Included in the release is the below map, showing changes in house prices for each state from a year ago. Connecticut is the only state without improvement from last March, down 0.7% over the last 12 months. Nevada has experienced the greatest Y/Y house price gains at 22.0%.

The post FHFA Sees House Prices Rise 1.3% In March appeared first on Floating Path.

The insured unemployment rate was a seasonally adjusted 2.3%, unchanged from the week prior.

The number of continuing unemployment claims decreased to a seasonally adjusted 2.912 million from a revised reading of 3.024 million the week prior. This is the first time since May of 2008 that continuing claims have dropped below the 3 million mark.

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Kiruna, Sweden

In one of the whackier stories that isn’t getting much attention, Bloomberg reported yesterday that the northern Swedish town of Kiruna is literally being moved to make way for new iron ore mining efforts. The town of about 18,000 sits far to the north (the part where you get 50 days of sunlight in the summer and 20 days of darkness in the winter) of the country and is situated above the single largest contiguous iron ore deposit in the world.

LKAB, the Swedish state-owned mining company, will be doing the iron ore extraction and is also arranging the movement of residents.

LKAB and the municipality target to start moving downtown Kiruna — based in Sweden’s most productive county per capita — this summer by constructing a new town hall about 2 kilometers to the east. As much as 35 percent of the town must move, including 65 percent of its apartments. While that may take decades, Kiruna aims to have basic amenities in place for a new city by 2017.

The company is well regarded in the town and the move has been surprisingly well received. According to the town’s Deputy Mayor Niklas Siren’s estimates, 95% of the folks in Kiruna support it. Such approval for the relocation is based on the town’s reliance on LKAB and the mine to provide jobs, and undoubtedly LKAB’s guarantee that each resident will receive no less than 125% of market value for their homes.

The post Sweden Relocates Town For Mining Profits appeared first on Floating Path.

But these high value houses are not distributed evenly across the states. The bulk of them are in California and the northeast region, while the midwest will have relatively few expensive homes. Naturally, the expensive homes also tend to be in the areas where the overall cost of living is the highest,

The post High Value Homes In The U.S. Are Not Evenly Distributed appeared first on Floating Path.

The guys taking their 2 and 20 has lagged well behind though, gaining only 5.4% in 2013. This may be a decent return for YTD May in other years, but not when the market broader market is doing so well. It’s probable the low performance will lead to increased advertising and a higher number of children playing the market.

The post Hedge Fund Performance Lagging Way Behind The Market In 2013 appeared first on Floating Path.

This led to a savory tasting creation he calls pot-infused bacon. Despite the concerns of some, Schneiau embarked on this venture with good intentions.

“People have been asking all these questions. ‘Do you think (the pigs are) feeling it? Are they stoned?’ and I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. Let’s back up here for a second.’ All we’re trying to do is to help the local ranchers and to figure out some ways to shorten the carbon footprint,” von Schneidau said.

The post Marijuana-Fed Pigs Yield Pot-Infused Bacon appeared first on Floating Path.

Morgan Stanley shows that while Finland and Germany have balanced budgets, even Germany’s public debt is 80% of its GDP. Spain’s level of government debt is manageable, but not without serious modifications to its fiscal budget. Greece, Portugal, and Ireland are all juggling high outstanding debt and fiscal imbalances.

Note that the axis crosses on this chart are not at zero (or a manageable level of government debt on the horizontal), but at the average of the European Monetary Union, which is collectively holding debt of around 95% of GDP and running a fiscal imbalance of around 3% of GDP.

The post Rearranging European Debt Doesn’t Remedy Fiscal Imbalances appeared first on Floating Path.

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Joanna Krupa at Warsaw Stock Exchange

Most wouldn’t have expected it, but indeed Warsaw is the new spot to be if you’re a big investment bank. According to Bloomberg, central European countries saw about $490 million worth of equity sales so far this year. In Poland? $4.6 billion has been raised in equity offerings since January 1. With all this excitement comes the increased presence of global banking. UniCredit SpA, JPMorgan, and Societe Generale SA are establishing investment-banking hubs in Warsaw to join rivals Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

The main stock index in Warsaw, the WIG20, was up 20% last year beating comparable central European indicies by 6 percentage points. The merger and acquisition activity is strong too.

Transaction volume was $9.83 billion last year, more than tripling from 10 years before and exceeding all deals in the rest of central and eastern Europe except Russia, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The post Poland: The Hottest Financial Spot In Europe appeared first on Floating Path.

The national average in 2011 for all states was spending $10,560 per student, down 0.4% from 2010.

The map below shows states color-coded by how much they spent per pupil on education for elementary and secondary school. The top spenders were New York ($19,076), the District of Columbia ($18,475), Alaska ($16,674), New Jersey ($15,968), and Vermont ($15,925).

Spending mapped to display expenditures per $1,000 of income shows similar results, with West Virginia, Vermont, and Connecticut emerging as high spenders.

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