MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's government wants to boost lending by making it easier for banks to collect on guarantees for bad loans and by giving regulators new powers to punish firms that do not lend enough, according to a draft of a new banking reform.
The proposal, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, is due to be announced next week and is part of a raft of measures designed to ramp up growth in Latin America's second largest economy.
The financial reform proposal, thrashed out within a pact between President Enrique Pe?a Nieto and the leaders of the country's main opposition parties, targets Mexico's conservative banks, which boast high capital levels but lend much less than their foreign peers.
"Granting more loans, under more favorable conditions in terms of interest rates, duration and amounts, is a crucial element to efficiently allocating financial resources to boost national economic growth," the draft says.
The wide-ranging reform proposal, which amends nearly 40 laws, impacts Mexico's financial system from large banks such as Bancomer , with some $101 billion in assets, down to the smallest credit unions. At more than 800 pages, it cover issues ranging from money laundering to competition.
To create more legal certainty, the proposal aims to ease the process for banks to take possession of a loan guarantor's assets in case of default. It would also streamline the bankruptcy process, which can drag on in Mexico, in part by creating new courts.
Banks would also be subject to periodic lending reviews under the plan, which must be passed by both houses of Congress.
Under the proposed reforms, the banking regulator would get new powers to punish those lenders that fail to channel enough resources into credit - even limiting banks' securities trading on their own account if lending falls below the required levels.
The Finance Ministry hopes those measures, combined with a revamp of the development bank, will reduce risk and induce banks to lend more and more cheaply, especially to small businesses.
REFORM DRIVE
Since taking office in December, Pe?a Nieto has passed a major education reform package, and lawmakers in his Institutional Revolutionary Party say a sweeping bill to increase competition in the telecommunications sector should be approved this month.
Mexico's private sector financing stands at just 26 percent of gross domestic product with private sector credit at 45 percent of bank assets - below Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Chile.
Borrowers in Mexico complain of high fees, with median credit card interest rates around 29 percent annually, according to data from the Mexican central bank.
Small- and medium-sized companies bear the brunt of the credit trickle, generating nearly three quarters of Mexican jobs, but receiving just 15 percent of credit, the finance ministry says.
Tough loan requirements force small businesses "to resort to credit cards," said Jorge Escalante, president of the employers' association COPARMEX in the northern border city of Tijuana, which helps small business people find credit. "For small businessmen and consumers alike, interest rates on credit cards, they devour us. The balance just goes up and up and up."
The reform aims to push the government's six development banks to boost lending to the sector, by bolstering autonomy, promoting long-term lending and offering competitive pay.
For example, restrictions on granting medium-term loans and on the number of short-term loans, plus rules against making multiple loans to one borrower would be lifted for the development bank serving the armed forces.
The reform also proposes to require the banking regulator to name on its website those who have broken financial rules, and state what they did wrong.
If approved, it will also pare back restrictions on foreign investment in Mexican financial firms.
(Additional reporting by Michael O'Boyle and Veronica Gomez; editing by Dave Graham, Andrew Heavens, G Crosse)
This hasn't been a great year for Foursquare. "Check-ins are no longer what they used to be," as Ingrid Lunden observed last month. There seems to be a general consensus that "Foursquare keeps resembling Yelp more and more..." but that comparison isn't necessarily flattering, especially since there's little doubt that Yelp has much greater public mindshare. Then former Square COO and current Khosla Ventures partner Keith Rabois attacked them publicly (click through for the article's amusing corrections, if nothing else!) prompting some bizarre musing from Michael Lazerow on when it's OK for someone like Rabois to bash a founder. (My answer, for what it's worth: whenever he freaking feels like it. He's not the Pope. He's not the President. He's just a venture capitalist. If you're worried about public criticism hurting a company, then it's built on apparent rather than real value and it deserves all the criticism it can get.)
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Hey guys, so if you guys saw my post a little while back I am writing a program that takes in 10 digit ISBN numbers in the form of strings, I then check the ISBN to see if its valid, and then i print out if it is valid or not. Basically, if an 'X' appears in the ISBN as the last digit, it is supposed to assign that index in the array to the value of 10, and if 'X' is any where else in the array the ISBN is invalid. Here is My code:
#include <iostream> #include <string> using namespace std; int main() { int keep = 0; string isbn[20]; do{ cin >> isbn[keep]; } while (isbn[keep][0] != 4 && keep++ < 20); for (int i = 0; i < keep; i++){ //looping through all of the strings int save = 0; int partial[10]; for (int k = 0; k < isbn[i].length(); k++){ //looping through all of the characters if ((isbn[i][k] >= '0' && isbn[i][k] <= '9') || (save == 10 && isbn[i][k] == 'X')){ //checking if ISBN is valid int next = 0; if (isbn[i][k] == 'X') partial[save] = 10; else next = (int)(isbn[i][k] - '0'); if (save == 0) partial[save] = next; else partial[save] = partial[save-1] + next; save++; } else if (isbn[i][k] != '-'){ cout << isbn[i][k] << " is not valid" << endl; break; } } int use = partial[0]; for (int j = 0; j < 9; j++){ use += partial[j + 1]; } if (use % 11 == 0){ cout << isbn[i] << " is valid." << endl; } else cout << isbn[i] << " is not valid" << endl; } }
Basically, it works for all ISBN's except for the ISBN's with the X as the last digit. It will just print out X is invalid, so for some reason it isn't getting picked up in my big if statement. What do you guys think is causing this issue? Could it be that it is just reading the first part of the if and not looking at the second part of the if statement? I tried changing it to save == 9, and this time it doesnt print out X is invalid, but still says that the isbn number is invalid. Two ISBN's you guys can try are 0 1 3 1 6 2 9 5 9 X or 0-1315-2447-X (dashed don't matter).
Thanks!
Is This A Good Question/Topic? 0
Replies To: Problem with reading character 'X' from array
#2 babyhands ?
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Re: Problem with reading character 'X' from array
Posted Yesterday, 09:38 PM
(and if you are testing the code and wondering how to stop entering the ISBN's, type ctrl + D and hit enter and it will drop you out of the loop)
#3 Skydiver ?
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Re: Problem with reading character 'X' from array
Posted Yesterday, 09:42 PM
It's not the root cause of your problem, but you do have a problem of overrunning your array in the loop on lines 50-52.
#4 Skydiver ?
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Re: Problem with reading character 'X' from array
Posted Yesterday, 09:49 PM
And your algorithm for checking the check digit seems to be missing the multiplication of each digit as described in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia....git_calculation
#5 babyhands ?
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Re: Problem with reading character 'X' from array
Posted Yesterday, 09:59 PM
Skydiver, on 05 April 2013 - 09:49 PM, said:
Yeah I am using an algorithm my teacher has given me, and it works for all of the ISBN's he has given me except for the ones with X's at the end. a couple of the ones he has given me are 0-89237-010-6 0-8306-3637-4, my algorithm is fine from what I have checked, I am just having problems with ISBN's with X's at the end
#6 ccubed ?
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Re: Problem with reading character 'X' from array
Posted Yesterday, 11:57 PM
I'm making a guess, but based on what I'm seeing, this is your problem.
Problem is, when does save = 10? The only time I see you setting Save is if it passes this if statement and has an 'X'. And you have an And statement so..
save == 10 AND isbn[i][k] == 'X'
Except, Save will never equal 10...unless it passes this if check and gets down to the primary if isbn == x. But it won't, again, because save is never 10 at the same time the isbn is X and since X is greater than 0 but also greater than 9, it just passes the giant if statement when it hits an X and hits the elseif.
This post has been edited by ccubed: Yesterday, 11:59 PM
MANCHESTER, England, April 5 (Reuters) - Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini believes a lack of goals and maverick striker Mario Balotelli's departure to AC Milan in January has harmed the defence of their Premier League crown. Second-placed City are 15 points behind rivals Manchester United, whom they face at Old Trafford on Monday, and Mancini said last week the title race was over. "Mario scored 15 goals last season. This is the difference, the goals we did not score," Mancini told a news conference on Friday. ...
Gold Price Close Today : 1551.80 Change : -1.00 or -0.06%
Silver Price Close Today : 26.748 Change : -0.025 or -0.09%
Gold Silver Ratio Today : 58.016 Change : 0.017 or 0.03%
Silver Gold Ratio Today : 0.01724 Change : -0.000005 or -0.03%
Platinum Price Close Today : 1516.70 Change : -23.10 or -1.50%
Palladium Price Close Today : 724.20 Change : -30.00 or -3.98%
S&P 500 : 1,559.98 Change : 6.29 or 0.40%
Dow In GOLD$ : $194.57 Change : $ 7.50 or 4.01%
Dow in GOLD oz : 9.412 Change : 0.363 or 4.01%
Dow in SILVER oz : 546.06 Change : 2.59 or 0.48%
Dow Industrial : 14,606.11 Change : 55.76 or 0.38%
US Dollar Index : 82.73 Change : 0.021 or 0.03%
What's interesting with the silver and GOLD PRICE today is that their downward momentum screeched to a halt. Silver lost only 2.5 cents to 2674.8 while the GOLD PRICE gave up $1.00 to $1,551.80.
The SILVER PRICE low today hit 2666.8 cents. Over the last three days silver has scooped out a rounding bottom, like a bowl with the lip at 2700c. It must climb above 2700c to prove that's a real bowl. The line it must defend below is 2660 cents. Tomorrow will reveal which way it will jump.
Several physical items are in backwardation, i.e., their prices are higher than the paper price. US 90% now costs $2.15 an ounce over spot, but I can't buy very much even at that price. Silver rounds jumped a nickel an ounce today, silver American Eagles 10 cents, and they're quoting two week or longer delays.
That does NOT point to lower silver prices.
Gold has carved a similar bowl on its three-day chart, with a bottom at today's $1,540.50 low and a rim at today's $1,556.25 high. If gold intends to reverse, it ought to do so tomorrow. Dropping away from the lip of the bowl means it really isn't a bowl after all.
One last thing about that gold to silver swap. IRS considers it NOT a "like kind" exchange, so you have to pay capital gains tax on any gains you might have when you "sell" the gold for silver, at a 28% capital gains rate (special punishment for silver and gold investors).
Fellow wrote me from a state with income tax (we don't have it in Tennessee) wondering whether the gold silver swap would work if he has to pay that capital gain. He had bought gold at $835.
Now I know nothing about income tax, so don't take my advice, but I figured his gain and subtracted tax at the 28% rate on the gai, which worked out in his case to 12.9%, so he lost that much of the gold value in the swap. Then I figured out the 12.9% tax again on the swap back, even knowing it won't be that much.
Result was, he begins with 10 oz. of gold, swaps for silver less the tax, at a realized 55:1 ratio, then swaps back into silver at 32:1, and he ends with 4.32 more ounces than he started with.
I don't know -- that works for me, but some people might not like it. Don't take my advice under any circumstances, check with your Tax Daddy or Tax Mama first.
But you'd better check quickly, because the opportunity to swap doesn't last long. We are still doing them, with a two gold ounce minimum, no maximum. (888) 218-9226.
Currency markets went nuts today. New Bank of Japan surprised markets when the new governor Kuroda "committed the BOJ to open-ended asset buying and said the monetary base would nearly double to Y270 trillion by end of 2014," an injection of about $1.4 trillion. They will be buying Japanese government bonds, so the announcement sent bond yields toward zero. Why anyone would want to own bonds today promising to pay DEPRECIATED yen tomorrow lies beyond my puny ken.
The announcement, perhaps with a huge squeeze of euro short-sellers, drove the euro up 0.71% against the US dollar to $1.2933 and up 4.6% against the yen. Thousands of euro short-sellers are now puking in their wastebaskets.
Against the US dollar the yen fell 3.4% to 103.79. Meanwhile the US dollar index went mostly nowhere, rising 0.21 basis points to 82.732, up 0.03%. However, the EOD chart on Stock Charts shows a different story, down 0.06% with a close at 82.83. More, it shows the first half of a key reversal, a new high for the move with a lower close for the day. Lower close tomorrow constitutes a firm reversal.
US Stocks came back halfway today from yesterday's loss, so gave no clear cut sign of breaking down. Dow closed 14,606.11 (down 55.76 or 0.38%) while the S&P gained 6.29 (0.4%) to 1,559.98. Both are flirting with closing below their 20 day moving averages.
What about the Dow/Gold and Dow/Silver? Dow/gold backed off to 9.40 oz (G$194.31 gold dollars), down from 9.425 yesterday. Still have to brace for a 10 oz (G$206.72) possible high.
Dow/Silver closed higher today, at 544.70 ounces, trading in a very tight range. If it doesn't stop here, it's pointing as high as 600 oz.
(For some of you who don't read closely, look again at what I just said. I did NOT say the Dow/Silver certainly would reach 600 oz, only that it will be pointing toward that if it doesn't stop soon.)
The 10 year US treasury note yield has fallen back under support/resistance. Since bond prices rise when yields fall, that indicates lots of demand for bonds, and since US bonds are a proxy for US dollars, lots of demand for dollars. That hints that somewhere in the world, somebody is trying to buy safety.
Let me put this little bug in y'all's ear: the financial world and the goofs running it are like the Three Stooges hand carrying jugs of TNT across a tack-strewn minefield barefooted. The whole mess, probably beginning in Europe, could blow up any time. If you keep believing that somehow or the other Ben and Mario will muddle through to safety, you are simply lying to yourself.
Argentum et aurum comparenda sunt -- -- Gold and silver must be bought.
- Franklin Sanders, The Moneychanger The-MoneyChanger.com 1-888-218-9226 10:00am-5:00pm CST, Monday-Friday
? 2013, The Moneychanger. May not be republished in any form, including electronically, without our express permission.
To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate bubble has burst, primary trend down.
WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. Be advised and warned:
Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures.
NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps.
NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced.
NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt.
What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands.
One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose. No, I don't.
LONDON (Reuters) - Evaporating hopes for an economic recovery and last month's botched bailout of Cyprus persuaded analysts to chop their outlook again for the euro over the coming months, a Reuters poll showed.
Although the median expectation of more than 60 analysts surveyed over the last few days shows the euro trading around its current levels near $1.28 over the next few months, further out, the poll shows the currency weakening to around $1.25.
Overall, forecasts for the euro were about 2 cents weaker compared with last month's poll, which also reflected its roughly 6 percent depreciation against the dollar since the start of February.
The poor state of the euro zone economy was the chief reason why the euro is expected to weaken further, with surveys on Tuesday showing a worsening manufacturing slump in the currency bloc.
The median outlook for the euro was the weakest since September last year, when European financial markets were in turmoil as speculation grew that Spain would soon need a banking sector bailout, which it eventually got in December.
"We expect euro zone fundamentals to deteriorate further. This, combined with outflow pressures, should keep the euro's downward trend intact," said Camilla Sutton, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto.
Asked which currencies investors were most likely to buy at the expense of the euro following the Cyprus bailout, 22 out of the 26 who answered said the U.S. dollar, with seven responses each for sterling and the Australian dollar.
"If the euro comes under further stress, we expect the growth-linked currencies like the Australian and Canadian dollars to benefit instead," said Emmanuel Ng, currency strategist at OCBC Bank in Singapore.
EURO BEARS OUT IN FORCE
Cyprus struck a 10-billion euro bailout deal with the European Union and International Monetary Fund last week, designed to untwine it from a failed banking sector that has long dominated its economy.
While tiny in economic terms, the chaotic bailout deal highlighted the political discord that has left Europe's economy rudderless, with the latest data showing signs of further deterioration rather than recovery.
The euro's recent decline versus the dollar reflects these poor economic fundamentals far more so than ebullient European stock markets. The FTSEurofirst 300 index has rallied more than 6 percent since the start of the year.
The poll showed the euro declining to $1.27 in six months, and $1.25 a year from now.
Bearishness about the euro's prospects among respondents was palpable, matching data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that showed traders increased their short bets against the euro through March.
Out of 58 contributors who took part in both the April and March foreign exchange polls, slightly more than half, 31, cut their 12-month outlook for the euro.
Fewer than a third of analysts expect the euro to be stronger in 12 months than its current level near $1.28.
Against sterling, analysts expect the euro to trade near 85 pence over the next year.
(Analysis by Somya Gupta and Namrata Anchan; Polling by Somya Gupta and Ashrith Doddi; Editing by Susan Fenton)
FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2012, file photo, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, center, celebrates a tentative agreement to build a new arena and keep with the in Sacramento, Calif., with Sacramento Kings owners Joe, left, and Gavin Maloof, right, during a timeout in an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif. After backing out of the deal to build a new arena in Sacramento and announcing the sale of the Kings to a group that wants to move the team to Seattle, the brothers have become the city's most-reviled villains heading into a preliminary NBA meeting on the issue Wednesday, April 3, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Steve Yeater, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2012, file photo, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, center, celebrates a tentative agreement to build a new arena and keep with the in Sacramento, Calif., with Sacramento Kings owners Joe, left, and Gavin Maloof, right, during a timeout in an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif. After backing out of the deal to build a new arena in Sacramento and announcing the sale of the Kings to a group that wants to move the team to Seattle, the brothers have become the city's most-reviled villains heading into a preliminary NBA meeting on the issue Wednesday, April 3, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Steve Yeater, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Representatives from Sacramento and Seattle are making their presentations before NBA owners, hoping to show their city is the best home for the Kings franchise.
A Seattle group headed by investor Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has a pending agreement with the Maloof family to buy 65 percent of the team and move it back to the city the SuperSonics left in 2008. Sacramento has put together its own group to make a competing bid.
The sides are meeting Wednesday with members of the Advisory Finance and Relocation committees, comprised of 12 owners.
A group of Sacramento fans wearing Kings jerseys gathered in front of a hotel to greet their side's contingent, led by Mayor Kevin Johnson.
A vote is expected during the owners meeting on April 18-19.
Well, that did not take long.?Within a few days?after the Federal Communications Commission confirmed it will review cell phone radiation guidelines, class action lawyers of a certain ilk have swung to action. Since the FCC previously issued guidelines about cell phone use in 1996, it is quite natural it will revisit the issue in 2013. But that does not mean you can?t put a sinister spin on the development.
[More from BGR: Anonymous threatens cyberwar on North Korea, steals 15,000 passwords]
In a press release dated March 27th, ?Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationwide law firm representing clients in cell? phone radiation lawsuits, notes that a new study has found that radiation from cell phones may cause damage to brain tissue.?
[More from BGR: Apple said to be giving iOS 7 a major UI overhaul]
This distinguished law firm cites an ominous study by Finland?s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority finding that ?one hour of cell phone radiation can cause cells in blood vessel walls to? shrink, allowing potentially harmful substances in the blood to ?leak? into the? brain.? Eeek! Right? Curiously, the law firm does not directly?cite the scientific paper, but refers to?a Daily Mail article?describing the research.
The?Health section?of Daily Mail, of course,?is famous for?pieces such as ?Biscuit addict to Miss Teen Queen: Girl sheds almost half her body weight and swaps munching for MODELLING!? So we?re not talking about Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Could the reason for this?circumspection be that the Finnish research study in question dates back to the year 2002? And the easiest way to mask that date is to link to Daily Mail, since that newspaper does not date the oldest articles in its archives? The way Bernstein Liebhard wraps up its press release is predictably depressing:
?Bernstein Liebhard LLP is currently offering free, no obligation cell phone? radiation lawsuit evaluations to individuals who may have developed cancerous brain tumors from cell phones.?Alleged victims of cell phone radiation may be entitled to compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.?
And so it goes. An innocuous FCC announcement of revisiting cell phone radiation guidelines can be quickly mixed and matched with an 11-year old Finnish research paper and turned into a nifty little sales hook directly aimed at?brain cancer victims.
This hasn't been a great year for Foursquare. "Check-ins are no longer what they used to be," as Ingrid Lunden 
Skydiver, on 05 April 2013 - 09:49 PM, said: