A grass product developed at Christchurch Airport by Grasslanz Technology and AgResearch has been given a DuPont Innovation Award.  The awards recognise the commercialisation of outstanding science and technology in Australasia, and this was the only award given to a New Zealand company.

The innovation Cathay Dupont Award was for an endophyte-inoculated grass which promises to make airfields much safer through deterring birds from feeding on grass and insects at grassed areas at airports.  The grass has a fungus which makes birds feel sick when they feed off it, although it does not harm them.  The birds are then deterred from feeding and flocking in those grassy areas. This endophytic grass also reduces insect numbers, thereby making the area less attractive to insect-feeding birds.

Plots of grass inoculated with the selected endophyte had 14 times less birds than ordinary plots of grass. This dramatically lowered the population of birds in the vicinity of these plots, and therefore the risk of birds flying into aircraft.

"This high-endophyte grass has major value for grassed airfields throughout the world," said Andy Lester, Chief Operating Officer of Christchurch International Airport Ltd (CIAL). "We want to congratulate Grasslanz, AgResearch and scientist Chris Pennell for their dedicated work which will make a significant contribution to airfield safety. Christchurch Airport has  the objective of having the lowest bird-strike statistics of any airport in New Zealand, and this grass is a quantum leap in achieving that goal." Read cathay dupont award articles here...

Tokyo MK Taxi förstår att föraren och fordonets säkerhet kan påverka ditt beslut att välja en chaufför service provider. I många år, har vårt företag arbetat dedicatedly för att säkerställa att alla passagerares säkerhet aldrig äventyras. Som ett åtagande för din säkerhet anställer vi endast chaufförer med ren records, certifierad att köra och med road erfarenhet samt för att upprätthålla vår lyxiga bilar i bra skick utrustad med en mängd säkerhetsfunktioner.

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Municipal Bond Values Have Improved Relative to Corporates Amid Rates Market Volatility

• Factors like anticipated tax policy changes and demand had some impact on municipal bond volatility at the end of 2016, but were a relatively minor cause.

• Broader rates volatility is more to blame for yields rising for munis at the end of 2016.

• Through the volatility, the relative value of A-rated municipal bonds has recently improved compared to similarly rated corporate bonds.

The surprising U.S. election results sent shock waves across fixed income markets, and the municipal bond market was not immune to broader volatility. While a number of factors affect munis, perceived policy changes have had less impact than broader rates movements. Despite this volatility, the municipal market actually looks like a better value relative to comparable corporate bonds. That should make the market even more attractive to tax-aware investors

What Has Caused Recent Municipal Bond Volatility?

The municipal bond market began experiencing volatility in October 2016. After more than a year of positive weekly flows into the sector, flows began diminishing at that time and turned negative in November. The changing pattern in flows coincided with October’s US$53 billion in new muni bond issuance, the most of any month in the last 30 years.

The result of the election also created uncertainty over policy changes for both corporate and personal income taxes and the potential for a large infrastructure package. Both of these events contributed to the volatility of the U.S. municipal market, and municipal-to-Treasury ratios cheapened in early December.

The factor most responsible for the rise in muni yields was not policy uncertainty or supply and demand, but the rise in Treasury yields. The chart on the previous page shows the relationship between the municipal market yield and the 10-year Treasury yield. If Treasury rates are moving up or down, the municipal market generally follows in the same direction. A lag or a difference in the size of the move can most often be attributed to municipal market factors like uncertainty over tax policy or supply and demand changes.

In addition to considering factors that are unique to the municipal market, investors must also consider factors that influence the general level of rates. The drivers of the recent move in Treasury yields include enhanced growth expectations, more confidence that the U.S. Federal Reserve will continue raising rates in 2017 and heightened inflation expectations.

In spite of the recent volatility, the core fundamentals of the municipal market remain strong. The U.S. economy continues to grow, and low unemployment rates provide a positive backdrop for municipal credit.

The hospital sector demonstrates how a strong labor market can positively impact the municipal market. Private-payer health insurance traditionally offers better coverage and benefits than public plans. With more participants eligible for private plans amid low unemployment rates, this positively impacts hospitals’ revenues.

Relative Muni Valuations Have Improved

The recent volatility has led A-rated municipal credits to become much more attractive relative to similarly rated corporate credits. Municipal credit often trades at lower absolute yields relative to corporate credit due to the tax advantage offered by municipals. For most of 2016, A-rated municipals traded at an 80% discount to corporates.

At that level, A-rated municipals were still attractive for investors in the highest tax brackets. However, starting in October the spread started to tighten as municipal yields rose. Municipal yields briefly traded at higher levels than their corporate counterparts in December.

Municipal yields approaching or exceeding corporate yields in absolute terms signals that munis are a good relative value. Since the start of the year, A-rated municipals have traded above 90% of A-rated corporate yields. That makes them very attractive for those paying higher income taxes. With the fundamentals of the municipal market intact, the recent volatility has actually made municipals more attractive relative to other fixed income alternatives.

Are Investors Forgetting Why Emerging Market Bonds Had Started to Recover?

• The U.S. election has reversed some of investors’ recent optimism regarding emerging markets debt.

• However, certain factors driving the sector’s recent improvement may make emerging markets debt more durable than the consensus expects.

• Those factors include stable commodity prices, a slower path for U.S. dollar appreciation, favorable real-yield differentials and signs of economic reforms in developing countries. 

Market sentiment toward emerging markets (EM) has soured since the U.S. presidential election. The trade policies advocated by Donald Trump during his campaign and increased geopolitical uncertainty have led investors to demand higher risk premiums for EM assets. In addition, U.S. dollar appreciation resulting from the new administration’s pro-cyclical fiscal policies has created another headwind. With this backdrop, should investors adopt a more cautious stance toward EM bonds or does the recent sell-off provide a special opportunity?

Until the U.S. presidential election, 2016 had witnessed a strong recovery in EM asset prices. After years of disappointing returns, the major drivers behind this recovery were:

1. A stabilization in commodity prices

2. A slower appreciation of the U.S. dollar

3. Historically low yields in developed bond markets

4. Economic reforms in developing countries

Will the new U.S. administration fundamentally derail this dynamic?

Stabilization in Commodity Prices

Commodity prices bottomed in February 2016 after the sharp correction of 2014–2015. This recovery has continued after the U.S. presidentialelection as higher growth expectations have boosted commodity demand. Commodity producers have also been aggressively cutting back capital expenditures, as many exploration projects were no longer viable at lower prices. This gradual reduction in commodity supply has been accelerated by OPEC’s decision in late November to cut production.

The acceleration in U.S. growth expected from Donald Trump’s expansionist fiscal policy is therefore supporting the ongoing recovery in commodity prices at a time when supply is falling. While the EM investment universe contains both commodity importers such as Turkey and India as well as exporters such as Brazil and Russia, in aggregate, higher commodity prices are supportive of EM bonds.

The moment you buy a new car, you must decide to find a dedicated car-servicing company to do all your maintenance and repair needs. Here are the many benefits of doing so:

1. It will maximize the lifespan of your car

A clean machine is a healthy, long-lasting machine. It is like the human body which can stay healthy as long as you take care of it. Preventive maintenance eliminates any undesirable chinks in your engine or rusts in the car’s body. The simple task of cleaning regularly, especially after using your car through rain or snow, helps to bring back the vehicle to its factory-condition as closely as possible. Some of these tasks you can do at home; some you can ask professionals to do for you.

2. It will preserve the value of your car

A well-maintained vehicle is not only a long-lasting vehicle but is also a vehicle that has a high resale value. Not many car owners today keep the commendable habit of keeping detailed up-to-date maintenance records. It is time-consuming after all. But a professional car-servicing company can do that for you, as well as provide regular reminders when you need to do the required scheduled tasks done.

3. It minimizes minor faults from becoming major ones

Cars will always show some faults and even defects arising from the effects of weather and constant use. Identifying these faults can be a full-time job done best by professionals who have the skills and experience to know how cars work. The expense of allowing experts do the job can actually offset the liabilities you will incur if you neglect faults which tend to turn into expensive issues later on.

4. It requires technical skills and tools to do car servicing which the ordinary car owner does not possess

The precision with which certain car servicing tasks are done requires certain skills and special equipment. Whether we are talking about wheel-balancing, electrical repairs, ignition timing and others, the ordinary individual stands to gain the benefits of having a professional car servicing company instead of going DIY.

5. Record-keeping is accomplished for you

Rare must be those people who keep their own dental records at home where they are of virtually no use, except perhaps for starting a family dental archive. So, a car’s maintenance and repair log can best be of value in the hands of a professional car service provider.

In the long run, having a regular car servicing company, such as Trye&Auto Southbourne, take care of your car results in a more efficient car as well as bring savings for the owner as it frees them from the laborious task and allows them to focus on other productive tasks. A car suffers obsolescence the moment it goes out of the showroom, just as we grow old from our birth. Hence, the car which receives the most affection and loving care has the greatest chance to stay fit and valuable for a long, long time.

Fake deaths, bogus damage among the exploitive claims

One postscript to last week’s emotional 911 remembrances is that some folks with little conscience tried to exploit the tragedy by lodging dirty insurance scams.

Every disaster — whether by airliner smart bomb or Ma Nature’s hurricanes  — brings out a sordid bunch who see dancing dollar signs amid the strewn rubble.

The 911 scams were especially sordid because they played off of incalculable human suffering. Less than a week after 3,000 Americans died fiery deaths, Charles Gavett sadly told life insurers that his beloved wife Cynthia had perished in the collapse.

Cynthia was finishing a job interview with the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald when a hijacked airliner plowed into the gleaming tower, Charles insisted. Cynthia hadn’t been seen since, and Charles sought more than $628,000 to help salve his grief.

How touching … except Cynthia was quite alive and well. She and Charles were living openly in Concord, Ga.

They figured insurers wouldn’t investigate claims involving such a profound national tragedy.

But insurers did investigate. Cynthia even invited a sheriff’s deputy over for the Thanksgiving holiday. The court invited the Gavetts over for 10-year jail terms.

Elderly New York City millionaire Beatrice Kaufman owned a $5-million apartment in Manhattan. She tried to charge insurers and charities about $1 million for renovations to her apartment and non-existent damage to her lawyer-recruiting business office.

Kaufman claimed the attacks forced her to leave her apartment and business for months. She racked up huge bills staying at a swanky hotel. In fact, she moved out before the attacks while renovating her unit. She tried to connive insurers into paying for the work. Kaufman received 52 weekends in an un-renovated jail cell.

In West Chester, Ohio, a man filed a $100,000 life-insurance claim, saying his father died when the Towers went down. His father lived in India.

People tried to bilk charities and relief agencies as well. Dozens of scams quickly showed up. Con artists hoped to quickly slip make-believe stories through the system amid the confusion after the Towers and Pentagon erupted in flames.

Expect similar cons as the Hurricane Hermine floodwaters retreat. You may see claims for flooded cars that drivers purposefully left near the beach. A Florida man filled his six-figure Rolls Royce with a garden hose after Katrina, claiming it was flood-damaged. Claim denied.

Floodwaters carried away (untraceable) high-priced home electronics, supposed Hermine victims might claim. Wind and debris and siding wrecked roofs that the homeowners damaged themselves.

Insurers are on high alert. They want to pay honest claims. Likely they’ll quickly pay as many claims as possible to make homeowners whole. Then the insurers will circle back to investigate claims that bears warning signs of fraud. Some blatant scams will be denied right up front.

So what can you do?

Aside from the obvious — don’t scam because insurers rightfully are watching — why look the other way when a neighbor brags about a Hermine scam, or any insurance con? Report them to the insurance department.

Honest Americans are trying to put their lives back together. Nobody needs knuckleheads taking the easy way out while the vast majority of Hermine victims play fair.

Americans suffer enough after unfathomable disasters. We all grieve for the victims. Insurance scammers who exploit human tragedy are an affront to all of us.

About the author: Jim Quiggle is director of communications for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.