Hilton head homes for sale

After some years of working just to reach the top of the corporate ladder, you certainly deserve a break. It's time you indulge yourself.

Why not go for the ultimate vacation getaway? Invigorate yourself with the peaceful sound of the sea, the sweet and gentle touch of the ocean breeze, the sight of dazzling blue waters as well as rich flora and fauna. If you have been longing to experience these priceless natural treasures, then Hilton Head Island is the right place for you.

Hilton head homes for sale is one of the best vacation destinations in the world. This second largest barrier island along the eastern coast of the United States spans 55.5 square miles. It takes pride in its breathtaking 12-mile beachfront that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. Hilton Head homes welcomes about 2.5 million tourists every year, making it one of the leading tourist spots in South Carolina and in the U.S.

This beautiful island in Beaufort County has nearly 40,000 inhabitants, according to the 2000 population report. Most of those who have settled down here are Hispanics and wealthy migrants from northern states. What made these people decide to make hilton head real estate is evident: the pristine beauty of the place.

Staying in Hilton Head Island is not a problem. There are many houses, villas, apartments and condominium units for rent. You can find most of them in Sea Pines, Forest Beach, Palmetto Dunes and Shipyard plantations.

Blue Chips Rally after GSE Rescue

Major U.S. stock finished higher Monday in a session that featured some remarkable developments. The Dow industrials and S&P 500 index advanced strongly in reaction to the announcement Sunday of the federal government's takeover of Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), which own or guarantee half of the country's $12 trillion in outstanding home mortgage debt. The action removes some uncertainty about the solvency of the government-sponsored enterprises and instills some confidence in the economy.

Also on Monday, UAL Corp. (UAUA) shares fell sharply, to near 3.00 at one point in the session from their opening price of 12.17, and then recovered to finish the session down 1.38 at 10.92. The airline operator said reports that the company filed for bankruptcy are completely untrue and were caused by the irresponsible posting of a six-year-old Chicago Tribune article by the Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper website with the date changed. The story was related to United's 2002 bankruptcy filing. (United exited bankruptcy in February, 2006.) United is launching an investigation.

The Nasdaq composite index lagged the blue chips, amid declines in Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL).

Bonds rose in price. The dollar index climbed. Energy futures ended mixed. Gold eased.

On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 270.56 points, or 2.41%, to finish at 11,491.52. The broader S&P 500 index climbed 23.01 points, or 1.83%, to end the session at 1,265.32. And the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 12.78 points, or 0.57%, to close at 2,268.66.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 20 shares were trading higher for every 11 that fell in price. The ratio on the Nasdaq was 17-11 positive.

Major stock indexes overseas rallied hard Monday on the GSE bailout. In London, the FTSE 100 index surged 3.81% to 5,440.20. In Paris, the CAC 40 index jumped 4.1% to 4,368.00. Germany's DAX index gained 2.66% to 6,290.35.

Asian markets rallied overnight. Japan's Nikkei 225 index climbed 3.38% to 12,624.46. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index shot higher by 4.32% to 20,794.27.

The U.S. financial sector was boosted by the Fannie/Freddie news, with the major U.S. financial institutions like Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Citigroup (C) finishing higher. Homebuilding shares also gained.

However, not all financials rallied. Fannie and Freddie shares plunged to below $1 on the news, capping a meltdown of tens of billions of dollars in market cap over the past year for the mortgage firms.

In an announcement Sunday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the firms were being placed in a government-operated conservatorship, ousting their chief executives and eliminating their dividends. The Treasury may purchase up to $200 billion of stock in the firms to keep them solvent. Under the plan, the Federal Housing Finance Authority will assume the power of the board, and the two firms' CEOs will resign after a transitional period. Common and preferred dividends paid by each company have been suspended.

In addition, S&P and Citigroup lowered their equity ratings on Fannie and Freddie to sell.

Bond-market guru Bill Gross of PIMCO expects the news to help housing and the economy, notes Action, while a leading hedge fund, Paulson & Co., is looking to buy financial stocks.

"We believe the plan is a significant positive for the housing market, the economy, and the capital markets and that its announcement may prove a key turning point in the ongoing credit crisis," wrote Lehman Brothers economist Zach Pandl in a note Monday.

The extraordinary news concerning Fannie and Freddie somewhat overshadowed developments elsewhere in the financial sector.

Washington Mutual (WM) announced that Alan H. Fishman has been appointed CEO to succeed Kerry Killinger who is leaving the company. WaMu says Fishman has also joined the company's board.

Lehman Brothers Holdings (LEH) replaced key senior management, appointing new co-heads of its Fixed Income unit and new co-chief executives of the Europe and the Middle East segments. An unconfirmed report from Reuters also says that Korean regulators are urging Korea Development Bank to take a cautious approach to dealings with Lehman, and cites Japanese sources suggesting that Nomura Holdings is considering acquiring a stake in the firm. Merrill Lynch (MER) upgraded its recommendation on Lehman to neutral from underperform, saying that it believes the environment has improved for Lehman to be able to attract the equity capital it needs at a price around the current market.

Merrill also upgraded Goldman Sachs (GS) to buy from underperform.

Friedman Billings (FBR) upgraded shares of East West Bancorp (EWBC), (UCBH) and (ZION) to outperform as it believes that the government's decision to place the GSEs into a conservatorship has positive implications for bank stocks in general, specifically those with depressed valuations driven by uncertainty surrounding capital levels relative to exposure to housing-related losses.

Bankunited Financial (BKUNA) announces that it received notification Monday that the Office of Thrift Supervision has reclassified the bank's regulatory capital status from well-capitalized to adequately capitalized although the Bank's capital ratios exceed the statutory threshold for well-capitalized institutions. As a result, Bankunited is subject to restrictions on accepting brokered deposits.

While the GSE bailout garnered the lion's share of the market's attention Monday, traders were also looking ahead to reports on the U.S. trade balance Thursday and retail sales Friday.

Energy futures turned lower despite worroies that Hurricane Ike will hit the Gulf of Mexico's oil structure. The Weather Bureau so far has not been able to pinpoint where the storm will make landfall. October WTI crude oil futures were lower at $105.37 per barrel. Meanwhile, OPEC ministers are gathering in Vienna for tomorrow's meeting. They were widely expected to leave formal targets unchanged, especially as the powerful hurricane has lifted oil prices. Also, there was speculation the ministers did not want to cut output with global economies appearing to be headed for a recession.

Gold traded on a heavier footing, with a broad dollar rally encouraging movement out of commodities and in to other assets. The improved risk profile generated by the U.S. GSE bailout weighed on gold, with some of last week's safe haven bid coming undone as equity markets moved broadly higher.

Among other stocks in the news Monday, Altria Group (MO) agreed to acquire UST Inc. (UST) in an $11.7 billion deal, which includes assumption of $1.3 billion in debt. Terms: $69.50 cash per UST share.

Gehl Co. (GEHL) agreed to be acquired by its largest shareholder, Manitou BF S.A., a manufacturer and distributor of material handling equipment headquartered in France, in a $450 million deal (aggregate enterprise value). Terms: $30 cash per Gehl share.

Hercules Offshore (HERO) reported that all of its drilling rigs, liftboats and marine vessels located in U.S. Gulf of Mexico have been accounted for, appear to have sustained no damage as a result of Hurricane Gustav. Notes, all of its contracted drilling rigs have resumed operations, except for three drilling rigs on stand-by and one drilling rig that was recently re-evacuated as Hercules Offshore takes precautions as it monitors Hurricane Ike.

Treasury market

Bond prices recovered somewhat from earlier lows. The 10-year note fell to 102-10/32 for a

yield of 3.725%, while the 30-year bond was lower at 103-06/32 for a yield of 4.312%.

The Economy: Housing Hope, Consumer Gloom

The housing market may be loosening up a bit, but the consumer mood is the darkest it has been since the Carter Administration, according to two economic reports released May 16.

U.S. housing starts rebounded 8.2%, to a 1.032 million-unit annual pace in April, from a revised 0.954 million rate in March (from 0.947 million previously). February's 1.075 million pace was revised up to 1.107 million. The consensus forecast of economists was for a drop to 940,000. Housing starts are still down 30.6% from a year ago.

The April increase was entirely in multifamily starts (up 40.5%). Single-family starts dropped 1.7%, to 692,000. The increase was concentrated in the Midwest (up 24.4%) and the West (up 18.5%). Starts were down 12.7% in the East and up 3.6% in the South. Building permits rose 4.9%, to 978,000.

Housing Will Continue to Stunt Growth

Starts continue to do better than expected, which is good news for U.S. economic growth, notes S&P Economics. "We do not think the [housing] problem is over, however, and still expect declines through the summer," wrote S&P economist Beth Ann Bovino in a May 16 note.

John Ryding, chief U.S. economist at Bear Stearns (BSC), advised against reading too much into the rise in permits and said in an e-mail note that the decline in housing starts over the last three months shows housing will continue to be a significant drag on growth in the second quarter.

For the other April housing reports, Action Economics continues to expect declines of 0.6% for existing home sales to a 4.900 million-unit annual rate, a 1.1% drop in new home sales to a 0.520 million pace, and a 0.9% drop in construction spending.

Inflation Indexes Take Off

But any fledgling optimism regarding the housing market was tempered with a bleak preliminary reading in the Reuters/University of Michigan report on consumer sentiment for May. The headline index fell to 59.5—its weakest level since June, 1980—from 62.6 in April. The current economic conditions index fell to 71.7, from 77.0 previously. The economic outlook index fell to 51.7, from 53.3.

The inflation indexes, which measure consumers' expectations of future prices, really took off, notes Action Economics, with the one-year median inflation rate rising to 5.2%, from 4.8% in April (it was 3.4% in January). The five- to 10-year inflation index edged up to 3.3% from April's 3.2% (it was 3.0% in January).

The government's stimulus plan failed to bolster the sentiment readings, notes Action Economics, and raised the risk that "consumers will fail to spend their way out of recession."

Stocks fell in mid-morning trading May 16 after the gloomy sentiment report, while the dollar slipped slightly. Treasury yields reversed lower after traders saw the inflation component of the report.