1. JPMorgan reports lower net income


    The first major U.S. bank to announce results for the period, JPMorgan said earnings were $4.3 billion, or $1.02 a share, compared with $4.4 billion, or $1.01 a share, a year earlier.”All things considered, we believe the firm’s returns were reasonable given the current environment,” Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said in a statement.The results were muddied by adjustments for the market value of the bank’s debt, which gave it a $1.9 billion pre-tax gain.Wall Street analysts had estimated on average that the bank earned 91 cents a share. It was not clear if the bank’s results were comparable with that estimate.JPMorgan’s share count declined 3 percent from a year earlier due to stock buybacks.

  2. Hong Kong says to resume subsidised housing scheme


    “In response to the aspirations of low- and middle-income families to buy their own homes, the government has put forward a new policy for the resumption of the HOS,” Tsang said in his final policy speech delivered to Hong Kong’s legislators.The HOS is a government subsidised housing programme to give low-income residents a chance to purchase flats at a sharp discount to the market price.Prices for Hong Kong’s apartments, the most expensive in the world, have risen more than 12 percent this year, surpassing records in 1997 amid a low interest-rate environment, strong economic growth and buying by mainland Chinese investors.Hong Kong suspended the construction and sale of HOS flats in November 2002, following a broad slide in the local property market amid a global economic downturn.