Nightly Business Report - Monday March 25 2013.pdf

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<Show: NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT> <Date: March 25, 2013> <Time: 18:30:00> <Tran: 032501cb.118> <Type: SHOW> <Head: NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT for March 25, 2013, PBS> <Sect: News; International> <Byline: Susie Gharib, Tyler Mathisen, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Bertha Coombs, Scott Cohn, Diana Olick> <Guest: Doug Sandler, Jeff Brennan> <Spec: Cyprus; Economy; Europe; Stock Markets; World Affairs; Business; Pharmaceuticals; Policies; Education; Financial Services; Lawsuits> <Time: 18:30:00> ANNOUNCER: This is NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT with Tyler Mathisen and Susie Gharib. TYLER MATHISEN, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT ANCHOR: Bailout bummer. Initial enthusiasm over a deal in Cyprus quickly turns sour as investors ponder the precedent it sets. SUSIE GHARIB, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT ANCHOR: Pay for delay. Why

description

Tonight on Nightly Business Report, there’s a new trend in retirement communities – younger people buying homes to capitalize on lower prices.It’s college acceptance season, and NBR is kicking off our three-part Hitting the Books series with a look at education. Many Recent graduates are dealing with massive student loan debt and now some of their alma maters are taking them to court to collect.

Transcript of Nightly Business Report - Monday March 25 2013.pdf

Page 1: Nightly Business Report - Monday March 25 2013.pdf

<Show: NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT>

<Date: March 25, 2013>

<Time: 18:30:00>

<Tran: 032501cb.118>

<Type: SHOW>

<Head: NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT for March 25, 2013, PBS>

<Sect: News; International>

<Byline: Susie Gharib, Tyler Mathisen, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Bertha Coombs, Scott Cohn,

Diana Olick>

<Guest: Doug Sandler, Jeff Brennan>

<Spec: Cyprus; Economy; Europe; Stock Markets; World Affairs; Business; Pharmaceuticals;

Policies; Education; Financial Services; Lawsuits>

<Time: 18:30:00>

ANNOUNCER: This is NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT with Tyler Mathisen and

Susie Gharib.

TYLER MATHISEN, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT ANCHOR: Bailout bummer.

Initial enthusiasm over a deal in Cyprus quickly turns sour as investors

ponder the precedent it sets.

SUSIE GHARIB, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT ANCHOR: Pay for delay. Why

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deals between big pharma companies and generic drug makers have ended up in

the Supreme Court. And what it might mean for the price of your

prescriptions.

MATHISEN: And loan lawsuits. Graduates are struggling to pay off

their loans and now, they find themselves being sued. But where the

lawsuits coming from may surprise you.

All this and more coming up, right now.

Good evening, everyone, and welcome.

Susie, the stocks had an early sprint out of the starting gate, but

then it was a day of reversal.

GHARIB: We can call it a day of being whipsawed, right, Tyler?

A eurozone bailout deal for Cyprus sent S&P to near all time high

territory at the starting session, but then stocks turned sharply lower

after comments from the Dutch finance minister that the Cyprus deal which

puts the brunt of the bailout cost on bank bondholders, stockholders and

wealthy depositors could be seen as a template for other troubled banks in

the region. He later backed off that statement, saying that the problems

in Cyprus are unique and not a model with failing banks in other nations.

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Well, that helped the markets come off the lows of the session. In

the end, the Dow was down 64 points on the day, closing at 14,447. The

NASDAQ lowered by nearly 10. The S&P 500 off by five points.

MATHISEN: More now on that bailout for Cyprus -- the country finally

reaching a deal with other European nations. But it is a painful one and

it has broader implications for investors.

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera is in Cyprus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE CARUSO-CABRERA, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT

CORRESPONDENT:

Cyprus asked the other European countries for financial help to bailout its

two big sick banks. But Europe is tired of bailouts. Cyprus is the fifth

country to ask for money.

So, this time, the Europeans said, before we give you any help, you`ll

have to downsize those banks dramatically.

Well, to the people of Cyprus, that doesn`t sound like a solution at

all.

(CHANTING)

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CARUSO-CABRERA: Thousands of bank employees took to the streets this

weekend as news spread that the bailout plan could mean that thousands of

them lose their jobs.

MAGDA KYRIACOU, BANK OF CYPRUS EMPLOYEE: I`m going to lose my profit

and as well my money.

CARUSO-CABRERA: Your pension fund.

KYRIACOU: My pension fund, my money. They were taking, deducting

them from my salary every month and I`m going to lose every penny. No job,

no pension, no money, nothing.

CARUSO-CABRERA: The painful deal comes more than a week after Cyprus

shut down the entire banking system because its two biggest banks were on

the verge of collapse. With only the ATMs working, lines could be seen day

after day. But until the withdrawal limit was steadily lowered. First to

260 euros, and now only 100 euros. At Laiki, the country`s weakest bank,

now set to be eliminated.

Supermarkets were packed all weekend long for fear of shortages. With

the banks closed, businesses can`t pay suppliers and restock their shelves.

Olga Kandinsky buying so much, she brought her two teenage sons to

help.

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OLGA KANDINSKY, CITIZEN: We are concerned that there will be

shortages of food, so we definitely want to make sure we have -- I have a

family. I have to feed my family.

CARUSO-CABRERA: With this deal, investors are also on notice.

European taxpayers will not necessarily protect you as they have in the

past.

With each subsequent bailout, the Europeans have gotten tougher and

tougher. At first, senior bond holders and banks could be sure they would

be protected. But they weren`t protected in Cyprus. That`s a message for

the future.

For NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Cyprus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GHARIB: Despite that news of the Cyprus bailout today, it was still a

nerve wracking day for investors.

And joining us now with more analysis on what`s next for the market is

Doug Sandler. He`s chief equity strategist at Riverfront Investment Group.

Doug, I want to pick up on these comments that really spooked out

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investors today from that Dutch finance minister, first saying that this

bank bailout in Cyprus could be a template for future bank bailouts and

that, you know, banks could look to their own customers to help in a

bailout. How should we factor this into our thinking as American

investors?

DOUG SANDLER, RIVERFRONT INVESTMENT GROUP CHIEF EQUITY

STRATEGIST:

Well, I think the bank`s solution in the end wasn`t all too surprising. In

the end, the good news is the insured depositors, you know, the E.U. (ph)

stuck to the contract they have with those depositors. So that`s good

news.

I think what it means to the U.S. is, you know, you`re likely to get

some black clouds appearing on the horizon, but in the end, I think it`s

wrong to believe that the safe place to sit in this market is on the

sidelines. You know, the 30,000-foot view I think investors have to take

is, there`s a lot of debt and it`s currently in the public sector. And

that public sector debt is ultimately getting transferred to taxpayers, as

it always does.

So in the end, you`re going to see taxes rise, you`re going to see

lower interest rates, you know, zero interest rate policies, and you`re

going to see quantitative easing. And the investors on the sidelines are

going to see, one, no return on their money, and, two, they`re going to see

the value of their money eroded underneath them.

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MATHISEN: Doug, I`m going to figure that Cyprus is going to recede as

a tension point over the next couple of months. But my question for you

is, do you think that U.S. equities have had their gains for 2013?

SANDLER: I think we`re -- you know, we made a quick leap into the

year, so I`d say on the valuation standpoint, they may have. So, when you

look at U.S. equities, you really get -- you know, your prices go up for

two reasons. One is the earnings go up, and two is the valuation multiple

assigned to those earnings goes up.

So year-to-date, we`ve seen about a 10 percent increase in the S&P.

That`s mostly due to valuations going up. I think that gain is probably in

the later innings. But I think there`s plenty of room for earnings to

grow, and earnings grow as a result of people having more jobs and buying

more things, result of the housing crisis being behind us and all of a

sudden, people feel more confident and their house price goes up and they

put into their home and other things.

I think there`s plenty of potential for earnings to grow. And, you

know, there`s a lot of good news going on in the U.S. You have the

manufacturing renaissance. You have really an energy bonanza. And a lot

of these things are going to equate to higher earnings. So I think the

market can go higher. I think there`s a real risk of having too much money

in nonproductive assets on the sidelines.

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GHARIB: You know, Doug, for a long time, individual investors were

fearful of the markets and saying they were too scared to get into the

markets. And now, they`re so scared that they`ve missed this rally.

What do you say to your clients when they bring up this question to

you? Is it too late to buy in now?

SANDLER: Well -- so, I think a lot of people look at the last couple

of times the market was at these levels. So, in the year 2000, year 2007

and now again, today. The S&P was at about 1,550.

What I would point out is those were different valuations. In 2000,

the market was trading nearly 30 times earnings. In 2007, it was about 16

or 17 times earnings. And today, it`s about 14 times earnings.

So the stocks, even though they`re at the same price, there`s much

more earnings underlying them providing a foundation for valuations.

So I believe, one, is valuations are fair, and then we see central

banks around the world have kept interest rates low and our quantitative

easing or printing money. In the end, those dollars will flow into stocks

and make them go higher.

MATHISEN: Doug, I want to come back to earnings, which you think are

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going to go higher. But I`ve been reading estimates that the first quarter

earnings aren`t going to be particularly positive compared with a year ago.

Are you expecting the second half of the second three quarters of this

year to be better than the first quarter of this year in terms of earnings

flow? Quickly.

SANDLER: Yes. I mean, Tyler, that`s probably the best news I`ve

heard all l day, which is that expectations are low. You know, in the

stock market, there`s this thing I call the phenomenon or the report cards

phenomenon.

And that is, if you`re expecting D`s from companies and they come with

C`s, it`s a positive surprise. And that`s what happened in the first

quarter. I think it`s going to happen again in the second quarter, that

expectations are still pretty low.

Remember, we`re just coming off the fiscal cliff and the sequestration

process. So estimates are pretty low. In the end, I think companies will

beat them and I think the market will respond positively to that.

GHARIB: All right. Thank you, so much, Doug.

Doug Sandler --

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SANDLER: Thank you.

GHARIB: -- chief equity strategist at Riverfront Investment Group.

MATHISEN: And to our "Market Focus" now.

And we begin with Dollar General (NYSE:DG). The company`s earnings

did come in well above expectations and the retailer says its strategy of

selling more food and other basics will help drive gains. The company with

more than 10,000 stores in 39 states is a barometer for low end retailers.

Shares gained during the day, ending up over 2 percent.

Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) has two alternate buyout proposals to consider now.

The company announcing that Carl Icahn has offered $15 this year for 58

percent of the company. And the private equity giant Blackstone has

offered more than $14.25 a share. Both offers are better than founder

Michael Dell`s deal on the table at $13.65 a share.

And the shares have traded above that price since Dell (NASDAQ:DELL)

made his offer. And they were up more than 2.5 percent today, closing at

$14.51.

Well, investors seemed to like Best Buy`s announcement that founder

Richard Schulze will return as chairman emeritus and add two of his former

colleagues to the board, including a former CEO. The move was seen as

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positive for the troubled chain because Schulze won`t sell his 20 percent

stake in the company. Shares almost 2 percent higher today.

GHARIB: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) says it`s bought WiFiSlam. This is a

startup that lets consumers be tracked wherever they are by using Wi-Fi hot

spots on their phones. This service will help shoppers for example find

merchandise in retail stores, or find a restaurant in an airport.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) reportedly paid $20 million for the company.

Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose almost $2, closing at $463.58.

Apollo Group (NASDAQ:APOL) which operates the University Phoenix and

other for-profit education institutions out with its earnings today. The

company reported a 79 percent drop in quarterly profits due to lower

enrollment. But the result beat analysts` estimates, and the stock was the

biggest gainer in the S&P today, up more than 7 percent.

And coming up a little later in the program, we`ll look at why some

college graduates are having trouble with education debt and what some

schools are doing about it.

MATHISEN: And also, still ahead, the Supreme Court hears a case that

touches the wallets and the medicine cabinets of most Americans.

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But, first, take a look at how the international markets finished the

day.

(MUSIC)

MATHISEN: Some good news about prices at the pump to tell you about.

Average gasoline prices fell a little more than 3 cents a gallon over the

past two weeks, to $3.71 nationwide. That according to the Lundberg Survey

of fuel cost.

The city with the highest average price in the lower 48 states? See

if you can guess. Chicago, $4.10. Lowest average price just $3.33 a

gallon is in Billings, Montana.

GHARIB: Just days after the Senate passed its first budget in four

years, Bill Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, told

the New York Economic Club that the fiscal drama in Washington is a drag on

the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL DUDLEY, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK PRESIDENT: The

fundamentals underpinning the U.S. economy are improving and that monetary

policy is gaining traction. But this may not be -- this may not

immediately lead to stronger growth because of the recent increase in

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fiscal restraint.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GHARIB: Also in Washington today, the Supreme Court hearing arguments

in the so-called paid to delay policy by some pharmaceutical giants, which

cut deals with generic drug companies to keep their cheaper versions of

brand name medicines off the market. Critics say it`s anti-competitive and

ends up costing consumers more money.

Bertha Coombs has more on today`s hearing and the controversy behind

it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERTHA COOMBS, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT (voice-

over):

Americans have overwhelmingly embraced generics over brand name drugs,

accounting for nearly 85 percent of all prescriptions in 2012, at a big

cost-savings.

(on camera): Drug prices declined about 90 percent once there`s full

generic competition in the market. So brands are basically obliterated.

(voice-over): But the government is asking the Supreme Court to

consider whether consumers have been cheated out of even more savings, by

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so-called pay for delay drug patent deals that keep generics from coming to

market sooner.

The case involved the testosterone replacement drug AndroGel. With

$400 million in annual sales, the drug`s distributor Solvay struck a patent

settlement with generic maker Watson Pharmaceutical in 2006, which keeps

the generic off shelves until 2015 in exchange for a fee.

The company has argued 2015 is five years earlier than the actual

patent expiration. The industry contends in reaching such settlements for

drugs like the blockbuster Lipitor to treat cholesterol which won a patent

last year, consumers have benefited.

RALPH NEAS, GENERIC PHARMACEUTICAL ASSN. PRES. & CEO: Lipitor is

coming to the market five years before the expiration of the patent, saving

$4.5 billion per year. This is one of many patent settlements that

involved some kind of consideration that saved consumers and the federal

government billions of dollars.

COOMBS: AARP and the AMA argue settlements allowing big pharma

companies to pay generic companies to wait undermine competition and

doctors` ability to provide cost-effective options for patients. Over the

last decade, more than 60 percent of drug patent cases were settled. Of

the cases that went to trial, analysts from Deerfield Institute found

generics lost 52 percent of them.

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Pharmaceutical analyst Barbara Ryan says patent timeline stretched,

without deals.

BARBARA RYAN, FTIO CONUSULTING MANAGING DIRECTOR: These deals

have

been structured such that generics will get on the market before the patent

expires that the brand name company is protecting and I think that is the

integrity of these deals.

COOMBS (on camera): The justices had tough questions for both sides

during today`s hearing. A decision is expected by late June.

I`m Bertha Combs for NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATHISEN: And here with his thoughts on what`s at stake, Jeff

Brennan. He`s the former health care services chief at the Federal Trade

Commission, currently a partner at McDermott Will & Emery.

Welcome, Jeff.

You know, this is a complicated somewhat, gnarly set of rules that

pertain in these cases. The simple question, I guess is, who`s winning and

who`s losing here? Are consumers losing? Are drug companies winning? Or

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is it just not that simple?

JEFF BRENNAN, FORMER FTC HEALTH CARE SERVICES DIV. CHIEF: It`s

really

not that simple. It really depends on your view about this paradigm which

the FTC is challenging. The FTC would say and its supporters would say

that in a settlement agreement in which the brand company, the innovator

company, pays money to the generic, that that has the effect of delaying

generic competition, generics enter the market at a lower price, and so,

the longer that takes, consumers are worse off because they don`t have an

option for a lower priced alternative until a later time in the future.

The opposite response to that by the parties who enter into these

agreements is that the brand has a patent protecting some aspect of its

drug product. In fact, these are patent infringement litigations that are

getting settled. And patents convey a right to exclude competition

lawfully. It`s a fundamental aspect of our economy and it helps support

why innovator drug companies invest the R&D monies over a long period of

time to develop new drugs. And that so long as the patent settlement

agreement provides for generic competition before that patent expires,

consumers are better off because they`re getting competition sooner than

they would if the patent run its course.

GHARIB: Well, what happens, Jeff, if the FTC wins this case and

everything has to go back to court, all the parties have to pay enormous

costs, a lot of time to work through their differences. In the end,

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doesn`t the consumer end up paying more money? Doesn`t that increase the

cost anyway?

BRENNAN: Well, that could happen if drug companies need to spend more

time in the courtroom paying people like me attorneys, to litigate their

cases. That raises their costs certainly, cost as we all know, in a market

economy. Ultimately, at some point, at some level gets passed along to

consumers. So from that perspective, certainly, the drug companies would

point out, as you mention, that a rule that had a tendency to extend

litigation rather than help terminate litigation and move on have caused

for consumers that need to be taken into account.

MATHISEN: So the FCC basically says, if these lawsuits proceeded --

in other words, the generic company that`s suing, to overturn a patent, if

they proceeded, then the consumer might get those generics sooner than they

otherwise would. The brand drug people say, well, we`re doing a deal where

we`re going to bring generics or allow generics, in return for a fee, to

come to the market sooner than our patent would allow if we were to prevail

on the patent case.

I guess what stands out to consumers would be the idea that there`s

something that sounds vaguely anti-competitive about one company paying

another company a fee, quote, "not to compete." Have I got that right?

BRENNAN: You`ve described that quite well, the situation. I mean, I

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think one thing that`s worth keeping in mind. These are not, as one of my

former colleagues once said, it`s not a bag of cash that`s being handed

surreptitiously from the brand to the generic.

These are in connection with ancillary agreements in the settlement

agreement that have their own, stand on their own two legs, if you will, a

co-promotion agreement with the generic drug company to promote the

product. In this case, urologists, joint development agreement, a joint

venture to develop a new innovative product, the supply agreement, things

of that nature.

So, this isn`t just cold cash going from one side to the other, but

it`s in conjunction with other arms length transaction.

MATHISEN: Very quickly, decision on this expected when, June, end of

the term?

BRENNAN: Most likely end of the term. You know, we could be

surprised, but I think most people are thinking about June.

MATHISEN: Jeff Brennan, former head of the FTC`s Health Care Services

Division, thanks for being with us.

BRENNAN: Thank you.

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GHARIB: Americans owe roughly $1 trillion on student loans, more than

they owe on credit cards. If that`s not enough, college graduates are

increasingly being sued by universities they attended to pay back the money

they borrowed.

Tonight, we begin a three-part series, "Hitting the Books".

Scott Cohn reports on how scholarly efforts are turning into degrees

of debt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT COHN, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):

Aaron

Graph (ph) is 30 years old and just getting by.

AARON GRAPH (ph), 30 YEARS OLD: Maybe I have $100 spending money a

week and spending money means gas, means food. I don`t go out to eat.

COHN: He teaches high school equivalency courses and does some

remodeling on the side, all to pay around $600 a month on his $60,000 in

student loans.

GRAPH: I`m basically paying rent twice.

COHN: And now, he has a court judgment against him. George

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Washington University where Graph earned a degree in 2010 sued him last

year for nonpayment of a $4,000 federal Perkins loan for low-income

students. Graph, who previously spoke to "Bloomberg News", says he is

paying his other student loans but something had to give.

GRAPH: I guess I could get another job where I`m working 17, 18 hours

a day.

COHN: The university wouldn`t talk about Graph`s case, but says, in

general, litigation is "a last resort," a view shared by administrators

across the country.

JUSTIN DRAEGER, NATL. ASSOC. OF STUDENT FINANCIAL AID

ADMINISTRATORS:

By and large, I think most institutions are trying to work with their

students.

COHN: The problem is that delinquent student loans are growing,

passing late credit card payments for the first time. And federal law

requires schools to collect and sometimes sue.

(on camera): Unlike most forms of debt, you can`t get out of a

student loan, not even by declaring bankruptcy. But with delinquencies

rising and budget shrinking, lenders and colleges are getting more

aggressive about collecting, including taking their alumni to court.

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(voice-over): We found cases filed by Yale, Temple, and the

University of Pennsylvania, which filed some two dozens suits just last

year for bad loans and unpaid tuition, a 35 percent jump from the year

before. The university has declined to comment.

Graph hopes his case starts a dialogue.

GRAPH: Let`s start to talk about why is college so expensive. What

is it that we are getting for our money when we put our money into these

institutions?

COHN: It`s a conversation colleges are willing to have, bud they also

want their money.

Scott Cohn for NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Philadelphia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GHARIB: Such a tough situation. First of all, a lot of these

graduates, they have all this loan or debt, and they don`t have a job.

MATHISEN: They can`t find a job.

GHARIB: They can`t find a job. And even if they find a job, it`s

going to take a long time to pay or $60,000, $100,000 or more.

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MATHISEN: This is why so many of the schools are going to lower price

online courses as a way to reduce, actually to reach a broader audience.

But also to reduce the amount of money that is required from the student to

get in there.

GHARIB: Nothing beats (ph) that classroom teacher.

MATHISEN: Ooh.

Of course, money management is the lesson we all need and that

tomorrow, in part two of our series, Sharon Epperson is going to report on

the growing demand to make financial literacy a core requirement in high

schools across the country.

GHARIB: Coming up a little later on the program, too young to retire

but not too young to buy a retirement home. We`ll look at new wave of

buyers snapping up real estate in some unlikely places.

But, first, here`s how treasuries, currencies, and commodities closed

out the day.

(MUSIC)

GHARIB: Let`s take a look now with what we`re watching for you for

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tomorrow. We`ll get a report on durable goods, which measures, among other

things, the appliances going into new homes.

Speaking of homes, S&P eases the Case-Shiller home price index for

January and Robert Shiller will be our guest on NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT.

We`ll also get the latest numbers on new home sales for February.

MATHISEN: And speaking of housing, house prices are generally moving

up these days, but considering how far they fell in some states, including

Florida, bargain hunters, some of the most unlikely shoppers, are still

finding lots of values.

Diana Olick has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA OLICK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):

At

Century Village Retirement Community in Boca Raton, senior citizens get in

early for yoga.

But not Charlie Rocque.

CHARLIE ROCQUE, NON-RETIRED HOME BUYER: No, this is my little getaway

place.

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OLICK: At 56, he is neither a citizen, nor a retiree. What he is, is

an astute buyer.

ROCQUE: I bought an apartment that was valued at $75,000 and I picked

it up for $25,000. So, the value, it comes in the surroundings, it comes

with the club house, it comes with a peace of mind that I am -- I have some

place. I know that if I need to go there, I can go there.

OLICK: From the height of the housing boom in 2006 to the bottom in

2011, home prices in Boca Raton fell 53 percent, according to Zillow.com.

Now, they`re heading up again and that has created a great opportunity for

home buyers of any age.

(on camera): While the median age here at Century Village maybe

coming down, you still have to be 55 years old to live here. But that

hasn`t stopped younger investors from jumping right in, taking advantage of

the low prices and waiting it out until retirement.

BEN SCHACHTER, CENTURY VILLAGE REAL ESTATE INC. PRESIDENT: We

see a

significant uptick in property values increasing and inventory drastically

decreasing. So they have elected to buy now.

OLICK: Schachter estimates that now 10 percent of Century Village

residents work either full or part-time. The vacancy rate for the

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community is around 2 percent, because low prices are luring buyers.

As for his older neighbors, Charlie Rocque has nothing but respect.

But he doesn`t know many of them because he`s usually out at work.

For NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, I`m Diana Olick in Boca Raton, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GHARIB: Well, this is obviously a very interesting angle in investing

in real estate, but I`m hearing more and more people saying that I wish I

had bought some properties during the downturn because they feel --

MATHISEN: Absolutely.

GHARIB: -- there`s more of an upside than investing in stocks.

MATHISEN: Oh, absolutely. Some of those prices came down so far, but

it took a brave human being to go in there at the depth of the housing

crash in those cities like Miami, Las Vegas - -

GHARIB: Las Vegas, right.

MATHISEN: -- Riverside County in California. Really take some nerve

to do it.

Page 26: Nightly Business Report - Monday March 25 2013.pdf

I didn`t do it, I can tell you that.

GHARIB: I didn`t either.

Well, that`s it for us on NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT for tonight. I`m

Susie Gharib. Thanks so much for watching.

MATHISEN: And I`m Tyler Mathisen. Have a great evening. We`ll see

you back here tomorrow night.

END

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