HONG KONG, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Hong Kong police on Wednesday arrested Joshua Wong and Lester Shum, two of the student leaders at the heart of pro-democracy protests that have shaken the Asian financial hub since August, and began swiftly clearing a major demonstration site.
Riot police scuffled with protesters trying to resist attempts to force them off the streets of the gritty Mong Kok district following clashes overnight, Reuters witnesses said.
Gold and silver futures rose to three-week highs after China cut benchmark interest rates to support economic growth, boosting demand for precious metals as a store of value. Palladium jumped the most in 14 months.
The rate reduction was the first since July 2012 as the Asian nation heads toward its slowest full-year expansion in almost a quarter century. Russia added to gold reserves in October, bringing holdings to the highest in at least two decades, International Monetary Fund data showed.
Read more... http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-21/gold-heading-for-longest-stretch-of-weekly-increases-since-july.html
BEIJING—China's central bank succumbed to political and market pressure and cut interest rates for the first time in more than two years, in a sign that the country's leadership is leaning toward more sweeping measures to bolster flagging economic growth.
The surprise move by the People's Bank of China late Friday comes after a series of piecemeal easing measures that failed to encourage banks to lend and companies to borrow. Several economic indicators—from investment growth to factory production to retail sales—showed weakness last month. Economists say China could miss its annual growth target—set at about 7.5% for 2014—for the first time since the 1998 Asian financial crisis.
Read more... http://m.wsj.com/articles/china-central-bank-pboc-cuts-interest-rates-1416567408?mobile=y
More than half of the nation's one million real estate agents reside in jurisdictions with laws that allow for medical or recreational use of marijuana, which conflicts with federal law and has potential impacts on all types of real estate transactions, from residential and commercial brokerage to property management and leasing.
That's according to panelists at the National Association of Realtors' "Medical Marijuana Laws Impact all Real Estate Transactions" session during the 2014 REALTORS Conference & Expo. While NAR has no policy or position on the issue, it's important for agents nationwide to be up-to-date on the laws in their jurisdiction since there could be legal and financial implications for their real estate-related transactions and the clients they are helping buy, sell or lease properties.
Read more... http://www.nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news66167/nar-realtors-should-be-aware-potential-impact-marijuana-laws
