On July 28, debt-laden Mexican cement maker CEMEX, S.A. de C.V. (CX) posted weak results for the second quarter of 2009. Net debt at the end of the second quarter was $18,272 million, representing an increase of $238 million during the quarter.   Consolidated net sales decreased to $4,188 million, representing a decrease of 34%, compared to the second quarter of 2008 due to lower volumes from U.S. and Spanish operations, which was partially mitigated by price inelasticity. EBITDA decreased 41% year over year to $812 million and EBITDA margin decreased by 220 basis points from 21.6% in the second quarter of 2008 to 19.4% at the end of June, 2009.

Operating income decreased to $411 million in the second quarter of 2009 from $899 million in the year-ago quarter. This decline was due to the increase in costs and expenses on lower volumes both in the U.S. and Spain.

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Last week, CEMEX Mexico and CEMEX Concretos, subsidiaries of cement producer CEMEX S.A. de C.V. (CX), announced a two-year MXN$2.2 billion (US$160 billion) trade receivable securitization facility.

The proceeds will be used for investment in the upcoming quarters. A trust at HSBC Mexico funded the transaction by issuing receivables-backed bonds maturing on Dec 29, 2011.

The bonds are priced at a spread of 250bps over the 28-day TIIE interbank rate and the issuance was oversubscribed 1.3 times. S&P and HR Ratings assigned a rating of "mxAAA" and "HRAAA", respectively.

The transaction does not increase debt for the company as it is financing of receivables on a non-recourse basis. This should be an effective working capital management cost for the company.

CEMEX has huge exposure to the U.S., Spanish and British construction businesses; countries that are experiencing a difficult moment in its real estate cycle at present. In fact, prolonged downturns in the

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Both gold and silver got sold off gently in Far East trading on Wednesday. This slight downward trend lasted until shortly after 12:00 noon in London…and shortly before the Comex opened in New York. From there, rallies in both metals got hit hard the moment that the gold price broke through $960 and silver broke through $15 respectively. Strangely enough, this occurred about 12:05 Eastern time in both metals. From there, the selling pressure was on…and as of this writing, gold has given back $15…and silver about 35 cents. Silver’s chart is particularly interesting, as it was obvious that sellers had virtually vanished and the price was going parabolic before JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) showed up.

click to enlarge

The usual New York commentator had the following regarding yesterday’s trading…”Obviously the $960 level is being

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Shares of LoopNet, Inc. (LOOP) have traded higher in recent weeks after hitting a low in early March. The company reported first-quarter results yesterday after the close, and reinforced several reasons why we believe a lower valuation is appropriate for the shares at this time.First, key operating metrics have now steadily weakened for four consecutive quarters. Most important among these, in our opinion, is the fact that the number of paying members has declined at an increasing year-over-year rate in each of these periods. During the first quarter, the number of paying members was down 15.8% versus the year-ago period.Second, we expect that transaction volume in the commercial real estate industry will remain constricted in the near-term. We anticipate that weak operating fundamentals and tight credit availability will create a wide bid-ask spread, as owners are reluctant to sell at what they consider to ...

More than fifty years ago, LaVern Baker & The Gliders, brought Jim Dandy into the fray to lasso runaway horses, dry the tears in little girls’ eyes, and to save special mermaids from the hooks of villainous fishermen.

(Black Oak Arkansas’ rendition on You Tube will help you understand what your parents and grandparents survived.) Go, Jim Dandy! Go, Jim Dandy!

This generation’s “runaway train” is a slip sliding housing market victimized by lender’s greed, Wall Street’s creative dark side, and congressional tinkering with a process that worked well for centuries— and all by its lonesome, George.

Our little girls’ tears are those of small, vulnerable, main-street-residing investor’s whose retirement dreams have been shattered by securities markets that are little more than casinos, and instruments of mass financial destruction that even their creators cannot explain.

The mermaids? They are the taxpayers who …

If there’s a proverb that captures the outlook for the U.S. economy in the New Year, it’s the one that says: “It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

Regardless of any formal announcement of whether or not the United States drops into an actual recession, the ongoing credit crisis guarantees a contraction of the American economy by virtually every measure we know. That period of darkness will be marked by a dramatic slowdown in economic activity, as well as by rising unemployment, additional declines in U.S. stock prices, and constant volatility. It could last as long as 12-18 months.

But when the dawn does come, it will be one to remember. If U.S. President-elect Barack Obama gets it right - and I have every reason to believe that he will - then investors will be presented with the greatest investment opportunity of our generation. At that point, shares of American companies will be

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If there’s a proverb that captures the outlook for the U.S. economy in the New Year, it’s the one that says: “It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

Regardless of any formal announcement of whether or not the United States drops into an actual recession, the ongoing credit crisis guarantees a contraction of the American economy by virtually every measure we know. That period of darkness will be marked by a dramatic slowdown in economic activity, as well as by rising unemployment, additional declines in U.S. stock prices, and constant volatility. And it could last as long as 12-18 months.

But when the dawn does come, it will be one to remember. If U.S. President-elect Barack Obama gets it right - and I have every reason to believe that he will - then investors will be presented with the greatest investment opportunity of our generation. At that point, shares of American

...

If there’s a proverb that captures the outlook for the U.S. economy in the New Year, it’s the one that says: “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” Regardless of any formal announcement of whether or not the United States drops into an actual recession, the ongoing credit crisis guarantees a contraction of the American economy by virtually every measure we know. That period of darkness will be marked by a dramatic slowdown in economic activity, as well as by rising unemployment, additional declines in U.S. stock prices, and constant volatility. It could last as long as 12-18 months. But when the dawn does come, it will be one to remember. If U.S. President-elect Barack Obama gets it right – and I have every reason to believe that he will – then investors will be presented with the greatest investment ...

As we see Wall Street finally starting to bottom out, as many of our senior analysts had warned us on, we can’t help but be reminded that this all started with the housing crunch. How are real estate investment trusts [REITs] faring? We spoke with Greg Sukenik, senior REIT analyst for Zacks Equity Research, to find out.

Considering the uphill climb most REITS have undertaken this year, would you say the real estate cycle is basically where you thought it would be? Is it different for different types of REITs?

The REIT sell-off began in early 2007. After several years of good returns, REITs were trading at historically high and probably unsustainable valuations. We did expect commercial property REITs to be negatively affected by the problems in the credit markets which were brought on by the meltdown in residential real estate and a declining overall economy.

So to

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