About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 2018)
WASHINGTON/POLITICS The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Thursday, December 27, 2018 5A US stocks rebound as traders return from holiday RICHARD DREW I Associated Press Trader Michael Milano works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Dec. 26. BY ALEX VEIGA Associated Press U.S. stocks surged Wednesday, recovering all their losses from a Christmas Eve plunge and placing the market on track for its best day in nine months. Gains in technology companies, retailers, health care and inter net stocks drove the broad rally, which gave the benchmark S&P 500 index some breathing room after it slid Monday to just shy of what Wall Street calls a bear mar ket — a 20 percent fall from an index’s peak. Energy stocks also rebounded as the price of U.S. crude oil notched its biggest one-day gain in more than two years. Trading volume was lighter than usual following the Christ mas holiday. Markets in Europe, Hong Kong and Australia were closed. “Today simply can only be really chalked up to a reflex rally after having been oversold,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist for CFRA. “The real question is do we have follow- through for the rest of this week.” The S&P 500 index rose 80 points, or 3.4 percent, to 2,431 of 3:24 p.m. Eastern Time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 731 points, or 3.4 percent, to 22,524. The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 265 points, or 4.3 percent, to 6,458. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 45 points, or 3.6 percent, 1,312. Wednesday’s gains pulled the S&P 500 back somewhat from the brink of a bear market, where it finished after a shortened trading session Monday. That would mark the end to the longest bull market for stocks in modern history after nearly 10 years. Stocks fell sharply Monday after President Donald Trump lashed out at the central bank. Administration officials had spent the weekend trying to assure financial markets that Fed chair man Jerome Powell’s job was safe. On Tuesday, Trump reiterated his view that the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates too fast, but called the independent agency’s rate hikes a “form of safety” for an economy doing well. On Wednesday, Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, weighed in, saying Powell is in no danger of being fired, The Wall Street Journal reported. “The market is trying to find an equilibrium between earnings, revenue growth and the economy, but when you have an onslaught of headlines that just manifest uncertainty from Washington, it just feeds negative sentiment,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. The market’s sharp downturn since October intensified this month, erasing all of its 2018 gains and nudging the S&P 500 closer to its worst year since 2008. Despite Wednesday’s rally, stocks are on track for their worst December since 1931, during the depths of the Great Depression. “This is a market that’s heavily oversold, and typically you expect a strong bounce following that,” Krosby said. “Oil prices have just moved quite markedly. And retail is having a very strong holiday season.” The lackluster finish to 2018 comes as most economists expect growth to slow in 2019, though not by enough to slide into a full blown recession. Many economic barometers still look encouraging. Unemployment is at 3.7 percent, the lowest since 1969. Inflation is tame. Pay growth has picked up. Consumers boosted their spending this holiday season. Even so, traders have been jit tery this autumn over signs that the global economy is slowing, the escalating U.S. trade dispute with China and another interest rate increase by the Fed. Many investors are growing worried that corporate profits -- which drive stock market gains -- are poised to weaken. Some of what Wall Street sees coming out of the White House has added to the market’s uncertainty, specifically the president’s attacks on the Fed and remarks about the ongoing trade conflict with China. The president could help restore some stability to the market if he “gives his thumbs a vacation,” Stovall said. “Tweet things that are more constructive in terms of working out an agreement with Democrats and with China. And then just remain silent as it relates to the Fed,” Stovall said. FBI concerned by money mules and fraud schemes BY ERIC TUCKER AND MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press WASHINGTON — The email caught the executive at a small company by surprise one morn ing in 2016. The company’s owner, or so he thought, was requesting a money transfer to pay for supplies from a new vendor. It wasn’t until that night when the executive, hours after the money had been transferred and still puzzled by the out-of-the- blue demand, texted the owner to make sure he’d heard the request correctly. The befuddled reply was dis heartening: “I just saw your mes sage about a wire transfer today. What is that about?” It was all part of a fraud scam that targeted companies, schools and nonprofits in Connecticut and elsewhere in the United States and that resulted this month in a 45-month prison sentence for one of the culprits. The case is part of a seemingly endless cycle of money laundering schemes that law enforcement officials say they’re scrambling to slow through a com bination of prosecution and public awareness. Beyond the run-of-the-mill plots, officials say, is a particularly con cerning trend involving “money mules” — people who, unwittingly or not, use their own bank accounts to move money for criminals for purposes they think are legitimate or even noble. The “mule” concept has attracted renewed attention with this month’s release of Clint East wood’s “The Mule,” a real-life tale of an elderly horticulturist who smuggled cocaine for a Mexican cartel. But the modern-day mules of most concern to the FBI are people who get themselves entan gled in complicated, international money laundering schemes that cause huge economic losses and show no signs of stopping. “They trial and error this stuff and they see what works and they see what doesn’t,” FBI supervi sory special agent James Abbott said in an interview. “It’s a much higher success rate when you have a lot of money using somebody else’s account going through there instead of trying to cross the bor der with a physical transportation of cash.” The FBI and international law enforcement agencies have stepped up efforts against the fraud and say they’re building bigger cases than before. Europol said this month it had identified 1,504 money mules, arresting 168, in a continent-wide bust. The FBI in June announced the arrests of 74 people, including 29 in Nigeria, for schemes targeting businesses and the elderly, and has launched a publicity campaign called “Don’t Be a Mule.” JOSE LUIS MAGANA I Associated Press The FBI seal is seen before a news conference at FBI headquarters in Washington. The money mule cases are an offshoot of more generic frauds encountered by the FBI, includ ing schemes that dupe people into thinking they’ve won the lottery and can claim their prizes by wir ing an advance payment, or that trick the unsuspecting into believ ing a relative has been arrested and needs urgent bail money or that a supposed paramour they’ve met online requires cash. In cases like the Connecticut one, fraud sters assume identities of execu tives and scam employees into wiring cash. That’s what happened in 2016 at Beacon Systems, a Texas company where a new employee received emails from someone she thought was the chief executive officer instructing her to transfer nearly $100,000 for a vendor-related payment. Several weeks later, Kerry Wil liams, the CEO whose identity was impersonated, was on her way to the airport when the FBI con tacted her and explained how the company had been victimized as part of a much broader swindle. A dual Nigerian-U.S. citizen was ultimately sentenced to four years in prison in connection with the scheme. “It makes you kind of paranoid,” Williams said, describing how the experience also made the SAP con sulting firm more vigilant. “Even to this day, we’re overly cautious about everything. I think you kind of go to that extreme. ” As for money mules, they’re persuaded, sometimes with the incentive of keeping a cut of the funds, into allowing money trans fers into their own bank accounts at the direction of a fraudster they may mistake for an online friend or romantic partner, a military officer overseas or an employer. They’re then instructed to trans fer those funds elsewhere, into accounts controlled by criminals. In one example, the FBI says, a fraudster posing as an Army cap tain stationed overseas recruited a man he met online to be a money mule, saying he was mak ing arrangements to travel home and needed the man’s help receiv ing and sending some funds. The FBI says $10,000 was wired into the man’s account. He was then instructed to withdraw it in small increments and send it to a woman in Texas. The mules are sometimes wit ting conspirators. Other times, they’re elderly, lonely or just con fused. The ones the FBI concludes are merely unwitting are given stern warnings but generally avoid prosecution. “When we approach them and talk to them and explain to them what they’ve been doing, a lot of times, the horror is there, said Steven D’Antuono, an FBI sec tion chief specializing in financial crimes. “It’s all walks of life, all educational levels. Anyone can fall victim to this.” In the Connecticut case, the executive recounted those horrors in a letter to the judge before the sentencing of one of the defen dants earlier this year. The executive, whose name and company are redacted in the letter, described feeling initially apprehensive about the money transfer instructions and advising the company owner that it was a “lot of money for supplies.” That night, he described the interactions to his wife, who asked if he was really certain the emails were legitimate. He suddenly wasn’t so sure, realizing for the first time he may have been duped. “Because of crimes like these,” he wrote, “our society is losing much of the trust and openness that we once experienced.” Girl believes in Santa, despite Trump’s ‘marginal’ comment JACQUELYN MARTIN I Associated Press President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump each speak on the phone sharing updates to track Santa’s movements from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Santa Tracker on Christmas Eve, Monday, Dec. 24. BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press WASHINGTON — A 7-year-old girl who talked to President Donald Trump on Christmas Eve still left out milk and cookies for Santa despite the president telling her it was “marginal” for a child of her age to still believe. Then again, Collman Lloyd of Lexington, South Carolina, says she had never heard the word “marginal” before. Collman had called the NORAD Tracks Santa pro gram Monday night to check on Santa’s journey delivering toys. In an interview with the Post and Courier of Charles ton, she said the scientist who answered the NORAD phone asked her if she would like to speak to the president. Six minutes later, Trump was on the line. “Are you still a believer in Santa?” Trump asked. When she responded, “Yes, sir,” the president added, “Because at 7, that’s marginal, right?” Collman didn’t know what “marginal” meant and simply answered, “Yes, sir.” Trump closed by saying, “Well, you just enjoy yourself.” Trump’s chat with Coll man was initially reported as being with a boy named Cole man. Only Trump’s end of the conversation could be heard by reporters, but Collman’s family later posted video of the call on YouTube. Collman told the Post and Courier that she and her 10-year-old sister and 5-year- old brother left iced sugar cookies and chocolate milk for Santa. She reported that Christmas morning, the food was gone and presents were under the tree. In addition to the NORAD Tracks Santa program and church services Christmas Eve, Trump participated in another holiday tradition, wishing U.S. troops stationed around the country and the globe a merry Christmas. He spoke Tuesday by video con ference to members of all five branches of the U.S. military. “I know it’s a great sacri fice for you to be away from your families, but I want you to know that every American family is eternally grateful to you, and we’re holding you close in our hearts, thoughts and prayers,” Trump said. “We love what you do and love your work. Amazing people.” The president spent a rare Christmas in Washington because of a stalemate with Congress over government funding that left several departments and agencies shuttered since the week end, affecting the livelihoods of some 800,000 federal employees. Trump usually celebrates Christmas at his Florida estate. He scrapped plans to travel to Palm Beach because of the shutdown. “I thought it would be wrong for me to be with my family,” he told reporters in the Oval Office after the give and take with members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard from their stations in Guam, Bahrain, Qatar and Alaska. “My family is in Florida, Palm Beach, and I just didn’t want to go down and be there when other people are hurt ing,” Trump said. He didn’t say which family members were at the Mar-a-Lago estate. r (t/abersham retreat r 'v - Jt/Assisted Care Community Now Offers a New Assisted Living Home Located @ 258 Park Ave Baldwin GA (C^uite Life Come by for a visit. Prebook one of our new rooms that you can make your very own. www.habershamretreat.com Call us @ 706-499-6842 CITY OF OAKWOOD, GEORGIA Report on Projects Funded Through Special Purpose Option Sales Tax For die Year Ended December 31, 2018 SPLOST VI Infrastructure Protect Year Approved Estimated Completion Date Estimated Cost Total Collections Total Expenditures Total Total Funds Remaining Original Budget Current Budget Prior Years Current Year Prior Years Current Year uaKwooa uowntown/'i own Center -Phase I completed) 2009 2015 $ 1,500,000 $ 1,316,143 $ 1,316,143 $ $ 1,316,143 $ Signaiization - McEver Road @ HF Reed (completed) 2009 2009 $ 200,000 $ 200,000 $ 200,000 $ $ 200,000 $ Local Road Resurfacing (completed) 2009 2015 $ 1,200,000 $ 892,498 $ 724,705 $ 167,793 $ 892,498 $ Downtown Sewer Phase I 2009 2015 $ 800,000 $ 45,226 $ 45,226 $ $ 45,226 $ Total SPLOST VI $ 3,700,000 $ 2,453,867 $ 2,453,867 | $ - | $ 2,453,867 $ 2,286,074 $ 167,793 $ 2,453,867 $ SPLOST VII Infrastructure Proiect Year Approved Estimated Completion Date Estimated Cost Total Collections Total Expenditures Total Total Funds Remaining Original Budget Current Budget Prior Years Current Year Prior Years Current Year Roads, Streets, Bridges & Trails 2015 2020 $ 1,684,678 $ 1,684,678 $ 635,868 $ 118,078 $ 753,946 $ 3ewer Infrastructure 2015 2020 $ 1,000,000 $ 1,000,000 $ 496,986 $ 230,714 $ 727,700 $ Public Safety Equipment 2015 2020 $ 300,000 $ 300,000 $ 127,795 $ 104,980 $ 232,775 $ Total SPLOST VII $ 2,984,678 $ 2,984,678 $ 1,343,092 | $ 648,235 | $ 1,991,327 $ 1,260,649 $ 453,772 $ 1,714,421 $ 276,906 k All projects are expected to be completed at or below the estimated cost. All projects remain on schedule for completion. k Estimated cost represents the portion of these projects to be financed through Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. k Remaining funds represent amounts collected that have not been spent on projects. This amount is held for future project expenditures. [f you have questions concerning this report, please contact Stan Brown, City Manager at 770-534-2365.
