hit record

Mortgage Delinquencies Hit Record High

The number of Americans struggling to pay their mortgages has hit a new record high. New figures show 14 percent of borrowers, or 7.4 million households, are either behind on their payments or in foreclosure. The Mortgage Bankers Association says it expects delinquencies to rise as the economy continues to shed jobs.

Colorado foreclosures hit record in Q3:

Colorado had a record-high number of new foreclosures in the third quarter, when new filings hit 12,468.The quarter ending Sept. 30 was the fourth consecutive quarter in which new foreclosure filings increased.For the year so far, new foreclsoure filings in Colorado are up about 18 percent compared to the same period in 2008.The news isn't all bad, though.

Housing officials say Thursday that there are fewer completed foreclosures this year. The total number of completed foreclosures fell 8 percent during the first three quarters of the year when compared to the same period last year. That drop indicates that some homeowners behind on payments are doing a better job trying to get back on track and keep their homes.

Financings hit record on Canada's top exchange

* Total financings C$49.7 bln at end of October
* Top sectors include mining, financials, energy
* TMX CEO says rise signals improving economy
TORONTO, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Companies have raised a record amount of money on the Toronto Stock Exchange this year, the latest sign of how strongly markets have rebounded from the global financial crisis.
TMX Group Inc, which runs Canada's largest stock exchange, said on Thursday that firms have raised C$49.7 billion ($46.9 billion) on the TSX as of Oct. 31.
The previous record was C$47.6 billion, which was set in December 2007 before the crisis cut off access to capital for many companies.
At the end of October, 628 financings had been done, up 47 percent from the comparable period in 2008, TMX said.
Top sectors were mining, financials, energy and energy services. The top deal this year was Barrick Gold's C$4.3 billion stock sale.
With two months to go in 2009, the dramatic surge in financings shows "positive investor sentiment as well as issuer optimism that global economic indicators are improving," Tom Kloet, TMX's chief executive, said in a statement.
The company said it is also aggressively growing its international listings business, sending recent delegations to the United States, China, Israel and Australia.
As of the end of October, U.S. based issuers raised C$1.6 billion on the Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange, representing a 68 percent increase over the same period in 2008, TMX said.

vulpine

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Fox)

Droll stop-motion animated adventure, in which the titular vulpine creature, now a respectable newspaper columnist with a wife and son, tries to recapture his wild past as a chicken thief, but his renewed raiding, abetted by his daring nephew, enrages a trio of mean-spirited farmers whose escalating countermeasures endanger the community. A touch of menace and a fleeting joke about Mrs. Fox's youthful indiscretions aside, director and co-writer Wes Anderson's clever, lovingly crafted adaptation of Roald Dahl's 1970 children's book offers sophisticated family entertainment, with abundant fun for youngsters and a few insights into the tensions and paradoxes of human nature for adults. (A-I, PG)


Pirate Radio (Focus)

Energetic but sexually freewheeling ensemble comedy, set in mid-1960s Britain, in which a rebellious teen is sent by his mother to live on an oil tanker that has been converted into an offshore radio station where a team of eccentric disc jockeys broadcast the rock 'n' roll music that the BBC will not. This fact-based, potentially buoyant celebration of music and camaraderie is torpedoed by its implicit acceptance of all manner of bedroom shenanigans. Benign view of casual, group and gay sex and of drug and condom use, brief rear nudity, a pornographic image, some irreverent and sexual humor, a couple of profanities and at least 20 uses of the F-word. (O, R)

2012 (Columbia)

In a special-effects disaster movie to end all fiasco flicks, director Roland Emmerich tests the limits of the technically plausible and morally palatable, while asking moviegoers to take heart as the scenario affords a few the chance to exhibit altruism, even as their exploits are interspersed with disturbing apocalyptic imagery, including the destruction of St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Considerable crude and crass language, much profanity, a rough gesture and a few instances of sexual innuendo. (A-III, PG-13)

USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classifications: A-I --- general patronage; A-II --- adults and adolescents; A-III --- adults; L --- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling.