How So Many Economists Got Housing So Wrong In 2007

Check out this story over at CNN/Money about just how bad some economists did with their 2007 housing predictions. Of course the nation’s last two chief economists, Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke are at the top of the list.Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his successor Ben Bernanke, after reviewing home sales and mortgage rates in fall 2006, were hopeful that the market had bottomed out.Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

2007 Real Estate In Review

It is that time of year again where we reflect and plan. I offer my very short review of 2007 while giving you a list of real estate reviews as well as reviews from throughout the Internet culture and beyond.[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Pretty Quiet Day Ahead Of Weekend

The market had a pretty unspectacular close today, with most indexes near the flat line. For the week, the S&P 500 declined -0.40%. Yesterday’s selloff pretty much erased the last few positive days in the market. One thi[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Intuition Kitchen

A lot of people have inquired about our holiday card this year, wondering how we did it. No Photoshop, these are claymation characters created by artist Mike Leavitt. He owns Intuition Kitchen, a small art studio in South Seattle. My husband took photos of each of us for reference and sent to Mike. To see how close to reality he got with his characters, you can view the reference Flickr photos. If you have a favorite client who deserves their ver[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Perfection

New England runs the longest winning streak ever in the NFL During the Holidays I usually break away from my own personal strict rules for blogging. Which is to keep the blog in a strict context of marketing. And today...[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Next Foreclosure Wave

Thought the mortgage meltdown was just a sub-prime affair? Think again. There&039;s another time bomb waiting to explode, experts say: risky loans made to people with good credit. Believe it or not, above quote is not lifted from the pages of the Nerd&039;s Eye View, despite my longstanding tendency to rant to that very effect. It comes from none other than the Los Angeles Times, in a very good article on the looming foreclosure risks posed by Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

A Guide To Buying Real Estate In Alberta, Part 1: Put It In Writing

Over the next couple of weeks were going to publish a series of articles that will add up to a simple guide to buying and selling real estate in Alberta. This is not an exhaustive guide, or even a detailed guide, but it does cover some of the basics that home owners and potential home owners should be aware of. In part 1, we discuss the concept that everything must be in writingIf you’re going to buy or sell [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

"st. Joseph Statue Buyback Program" Launched For Thousands Of Expired Real Estate Listings

No this isn’t a parody from The Onion, it’s the real thing -- maybe even God’s work. Nearly a decade ago, the practice of burying St. Joseph statues upside down to sell real estate caused me to write "Beyond Superstition: Doing Justice to the "Just Man". When an article on the misguided practice became the most forwarded story in t[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Newswatch 12.27.07:

APPL patent app describes wireless food ordering[InfoWeek] The latest application, filed Dec. 20, described a system in which a person approaching a cafe, fast-food, or take-out restaurant could place an order that would be received by an in-store computer. The person’s order would be treated as if the customer was standing in line, which means he would be served before people placing orders after the remote order arrived.Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

Quote

"What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?"- Adam Smith, 1763 [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Small Bounce After Thursday’s Selloff

The market is trying to bounce in early trading, but there doesn’t seem to be much conviction behind it. I thought yesterday’s selloff was a bit of an overreaction, but it may take more than a day to recover.Asian markets were lower across the board overnight, after the geopolitical uncertainty raised by the killings in Pakistan. The Yen is higher today, which is also a headwind for the markets.There was another weak home sales report today, with November new home sales reported to have fallen -9% to a 12-year low. Bond yields are do[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Predictions Of A Future Internet

Want to see the future of online real estate?93% percent of all teens are online, 73% were online in 2000 and 87% in 2004. 64% of online teens have contributed to online content , up from 57 percent in 2004.More at http;//www.houseblogger.com[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Reaction To News Or Convenient Excuse?

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.Stocks snapped their near-term winning streak yesterday, as the broad market came under solid distribution. After opening slightly lower, the major indices quickly settled into a steady intraday downtrend that persisted into the close. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both fell 1.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.8%. The small-cap Russell 2000 plummeted 3.0%, but the index also showed relative strength and gained the most during the market’s recent rally. [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Billions In Savings: Will Real Estate Consumers Extend A Helping Hand?

It’s Christmas 2007, and I am visiting extended family in St. Louis, my beloved boyhood home. Missouri is the "Show Me" state, so it’s a fitting setting to ask how much money have real estate consumers really saved since McKinsey & Company predicted that industry restructuring could deliver Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

Heading Out To Walt’s Place

The market is lower this morning after some slightly weak economic data, as well as the assassination of former former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She was killed by a suicide bomber. Very sad that this stuff still happens.The market has been up for 6 straight days, so a pullback would not be surprising. And it is likely that whatever the news was today, the market may have pulled back anyway.Oil is higher, back near $97. I suspect the markets will linger around in negative territory, but not fall too far. Year-end window dressing seems [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Canslim.net Morning Comment And Links (for Traders)

MORNING MARKET COMMENTARY- Thursday, December 27, 2007Major Averages Edge Higher After Holiday- Kenneth J. Gruneisen, CANSLIM Certified, Registered Principal, Source Capital Group, Inc. (Members NASD, SIPC)Technology stocks held firm and helped the major averages close near their session’s highs on Wednesday, overcoming earlier losses. As expected, volume, an important component of institutional sponsorship, was higher than Monday’s shortened session but still well below average on both major US stock exchanges. A[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Strong ETFs To Stalk Into The New Year

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.The tech-heavy Nasdaq shook off a weak start to score its sixth consecutive day of gains yesterday, as traders bided time ahead of next week’s New Year’s Day holiday. Other main stock market indexes also showed resilience, but lagged slightly behind. The Nasdaq Composite opened near the previous day’s low, meandered sideways throughout the morning, drifted higher in the afternoon, and eventually settled with a 0.4% gain. The S&P 500 reversed an early 0.6% loss to finish 0[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

October Case-shiller Prices

The aggregate Case-Shiller HPI for San Diego declined by 2.6% in October -- the steepest one-month decline to date and the worst single-month drop among all the cities tracked by Case and Shiller. Here&039;s a look at how the different price tiers have fared since the decline began:read more[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Survey Blitz For Tv News: Boston Housing Prices In 2008 & Beyond

A local TV news department is working on a story today about the housing market, so The Real Estate Cafe and BostonBubble.com have volunteered to conduct a quick consumer su[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Ready To Run

Remember that Dixie Chick’s song "Ready to Run"? That is the tune that kept ringing in my head as I looked at the chart of Amazon.com (AMZN).This company reported stellar earnings last quarter, but the stock ran up so [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Surviving The Rest Of The Week May Require Some Sit Time

Wednesday brought the 5th lowest volume day of the year for the NYSE and 4th for the Nasdaqyuck! Disappointing retail sales kept the broader markets red until a late day boost pared the losses to close in green territory eking out a small win. Gold moved higher throughout the day to close up $13.30 at $829.80 an ounce and crude up $1.75 a barrel to $95.88. This action is not only lackluster it just isnt moving with enough momentum or volume to trade. There are VERY few days like this, but when they come around it is best to sit [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

A Chronology For Those With Short Attention Spans

Source: NY Times (original pic here):(Click on image for larger view)Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

Al Bangura: When money doesn't mean anything

Some things are more important than money. Young Watford footballer Al Bangura is facing the potential death sentence of deportation to Sierra Leone, despite the trappings of fame and fortune professional football brings

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

November Employment

Here&039;s a real quick look at last month&039;s job data. Due to issues with today&039;s schedule vis--vis familial holiday events, you will be spared all but a minimum of exposition.read more at voiceofsandiego.orgread more[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Sex, population and the predicted share crash of 2008

In 2002, I wrote in the Evening Standard about an theory that claimed to accurately predict the future for shares. The prediction? US shares would race higher before beginning a decade-long slump in 2008. UK shares would be close behind...

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

Streettracks Gold Trust (GLD) Ready To Move, But Which Way?

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.Persistent selling throughout yesterday’s session fueled a steady intraday downtrend that caused several of the broad-based stock indexes to break key technical support levels. After gapping lower on the open, the equities markets headed south and never looked back. The Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2.3%, the S&P 500 1.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.3%. The small-cap Russell 2000 fell 2.0%, as the S&P Midcap 400 lost 1.7%. Like the previous day, all of the majo[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Market Starts The Week On A Positive Note

There is little news this morning, on this holiday shortened trading session. The biggest piece of news is that Merrill Lynch (MER) got a $6.2 billion infusion from the Singapore govt. and Davis Selected Advisors. This is helping boost the financials.Asian markets were up sharply overnight, and the Yen is a bit lower again today. The 10-year yield has bounced all the way back to 4.19%, reflecting an easing of recession fears. And oil is trading down on the day, but still up at $92.50.There are only 4 1/2 trading days left in 2007. [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Ruby Red Ajax Won’t Launder The 2.0

However, as the real estate market has adjusted,online advertising revenues have followed suit. And fundamentals at some point force upon a webmaster an inevitable recognition of facts. This has recently taken hold of.a 2.0 company called Edgeio, Which just recently closed its doors.[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Other Shoe Is Dropping

Geez, all sorts of bad things start happening when asset prices stop rising. Here in California, the Gubernator just declared some sort of "financial emergency" so that, after the first of the year, they can take back money that they’ve already promised to school districts and county agencies due to dwindling tax receipts .Tax receipts are dwindling primarily because of dwindling property values as a result of the dwindling rate of homeownership here in the Golden State due, in part, to the soaring rate of foreclosures.Along with some state tax receipts, some state pens[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

What Is A Blog?

My "elevator" definition of what is a blog? Web Blog=blog The word blog has reached the inevitable level of over-hype. However, I give my pith revelations form years of blogging (This blog has been around since 2004). A great blog...[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Investors Not Impressed With Solid Earnings

My opening post is a little late this morning, as I have been on the Goldman Sachs (GS) conference call. Let me just say that I think that this stock is being tainted by the group, and that it is not being rewarded for its relative outperformance.Goldman beat earnings estimate for the 8th straight quarter, and was the only firm to have a profitable mortgage business in 2007. The Street continually underestimates the firm’s earning power, and with the stock at $200, I would be more inclined to buy at current levels than sell.Best Buy (BBY)
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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Market Surges In Early Trading Ahead Of Options Expiration

The market is up big in early trading, ahead of options expiration today. Research In Motion (RIMM) reported strong earnings last night, and the stock is spiking more than 10%. This is helping the overall tech market also.Oil is back up over $92, and this is supporting the energy complex. This is a strange market, but the big up days have always had both the tech and energy stocks rising together.The two indicators that I have been harping on are the Yen and the VIX (volatility index). I have noted that the bulls ne[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Christmas Marketing Data

A New report from American Pulse says that Americans are shopping this Holiday Season, despite mixed economic news. But what I found most interesting was:[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Year-end Tax Planning

Most year-end tax planning articles in themainstream media focus on tried-and-true strategies, what I call ’plainvanilla.’ Active traders should also focus on tax-planning opportunities uniqueto their industry, especially traders rising to the level of business taxstatus.Plain vanillayear-end tax planning strategies suggest that all taxpayers, including activetraders, should generally defer income and accelerate expenses in order toreduce current year taxable income and tax liabilities.
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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Back To The Future: Real Estate Search Centers 2.0

The lead story last night on Inman News was
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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Viral

What did the leader of the free world, co founder of the largest search engine, founder of Re/Max, a Presidential Candidate, and yours truly do when we got together up North? Can you guess who is who?* JibJab has grown...[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Market Value - Just How Much Is That Home Worth?

As real estate associates we are asked to evaluate properties on a regular basis. We look at recent comparable listings and sales and deduce an approximate value. The problem with value is that it is a very personal quantity - I may see the value in having a pool in an Edmonton backyard as -$20,000 (since that’s what it will take to fill it in and re-landscape) while someone else may see it as +$20,000. &nb[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Have You Seen M3 Lately?

Surely, bankers have more important things to worry about than what the reconstructed M3 money supply looks like, but anytime any money statistic starts closing in on 20 percent, someone somewhere in the government ought to be scratching their head.Recall that this data series was discontinued by the Federal Reserve almost two years ago and the reason gi[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Home Improvement Calculator

I was given this from my rep Deana Morgan over at HomeGain. This is something that I have wished I could find forever. They have built a calculator that helps you decide where to spend money to increase the value of your home and property.Nice tool.[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Niches

When I started in real estate years ago, I was an Apartment and Investment specialist. Mostly 2’s and 4’s. And of course it was always great to get into an exchange on a 20 unit![...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Weekly Update On The Edmonton Real Estate Market: Dec 15-21

Here is our weekly update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Last week’s numbers are in brackets.)For the past 7 days: New listings: 233 (319) Sales: 198 (207)Ratio: 85 (65) Price changes: 148 (214) Expired Listings: 285 (157) Canceled, withdrawn and terminated listings: 138 (158)Net loss/gain in listings this week: -388 (-203)Active listings for sing[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Economic Powerhouse. Edmonton?

Lots of discussion on the economy these days. Where is it at and where is it going? Plenty of uncertainty for the States and more discussion continues on the potential ramifications for Canada. For what it’s worth there are a number solid fundamentals in Alberta that haven’t changed over the last 6 months and several that have. It’s hardly up to me to tell you what you should make of everything that i[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Bigger Boom, Bigger Bust

The Union-Tribune today ran a very gloomy article on the latest DataQuick housing numbers, a centerpiece of which was the fact that San Diego&039;s median home price has already fallen farther than it did during the entirety of the early-1990s housing bust.The news is not quite so grim just yet, however. Kelly Bennet performed the same comparison using the Case-Shiller Home Price Index and found that according to that[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Today’s Open: Up

Major Averges Encounter More DistributionPICTURED BELOW: The Nasdaq Composite gapped down and sliced below its 200 DMA line on Monday, closing in the lower half of its range. Most of the market’s leading stocks have held up rather well as the market pulled back. However, many of these leaders became vulnerable to serious price declines on Monday, leading to numerous 50 DMA breaches."Stocks Head for Higher Open in Anticipation of Goldman Sachs Earnings, Central Bank Plans."Commodity linked areas were big decliners on Monday as the Gold &a[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

A Present From Zillow

Zillow just launched Smart Search, a new version of its search system, along with enhanced Neighborhood Pages that make it easier for consumers to zero-in on homes become smarter about the characteristics of surrounding areas... blah blah blah, yackity-yak.....But the real news is this cute virtual holiday missive.[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Markets Get A Boost In Early Trading

The markets staged a nice turnaround yesterday, and are following through with a bounce in early trading today. The question I am wondering is, was yesterday’s bottom the low for the rest of the year? Meaning, is the market set for a Santa Claus rally now? I think so.Morgan Stanley (MS) reported much worse earnings than expected this morning, due to a bigger writedown of bad mortgage loans. But the stock is actually higher, which is more important. The company also got a $5 billion investment from China Investment Corp, which should help its capital situation.[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

No Follow-through To Tuesday’s Bullish Reversal

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.Yesterday was a rather uneventful session, as the major indices opened flat, chopped around on both sides of unchanged, then settled with narrowly mixed results. The Nasdaq Composite eked out a gain of 0.2%, but the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1% and 0.2% respectively. The small-cap Russell 2000 ticked 0.3% higher, while the S&P Midcap 400 dipped 0.1%. Showing indecision all the way into the close, the main stock market indexes finished near the middle of t[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Pre-testing Consumer Survey Of Housing Prices In Greater Boston: 2008 To 2012

Over the past three years, The Real Estate Cafe has blogged about thereal estate bubble. Now we’d like to get YOUR opinion about what willhappen to housing prices in Greater Boston and an update on your home buyin[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

New Year Looks To Be Good Time To Buy A Home.

Well, The good news is spreading. Headline in my local paper the Daily Breeze: NEW YEAR looks to be good time to buy a home. WHAT!?? I saw this in the paper this morning in an article by Greg Wilcox...[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Shilled Numbers

I mention this only because the Shiller data is what you hear quoted all the time. Especially by the Bubblistas. Is this cooking the books?[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Enjoy The View Since Its Better Than The Mlp Chart!

Last night’s view from the Rainbow Room at the WNBC Christmas Party. Somebody needed to wash the windows on the 65th floor but the Empire State Building looks terrific. And of course there is the famous Christmas Tree (yes it is still a Christmas Tree) which with the new politicallly and enviornmentally correct lights looks beautiful!Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

Plan C

Athol’s getting a tattoo......[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Opening Look: Jobs Report Looks Just Right

The market is down slightly in early trading, but that is not all that suprising given the 2-day surge we just had.The payrolls report showed an increase of 94,000 jobs (vs. 77k consensus). While this is not a very robust number, it does show that job growth is still occurring, and that lowers the odds of a near-term recession considerably.This is a big positive, because if recession fears fade, it should bolster consumer confidence. And job growth is key. You can see the big sigh of relief in the yield on the 10-year Treasury Note. [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Bailouts Redux

A few followup points on the bailout thing.First, I hope this was clear, but the efforts I mentioned were not by any stretch intended to be comprehensive list of interventions either proposed or already underway. It was just a smattering off the top of my head. I even forgot to include the most appalling one of all: the allegation that Treasury Secretary Paulson was pushing to Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

Weekly Update On The Edmonton Real Estate Market: Dec 1 - 7

Here is our weekly update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Last week’s numbers are in brackets.)For the past 7 days: New listings: 378 (342) Sales: 206 (215)Ratio: 55 (63) Price changes: 325 (285) Expired Listings: 558 (132) Canceled, withdrawn and terminated listings: 117 (153)Net loss/gain in listings this week: -503 (-158)Active listings for[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Market Wrap: Another Big Rally

The market enjoyed another big rally today, its first back-to-back rally days in quite some time. The catalyst for this afternoon’s push higher was the housing/mortgage relief plan outlined by President Bush and Treasury Secretary Paulson (see below).The housing sector breathed a huge sigh of relief, and the housing index (HGX) surged +8.1% on the day. That is an enourmous one-day relief rally, even as it comes of a very depressed level.Yesterday was a classic "follow through" day if you follow the William O’N[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Should I Put All Of My Investments In The Vanguard Short Term Investment Grade Bond Fund?

I have my investment funds with The Vanguard Group. I see you recommend one keep 100% of their emergency funds in the Short Term Investment Grade Bond fund. If one wished to stay on the sidelines in times of market turmoil, such as now with this subprime mess, would it be logical to keep one’s entire savings in the Short Term Investment Grade Bond fund? Your question is about a lot more than the choice of a fixed income fund. I want you to be very deliberate about what kind of investor you are. Do you believe in buy and hold or market timing? In some cases investo[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Creative Financing

People want to buy but often find the financing is a roadblock. Can You Remember Creative Financing? Get out those books! According to the 2007 National Housing Pulse Survey from October, 59% of Americans think "now is a good time to buy".Interestingly as I wrote in the December newsletter, I see this in the hundreds of log files of real estate websites. People are consistently coming to realty[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

How Do I Get My Vanity Address Property Found?

Get links! Now for his program he just wanted it to be in the index, and not too many people are searching for "123 apple street", except for his agent client and maybe the homeowner.[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Slowly We Dropped!

Monday brought us a light volume pullback after last weeks rise. The day was pretty uneventful and narrow range day that the market needed. Gold closed the day up $6.00 at $795.10 an ounce and crude closed up 67 cents at $89.38 a barrel. Tuesday could be another light day and let the market continue to rest after last weeks rally and ahead of the bigger data this week. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday all have bigger pieces of data due out and winding for that move is not a bad thing for the market. It may seem dull to us at times, but it is neces[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Impending Destruction Of The US Economy

Impending Destruction of the US EconomyI doubt sorting out the probability of this thesis would be that useful but if it does happen 5% each in 20 other countries or if that is more time than you want to spend 10% each in ten other countries would probably spare a lot of pain.Hat tip Barry.[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Small Distribution Day

Tuesday another narrow range digestive day for the markets and left us slightly red. Volume increased slightly today over Monday and that means distribution days technically speaking. It is not a significant drop or volume, just happened to be slightly red and on a little more volume than yesterday. Volume has dropped under the 50dma, which we could see until the FOMC meeting on Tuesday (next week). Crude fell off down $1.08 to close at $88.25 a barrel. Gold rallied for the second consecutive day to close at $801.30 up $13.00 an ounce. Our [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Wednesday Night’s Best Trade Possibility

Dollar got ahead of itself on Wed. There will be significantpullback by the time trading comes back to US. There are two profitabletrades to be made: first will be LONG currencies off of new big lows inAsia. Second will be reversing to SHORT currencies during US session.Both trades re-iterate the theme, that when participants are confused -you can profit from trading ranges. That is as long as you realize thedynamics in place... The reason participantsare currently confused, is that they are not sure: which direction isthe trend? The big picture does not[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Twittervigil: World Aids Day 2008

Watch: http://urltea.com/2946Follow: http://twitter.com/realestatecafeHome buyers and sellers, as well as anyone in the real estate industry, are invited to observe World AIDS Day 2008 by branstorming about real estate fund raisingstrategies for AIDS orphans. Here’s one proposal / idea starter: Develop local PledgeBanksfor communities to raise funds, and potentially challenge othercit[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Lest We Not Forget The National Debt

With the mess that has been made of the credit and housing markets lately, its easy to forget about the national debt and other seemingly intractable problems that just keep getting pushed further and further into the future for someone else to solve.The Gross National Debt[Did these debt counters actually go in reverse back when we had those phony budget surpluses because borrowing from Social Security wasn’t included?]The whole idea of the national debt getting paid down withou[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Pharmaceutical Holdr (PPH) Now Locked And Loaded

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.The Nasdaq snapped its three-day pullback yesterday, resuming the short-term uptrend that began last week. The other major indices tagged along, enabling strong gains to register across the board. The Nasdaq Composite zoomed 1.8%, as did the small-cap Russell 2000 Index. The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and S&P Midcap 400 indices each rallied 1.5%. Despite a significant retracement in the early afternoon that prevented the session from being a powerful "trend da[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

This is Money's most popular: November 2007

Readers, understandably, had a one-track mind in November - see the stories, polls and columns pulling in the most readers

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

50,000+ Forex Survey Results Just In . . . New Update

One of the top online trading mentors has just released a brand new December, 2007 update to a landmark Forex report that not only ruffled some feathers when the first version was released in September . . . but it challenged everything that 90% of most Forex traders hold to be true.And those that took action on what’s revealed in the report have been dipping their wallets in over 3,100 pips of profit potential since September.So if you have ANY interest in discovering how to ride the "coat tails" of the big banks to maximize your "pip potential", you’re in for a TREAT.[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Health Dangers Of ’Every Day Business’

This morning, I didn’t have time to write my post because I had to meet the insulation installers across town. As I watched them stuff insulation into every crack and corner and saw insulation blowing around in the attic as though it were a giant snowglobe, all I could think of wasAsbestos! Vermiculite! Lung cancer! Poison! Death!(dun dun dun)Now I KNOW that modern companies don’t blow that stuff into our houses any more; it’s been banned for years. [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Pharmaceutical Holdr (PPH) Poised For Breakout

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.Stocks gapped higher out of the starting gate last Friday morning, but resistance of the S&P 500’s 200-day moving average immediately reversed the opening momentum. The major indices subsequently drifted gently lower throughout the day before finishing with mixed results. Despite giving up about half of its opening gain, the S&P 500 still ticked 0.8% higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average similarly gained 0.5%. The small-cap Russell 2000 and S&P Midcap 400 indi[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Patronised by The People's Post Office

Save our post offices:The ridiculous £10m advertising campaign about 'The People's Post Office' is a joke considering the cuts across the country

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

Prices Catch Up To The Market

If you read back over the past few months, you’ll see that Sheldon and I were a bit surprised that prices were holding as strong as they were, given the sheer number of homes for sale in Edmonton. Well, I think the average price has finally caught up with the market. Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

Top 10 Sectors&Stocks By Relative Strength (weekly Update)

Use this tool to buy the right sector ETFs or their leading stocks by RS:Weighted - Industry Name - Chart - Top Names Alpha +98.91 Agricultural Chemicals <[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

For The Price Of A Latte And A Scone?.

Since the broker-owned Kirkland, WA-based Pacific Northwest’s NWMLS has discontinued their feed to Realtor.com, many individual agents are frustrated that their listings aren’t featured on Realtor.com. So, an out-of-state and REALTOR-owned MLS has stepped in to assist. At a cost of just $5 each, an agent can post all of their listings to Realtor.com using via
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[Source: The Money Blogs]

20,000th Subscriber Today!

November has been a great month for World Vital Records. Today we reached a significant milestone by adding our 20,000th paying customer. We’ll highlight her in an upcoming newsletter. She is a genealogist from Delta, Colorado.In August we issued a press release when we reached our 10,000 subscriber milestone, and here we are just three months later at the 20,000 subscriber mark.Our entire company appreciates each customer who signs up for our premium databases and also those who try[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Ear-end Rally Appears Underway In Solid Up-session

Year-End Rally Appears Underway in Solid Up-SessionBy Harry Boxer, The Technical Trader (www.thetechtrader.com) The market had a springboard rally that exploded out of the gate withstrong pre-market futures. The indices gapped up, consolidated withinthe first half hour, and then ran sharply higher in the morning. Itspent the next few hours backing and filling and testing lower levelssuccessfully, and then in the last hour came on strongly with a rush,closing near the highs for the day on all the indices.The Dow did back off a little toward the[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Market Bounces On Strong Jobs Preview, Lower Yen

The market is getting a big boost in early trading, although you know I hate to see too much strength early in the session. Too often lately we have seen rallies fade by the end of the day and close near their lows. Let’s hope we buck the trend today.Last night, Fannie Mae (FNM) cut its dividend. Last week, when Freddie (FRE) did that, it took the whole market lower. But today it appears priced in. Also, positive comments out of AIG that its losses are minimal could be bolstering the financial sector.The ADP report[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Think Inside The Box

Ok, found this article on CBC.ca today, there is a company turning cargo containers into housing. Sounds kind of crazy, but when you think about it, it seems like a pretty good idea. There is a serious shortage of housing for workers up north. They can just put these containers on a train, plunk them down (ev[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Simply Smarter Subscriptions, Part 2

Last week, I talked about an upgrade to the HTML newsletter subscription form that allows:Publishers to offer subscriptions to all their publications from a single signup;Users to subscribe in a popup window to keep them on the publisher’s site;Multi-newsletter forms to offer IM and social media subscription options as well as email.With this post, FeedBlitz introduces a much-improved version of the Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

The United States Of Bailouts

Back in May I wrote a column about potential circumstances that could stem the housing market&039;s decline. The bulk of the article dealt with the many and varied ways that the federal government could attempt to keep home prices propped up. My opinion hasn&039;t changed much since then, so to avoid rehashing the entire thing here I recommend that those with hazy memories check out the original piece. (I know I had to -- I can&039;t remember what happened a week ago, let alone seven mon[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Emerson Continues To Hit New Highs

Amid all of this talk about the global slowdown, and Goldman taking down their forecasts for economic growth, someone forgot to tell the execs at Emerson (EMR).Last week, EMR said that October orders rose 10-[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

How I caught out Tesco on a two-for-one sham

I have caught Tesco plugging a sham two-for-one offer. It is always hard to prove supermarket price tricks, but I've spotted one I know is either a fiddle or shows almost 50% inflation on butter.

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

DJ Utilities Average Moves To New All-time High

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.After gapping lower on the open, the broad market recovered into slightly positive territory by mid-day, but the bears sent stocks lower in the afternoon. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.9%, the S&P 500 lost 0.6%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.4%. The small-cap Russell 2000 shed 1.0%, as the S&P Midcap 400 dipped 0.4%. Like the previous day, all the major indices settled near their intraday lows.Although the Nasdaq Composite declined f[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Topsy-turvy New World Of Retirement Planning

After a short walk around the neighborhood earlier today it occurred to me that if retirement planning wasn’t already difficult enough, the roller-coaster ride of the recent housing boom (that is now undergoing a painful bust) is making things even more complicated for some people.[No, the picture to the right is not our neighborhood - that lucky homeowner ha[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Bulls Are Back In Town

Wednesday started strong and finished even stronger on higher volume leaving us with accumulation days on the NYSE and Nasdaq. Crude dropped 72 cents to close at $87.60 a barrel and gold pulled back to close down $3.90 at $803.70 an ounce. The gap and go day was given its boost off the private employment report provided by ADP in the pre market. This report was far better than expected and even though it is often wrong the optimism let the bulls enjoy the day. After hours news on some possible strategies for a resolution in the mortgage subprime concer[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

What Would You Do If You Were A Real Estate Agent?

This just in from Steve Jagger of Ubertor and Reachd: Rodney Bartlett catches up with Vanessa Fox, former product team lead for EZ Ads at Zillow and SEO Goddess, and answers the question, "What would you do if you were a real estate agent?"
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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Maverick Daredevil Real Estate Artists And Such

This just in via email from Mr. McKinney, self-described "Maverick Daredevil Real Estate Artist", about his hero Evel Knievel, who died yesterday at the age of 69.Evel Knievel died today. I am hard pressed to explain the uncontrollable outpouring of emotion I experienced when I learned the news, and watched a tribute to his life on ESPN tonight.Eve[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

5 Important Documents To Keep When You Buy A New Home

If you’re like most people, the last thing you’re thinking about when you take possession of a new home, is selling the home. However, when you take possession of a new home, you’re going to get a lot of documentation from different sources, and you will need most of it when you do eventually sell. When it does come time to sell, it can be quite costly and time consuming to get the necessary documentation together if you’ve lost it. If you’re buying a home from a builder, you may get a binder of information, but some of this stuff will come from your lawyer, and some you may even have to r[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Rollercoaster

Tuesday left a green market across the broader markets on higher volume for the NYSE and Nasdaq. It was nice to see the participation and accumulation day for the broader markets today. However we are still in range on the Nas 100, while the Nas Composite dropped the 200dma for a short while but managed to climb back over. S&P 500 is still over 70.7% fib support and left a big spinning top candle. The Dow dropped just under the 70.7% support, but did close green and with a huge spinning top as well. Spinning tops just mean undecided market but closes pretty mid range for a neut[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: Warren Buffett And Berkshire Hathaway

We analyze the performance of Berkshire Hathaway’s equity portfolio and explore potential explanations for its superior performance. Contrary to popular belief we show Berkshire’s investment style is best characterized as a large-cap growth. We examine whether Berkshire’s investment performance is due to luck and find that beating the market in 28 out of 31 years places it in the 99.99 percentile; however, incorporating the magnitude by which Berkshire beats the market makes the ?luck? explanation unlikely even after taking into account ex-post selection bias. After adjusting for [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

A Match Made In Heaven

In a brilliant move, HGTV has parlayed their well-known brand of home-and-garden based television and moved into online homes sales. In beta stage and not yet cross-linked from their site or promoted on the channel, Front Door has the potential to attract a huge amount of traffic from homebuyers and sellers already familiar with the brand. HGTV benefits from a 24-hour a day "infomercial" from not only HGTV, but the Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

Ultra-luxury Real Estate Market En Fuego In Boston

Banker & Tradesman says the ultra-luxury real estate market is red-hot, these days.A total of 81 condos with price tags of $2 million or more were sold through October, 37 percent higher than the same period in 2006. Sales are even more brisk than the same months in 2005, when the Bay State housing market hit its peak, according to statistics from The Warren Group, parent company of Banker & Tradesman.One of the interesting parts of this what it means about the suburban real estate market, as well.Presumably, those who are buying in Boston had to sel[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Want To Write Better - Read Better

Writing is an essential marketing skill - pretty hard to be very effective without it - whether that’s actually writing the words yourself or being able to recognize a well written sales letter from a freelancer. Most every high school English teacher in the world will give you the same advice: if you want to be a good writer, you have to read a lot. Two of my favorite books on writing, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and On Writing by Stephan King offer this as a key.Just about any reading will improve[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

8 Things You Have To Ask Yourself About Money Today

Take out a pen and paper and write this down:I want to be wealthy so that I can ______________________.To reach my goal, I am willing to sacrifice the following: _____________________.Your thoughts establish the role of money in your life, and I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while. If you feel good about yourself and the efforts you are making, your positive ideas can cultivate more change and more satisfaction. Having money just to have money doesn’t provide much purpose, so it’s important to define why the heck we’re working so hard toward these goals.
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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Today&#8217;s Open: Up

Rally Attempt Fails As Major Averages Undercut Recent LowsPICTURED BELOW: The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the last of the major averages to under cut its Tuesday November 13, 2007 low, which officially ended the latest rally attempt."Stocks Point Toward Higher Open, Rebounding From Steep Loss Ahead of Fed Minutes, Housing Data."Losses were widespread on Monday, with the Gold & Silver Index ($XAU -4.86%) one of the standout laggards. The influential financial group weighed heavily on the major averages (see below[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Advertising

This fits very much with my last post. Borrell Associates expect newspaper advertising revenue to drop more than 6%. This they say will decline by 16% in 2009 and 13% in 2010 as consumers go online for their CONTENT. The...[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Xerox Dividend Is It Really True?

Xerox (XRX) announced the restart of a quarterly dividend after a five year hiatus. Xerox also announced the return of its debt to an investment grade rating. Clearly there is cause for optimism. Lets look at a few things.The stock dropped substantially in the summer and has not really recovered. The dividend is payable at the end of Jan 08 to holders of record as at Dec 31 07. This should block year end tax selling which must look awfully attractive in this kind of market.Since launching its stock buyback program in October 2005, Xerox to date has repurchased about 129[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Fraud: How I was fleeced on my bank card

Somebody is clearing out the account of the Daily Mail's Deputy Personal Editor. She explains how it happened

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

Skating On Thin Ice

Monday, wasnt a good start on the week for the bulls. A very weak and red close across the broader markets left the Nasdaq Composite just over the 200dma, the S&P 500 and Dow both just under the prior swing low. The volume was very split with the NYSE was slightly higher, but the Nasdaq was slightly lower Crude rallied up 93 cents to $94.77 a barrel. After the bell Hewlett-Packard announced good earnings and rallied in the afterhours session. The news after the bell was very upbeat and has left futures moving higher in the globex session. Co[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Edmonton Real Estate, As Seen By The Media

Some quotes from newspapers across the country over the past few days: Alberta is still a promised land and the positives greatly outweigh any short-term downside. Interest rates aren’t going up. The mega-project backlog is still enormous. The provincial government currently lists 52 planned energy projects on their website, with an average completion price of over $3 billion each. There are nine upgrader projects in Strathcona and Sturgeon counties alone that will require 5,000 to 6,000 people each just to build. Our city’s population has grown by 9.6% between 2001 and 2006[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Now That&#8217;s Volatility

Today looked like it was going to be a real bummer, as the market gave up all of its early gains and went on to new correction lows. But low and behold, the market then staged a late rally to come all the way back to positive territory.The Dow, if you look at how much it was up, then down, then up again, logged over 400 points of travel today. That’s volatility. Volume spiked also. But with the markets finishing in positive territory, we could be seeing the making of a short-term bottom.Here are some interesting stats:There were 614 new lows [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Tom Brokaw And Your Future

’There will never not be a need for professional people to take complicated information, put it into a form that viewers and readers will need to know and want to understand,’ he said.[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Protectionist Rhetoric Will Accelerate The Dollar&#8217;s Slide

Pat Buchanan’s recent attempt to diagnose the sinking dollar demonstrates that ignorance of basic economics is not limited to the Left.Buchanan points out the plummeting value of the dollar relative to other currencies and major commodities such as gold (up 24% this year) and oil (up over 50% in 12 months). He then declares that "the prime suspect in the death of the dollar is the massive trade deficits America has run up" to "maintain her standard of living and to sustain the Ameri[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Positvity In The Oc

This from Lansner who writes on Orange County property. He quotes Steve Thomas at Re/Max Real Estate Services in Aliso Viejo that: homes placed into escrow within the past month has increased by 182 homes in six weeks to 1,295...[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Chase Will No Longer Increase Rates Based On Credit-bureau Information

Chase today made a major announcement regarding the credit card interest rates of its customers. Chase, as of March 1, 2008, will no longer increase the rates of cardmembers based on their credit-bureau information. Consumer advocates have long decried the controversial industry practice commonly known as universal default, under which a customers rate could be automatically raised based on a single late payment to another [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Will The 200-day Ma Save The Nasdaq Again?

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.The main stock market indexes kicked off the holiday-shortened week on a negative note, as stocks fell sharply across the board. After gapping lower on the open, the broad market sank steadily through mid-day. With two hours remaining, buyers attempted to reverse the downward slide, but the bears resumed control in the final hour of trading. The S&P 500 fell 1.8%, while both the Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.7%. Small caps felt the most pain, as the Russell 2[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

No Follow-thru From Yesterday&#8217;s Rally

My colleague Doug Kass is fond of saying "this market has no memory from day-to-day". That is certainly the case today. I would have thought there would be some follow-thru from yesterday’s late rally, but such is not the case.Asian markets plunged overnight on concerns about growth in the U.S., their largest export market. Also, there seems to be a big "risk aversion" trade on, as investors embark on a flight-to-safety of U.S. Treasurys, pushing the 10-year yield down to a new low of 4.00%. Silly Fed.The risk aversion trade is also[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Commercial Loans Tip: Prove That The Business Is Profitable

Todays Commercial Loans Tip: Prove That The Business Is Profitable To Get The Loan - When you buy an existing business, you need to prove that the business is profitable. Provide the bank with research on revenues and expenses of comparable businesses in your industry. Some industries will require extra research, especially home-based businesses. You will have to prove your profitability if you want the loan.Todays Opportunities Prequalified For Business Acquisition Loans:
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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Paul Krugman Explains The Dollar To Us

"WARNING," he warns us self-aggrandizingly, "FAIRLY WONKISH." Actually, it’s just fairly foolish. So the dollar has been declining against most foreign currencies. Krugman wonders whether it is "recessionary" -- and then gives the game away when he proceeds to ask, "OK, so how do we make this story more pessimistic?" Turns out he really can’t do it, which is surely a first for him.He’s discards the idea that the falling dollar is inflationary, saying "The big dollar fall from 1985 to 1988 wasn?t notably inf[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

We Are Below The 200 Day M.A. On The SPX&OEX

Use this "tool" to decide whether to be long, short/hedged or out of the market.* SPX (S&P 500) trading at 1433.27, below the 200DMA of 1484.06* OEX (S&P 100) trading at 669.17, below the 200 DMA of 685.99* NDX (Nasdaq 100) trading at 2021.14, above the 200 DMA of 1941.66.....note: SPY trading at $143.76, below it’s 200 DMA of 147.93.A loud warn[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Post Office sails towards titanic disaster

Save our post offices:A recent visit to an unspoilt rural retreat in Cheshire laid bare the depth of the catastrophe facing the post office network

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

Asking Permission Vs. Begging Forgiveness

[This was a recently published guest column on GigaOm] Despite all of the issues plaguing the music industry these days,there is plenty of innovation in digital music to be found from a rangeof startups out there. Many of these startups require content from thelabels, yet choose to plow ahead with their product marketing withoutgetting licenses. This irks the labels, of course, but its of theirown doing it is generally much easier to beg forgiveness than askpermission.<[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Small-Cap Russell 2000 Tests Its August Low

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.A plethora of market-moving news and rumors fueled whipsaw action that saw the major indices break out above their previous day’s highs, sell-off below their prior day’s lows, then recover to close near the middle of their intraday ranges. When the dust finally settled, most of the main stock market indexes had closed modestly higher. The Nasdaq Composite, up 1.5% at its intraday peak, and down by the same percentage at its intraday trough, finished nearly in parity. The tech-heavy index[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The property crash-ometer that has lenders worried

I was more than a little surprised this week to receive an email from the body that represents nearly every British mortgage lender telling us we should take down our house price crash calculator

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

Another Look

at the Nasdaq market leaders; Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Baidu.com Inc. (Nasdaq:BIDU), Google Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:GOOG) and Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM). These stocks have slowed their descents but the evidence of a turn higher still isn’t there yet. This video takes a look at the potential risks and rewards in the stocks at current levels.Maybe the Hewlett-Packard Company (Public, NYSE:HPQ) earnings will help turn these stocks around? HPQ is trading up a dollar in after hours right now and the futures are up about .50% as well.