RealtyTrac said. Nearly 291,000 properties in the U.S. got a foreclosure filing in February, the third highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began tracking the data in January 2005.

"The rate of foreclosure activity is increasing beyond the ability of even these types of moratoria to slow down," Rick Sharga, senior vice president at RealtyTrac, said in an interview, referring to major state and corporate moratoriums on foreclosures.

In Florida, where a 45-day voluntary moratorium ended at the end of January, filings jumped 14 percent in February, James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac chief executive, said in a statement. Florida has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation.

President Barack Obama late last month unveiled a $275 billion housing stimulus plan, but the housing market is still contending with dire employment conditions and falling house prices.

The administration's housing rescue won't be enough to fix the rapid rate of foreclosure, though it is by far the best-constructed program to date, he contended. Many borrowers in the hardest hit states have mortgages far exceeding the value of their homes, and thus don't meet the criteria to refinance under the new federal program.

Three of the 10 states with the most foreclosure activity are fairly new to these ranks: Idaho, Illinois and Oregon.

"Everything we've been able to gather on those states suggests that this is the first wave of unemployment-related foreclosure problems," Sharga said.

One in every 54 U.S. households with mortgages got at least one filing notice last year, suggesting various temporary state programs to slow the process had little lasting effect.

Home prices began toppling in mid-2006, preventing many homeowners from selling or refinancing.

Prices have tumbled by more than 26 percent since peaking nearly three years ago, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller indexes.

NEVADA, ARIZONA, CALIFORNIA, FLORIDA

Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida remained the states with the highest foreclosure rates and totals in February. All four had the biggest price run-ups and some of the most overbuilding in the nation before cratering.

Nevada had the top foreclosure rate, with one in every 70 housing units getting a notice in February. Filings on 15,783 properties meant activity ballooned by 9 percent from January and by 156 percent from a year earlier.

For more news: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE52442X20090312

Stocks may step back after surge

Markets seen opening mostly lower, a day after the biggest gains of 2009.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks were poised to mostly lower Wednesday, following a massive rally in the previous session, as investors await more.

At 4:36 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average futures were lower. and S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were up, but pointed to a lower open after taking fair value into account.

Futures measure current index values against the perceived future performance. They are typically used as a forecast for how trading will start, though they're not always accurate.

On Tuesday, stocks surged after a Citigroup memo said the beleagured bank was profitable in January and February, and amid talk that the government may reinstate a restriction on short-selling. The Dow rallied 379, the biggest gain of 2009, a day after finishing at a 12-year low.

Asian markets joined the rally Wednesday, with Tokyo's Nikkei surging 4.6% to bounce off a 26-year low. But, in morning trading, the European indexes were lower.

Economy: The February Treasury budget will be released at 2 p.m. ET. A deficit of $205 billion is expected, according to a consensus of analyst opinions from Briefing.com.

The government's weekly crude inventories report comes out at 10:30 a.m. ET. Analysts expect a drawdown of 1 million barrels in U.S. commercial crude oil stocks, according to a survey by energy research firm Platts.

In Washington, the congressional oversight panel is due to release a report on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the bank bailout plan.

Oil and money: Oil prices slipped 40 cents a barrel to $45.33. The dollar rose versus the euro and the British pound, but slipped against the yen.

For more news: http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/11/markets/stockswatch/

Citi hopes boost Asia stocks but China gloomy

China businesses less worried about growth: survey

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese businesses are slightly less worried about the economic outlook and their businesses' prospects than they were three months ago, according to a quarterly survey by the central bank. The survey of more than 5,500 firms showed that, while businesses saw the economy as being significantly worse in the first quarter than the final three months of 2008, their expectations about growth in the second quarter improved somewhat.

China exports slump; IMF warns on toxic banks

BEIJING/ZURICH (Reuters) - A drop in Chinese exports and falling prices in Japan and Germany underscored the weakness of the world economy, while the IMF said governments are moving too slowly to rid banks of their toxic assets. The warning from International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Wednesday came despite signs of recovery at U.S. banking group Citigroup Inc , which buoyed stock markets in the United States and Asia.

Madoff faces life in prison on 11 criminal charges

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bernard Madoff, accused of an "unprecedented" $50 billion financial swindle, was charged on Tuesday with 11 criminal counts that could put him in prison for the rest of his life. Madoff, 70, a former Nasdaq stock market chairman and money manager, is expected to plead guilty on Thursday, his lawyer said.

Toshiba shares jump as report of profit surprises

TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares of Japan's Toshiba Corp <6502.t> gained 9.5 percent after a newspaper reported it would likely see an operating profit of about $1 billion next business year, in sharp contrast with analyst estimates for a loss. The Nikkei daily said lower fixed costs and growth in its infrastructure business would likely bring Toshiba back into the black in the year to March 2010, despite persistent weakness in the chip and consumer electronics sectors.

United Tech to cut 11,600 jobs

BOSTON (Reuters) - United Technologies Corp , whose products range from elevators to jet engines, plans to cut 11,600 jobs as it adapts to an economy that has grown worse than it expected just three months ago. The diversified U.S. manufacturer also cut its 2009 profit forecast by roughly 13 percent and lowered its revenue target as it is no longer relying on an economic recovery later this year, its chief executive said on Tuesday.

Uptick rule eyed, Fed chief backs accounting tweak

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Regulators will consider reviving the "uptick" restriction on short-sellers of stocks and a top monetary official lent his support on Tuesday to modifying an accounting rule that has forced banks to take billions of dollars in writedowns. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said he was opposed to suspending mark-to-market accounting but said the rule tended to reinforce economic trends and improvements could be made.

For more news: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/11/AR2009031100191.html

Can Citigroup continue to lift the stock market?

Stocks soared Tuesday after Citi Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said the bank was profitable in the first two months of this year.

Citi is arguably the nation's sickest large bank, so any sign it can produce real earnings in this economic climate bolsters confidence. What's more, if Citi is on the road to profitability, there is a greater chance the government's bank-sector revival plan involving stress tests and possible equity injections will get financial firms through the downturn.

So it is worth parsing Mr. Pandit's comments. "We are profitable through the first two months of 2009 and are having our best quarter-to-date performance since the third quarter of 2007," he said in a memo to employees Monday. A Citi spokeswoman said Mr. Pandit's measure of profits was net income, according to generally accepted accounting principles. In other words, Citi was profitable even after all its expenses, including write-downs and provisions for credit losses in the period, which are expected to be large.

Investors, however, should treat the profit announcement carefully. First, Citi has assessed profitability for an arbitrary time period. Often banks don't know their true expenses until the end of a quarter. And the two-month profit is hard to square with analyst expectations that Citi will lose 32 cents a share in the first quarter, according to Thomson Financial.

For more news: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123672598122188369.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Pandit says in memo that Citi profitable during 2009

LONDON (MarketWatch) - Citigroup (C: 1.05, +0.01, +1.0%) was profitable during the first two months of the year, and its capital position is "strong," according to CEO Vikram Pandit in a memo distributed around the bank. He said the bank is enjoying the best quarter-to-date performance since the third quarter of 2007. The preferred exchange it announced nearly two weeks ago is expected to make Citi the strongest capitalized large U.S. bank as measured by tangible common equity and Tier 1 ratios, Pandit added.

For more news: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/pandit-says-memo-citi-profitable/story.aspx?guid={AA911F2C-FB37-4AB8-9E64-7D58AA7B2017}&dist=msr_2

Asian Gains Tuesday Leave Japan Behind

Hong Kong rebounds strongly, and China brushes off deflation concerns, but Tokyo deflated by Buffett remarks on U.S. economy.

HSBC and other financial stocks led a rebound in Hong Kong, and other Pacific Rim markets mostly finished higher. Yet, after renowned investor Warren Buffett said the U.S. economy has "fallen off a cliff," Japanese manufacturers and exporters were still unable to see light at the end of the tunnel.

Japan's Nikkei 225 average on Tuesday fell a further 31.05 points, or 0.4%, to 7,054.98, after closing at a 26-year low, at 7,086.03, the previous day. The broader Topix index lost still more, diminishing by 1.0%, to 703.50.

Drug maker Astellas Pharma (other-otc: ALPMF - news - people ) dropped by 160 yen ($1.63), or 5.3%, to 2,860 yen ($29.05), and Chugai Pharmaceutical (other-otc: CHGCF - news - people ) tumbled by by 97 yen (99 cents), or 5.9%, to 1,552 yen ($15.76), on worries about their global competitiveness after U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck proposed a takeover of its rival Schering-Plough in a $41 billion deal.

Canon Inc (nyse: CAJ - news - people ) declined for the seventh straight day, falling by 25 yen (25 cents), or 1.2%, to 2,135 yen ($21.68). Investors have been concerned that the demand for Canon’s products will not pick up because of the continuing deterioration of economic conditions in North America and Europe. Another electronics producer, Toshiba (other-otc: TOSBF - news - people ), lost 6 yen (6 cents), or 2.6%, to 221 yen ($2.24), after the company said on Tuesday it would shift some of its solid-state drive assembly lines to the Philippines, from a domestic plant, in the second quarter to cut costs and increase output. Toshiba, the world's No. 2 maker of NAND flash memory after Samsung Electronics (other-otc: SSNLF - news - people ), is expecting to see strong growth for NAND-based SSD memory devices since they are more shock resistant and energy saving than other hard-disk drives. But Kyocera rebounded by 140 yen ($1.42), or 2.6%, to 5,580 yen ($56.70).

The yen was steady at 98.655 against the U.S. dollar in Tuesday afternoon trading.

Notwithstanding the selling pressure on exporters, equity indexes in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Australia managed to stay above the horizon as financial stocks rebounded.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up by 3.1%, to 11,690.91. Heavyweight HSBC (nyse: HBC - news - people ) clawed back 4.60 Hong Kong dollars (59 cents), or 13.9%, to 37.60 Hong Kong dollars ($4.82), after sliding by 24%, to 33.00 Hong Kong dollars ($4.23), on Monday. HSBC had shocked the market Monday by nearly doubling its daily loss in the last ten minutes, during Hong Kong's post-close auction period, as big investors shorted the stock in anticipation of buying them back on the cheap after the bank completes its $17.7 billion rights issue. Hong Kong's securities watchdog, the Securities and Futures Commission, is looking into the sharp plunge, the city's financial chief said on Tuesday.

For more news: http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/10/briefing-asia-close-markets-equity-hsbc.html