Business-as-usual At Wamu

This just received from a loan officer at Washington Mutual:Dear Clients and Colleagues, The acquisition of WaMu by JPMorgan/Chase strengthens our commercial real estate lending program and provides stability in an environment of change. Please be assured that we will fund our loans as expected, and we look forward to taking new applications from you.As JPMorgan/Chase, we offer real estate loans for stabilized office, retail, industrial, and apartment buildings as WaMu has always done. In addition, you can expect a significant expansion of our product l[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Into The Stretch: Investors Await News On Plan Passage

The market opened under heavy selling pressure this morning, on the heels of RIMM’s earnings announcement and the news that the FDIC took over Wamu (WM) and sold off its assets to JPMorgan (JPM).But the declines just after the open have pretty much marked the lows for the day. The Nasdaq has been down the most, while the Dow has made back all of its early -150 point decline. Given that the market breathed such a big sigh of relief yesterday on the news that the passage of the bill was close at hand, when I heard that t[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Thoughts On The Bailout

A reader asks: "Curious what your thoughts on the bailout are. Is it necessary and what do you think of its presented form?"I definitely think something is necessary. The biggest problem I have with the plan is not the concept itself, but rather how Paulson and Bernanke have sold it to Congress and the public. The conventional wisdom on Main Street and in Congress is that we are simply writing a $700 billion check to bailout Wall Street and the rich executives who helped get us into this mess in the first place, at the taxpayers’ expense. I am puzzled as to why nobody [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Tenth Avenue Burn Out

I’ve been listening to Bruce Springsteen since he looked like that and while in all those years (more than 30) I have never burned out on his music it has only taken a couple of days for me to burn out on all the bailout coverage and analysis.The importance and many questions notwithstanding it is wearying. OK, rant over.One little[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Surveying The Landscape

A few things today.There is a new frontier market CEF from Morgan Stanley that has ticker FFD. Here is a little bit of info, here is a little more but fo[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Bailout & Announcement

Bailout:The little boy who cried wolf - at least in the eyes of the public - stood in front of a telepromter the other night and told us of dire circumstances and implications of not passing the bill being pimped by Paulson and Bernanke in Congress. The scary thing is that I believe him. I have to believe him because of my personal experience. You remember me writing about "this mess" many times over the years on the blog and in published commentary, even in a seemingly fine bull market? The market was fueled by the inflation policy of the last contraction. Therefore it was il[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

August 2008: The Tardiest Data Rodeo Ever

Watching Paulson and Bernanke flail around has been a bit time consuming this month. While it’s still September, let’s get to the rodeo.I’ll start with the Case-Shiller HPI model based on the size-adjusted median:read more
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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Students Following Paycheck, Not Hearts

Its a sad comment on the cost of higher education when many students would rather pay off their student loan debt than follow their dreams. But according to a recent study by Experience, Inc., a career services company, fully half of students polled said they would choose a high-paying job that helps them pay off their debt rather than a job that offers greater career satisfaction. This rather depressin[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

It?s Not A Bailout -- It?s A Government Investment They Say

Ive been hesitant to offer my opinion about the proposed $700B bailout package since the news pertaining to that plan is ongoing and constantly changing. But now that rumors are flying and Ive had clients call in to blame this on Bush and to complain that it dumps a massive debt directly on the heads of taxpayers, I feel the need to spell out some truth as I understand it and perhaps some more realistic scenarios. Regardless of what portion of this proposed legislation passes, I dont think were heading into the next Great Depression. The biggest problems with this market t[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Market Tremors Series - Holdings

HoldingsThis is 5 in the Market Tremors series.In prior postings, I stated that few retail investors ask and answer the right questions before portfolio construction, with the result that they panic during both bear and bull markets. This panic, whether due to significant market decline or portfolio lag, is the cause of most market[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Will East Coast Flood West Coast In Search Of Jobs?

This financial crisis is fascinating to watch especially if you have no skin in the game. Last week I wrote about some of the implications: Silicon Valley and Wall Street: We’re Not Immune - Here’s WhyI wrote about the fall in enterprise software and hardware sales as the financial services sectors combine operations; and the potentiall fall in investment capital in startups; and the problems with selling companies as the investment banking sector collapses.There is also another aspec[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Intel Experiment Could Save Millions In Data Center Power Costs

An Intel experiment in cooling data centers has discovered that cooling servers with plain outside air is almost as effective as air conditioners. There was only a tiny increase in server failure. [Intel is a sponsor of SVW]This could save data centers millions of dollars in power costs and allow expansion. Currently, many data centers have limited expansion options because they are limited by how much electric power they have available.Here are the details from ZDNet: . . . The experiment was[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Market Bounces Amid Optimism Plan Gets Done

The odds of the big Plan getting done rose yesterday (on Intrade.com), and are higher again this morning. The market seems to be breathing a sigh of releif, although you know I am always nervous of a market that opens higher. Let’s hope this rally holds into the close. The Dow is up +200 points as I write.The market is higher despite some weak economic news. August new homes sales were down -11.5%, substantially below the -1.0% consensus expectations. Durable goods were also weak, falling -4.5% in August (vs. -1.9% consensus). Bill Gross said that the unemplo[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Tenant From Hell

How can anyone live like this?[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Money saving expert falls foul of fine

Look what I found out about so-called Money saving expert Martin Lewis on Companies House the other day (I clearly have way too much time on my hands)

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

The Value Of A Personal Referral

When Sheldon and I recently arrived in France, we found our way through the multiple terminals and shuttles at the CDG Paris airport with little difficulty. When we got to the train station though we were a bit c[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Debate. What’s Wrong With It?

Chalk me up as simple-minded. But I don’t feel the world will collapse if we don’t give Hank Paulson a blank check for $700 billion this week, or God Forbid, spend a few moments thinking about alternate solutions and nasty unintended consequences, or putting some lipstick and makeup on this pig. I remember only too vividly how this same president used the same urgency/disaster scenario to sell us on invading Iraq. Remember he told us that the Iraqis had nukes and chemicals. And they didn’t. Now he’s telling us ’our entire economy is in danger.’ It’s not. We’v[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Chart Of The Day: Fear Still Elevated

The market closed roughly flat today, with the S&P 500 a bit lower, but the Nasdaq a bit higher. Volume was once again pathetically low. NYSE volume was the lowest its been since the Friday before Labor Day weekend.There was continued angst today in the credit markets. Most people don’t follow these indicators, but if you look at things like the LIBOR swap rates or the TED spread, both were high and rising today, a sign that global credit markets are still extremely tight.As for the equity market, I want to take a look at the [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Waiting For The Details. . .

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.After days and days of 3% to 5% swings in the major indices, price action moderated to its tightest levels in weeks. Stocks traded in a narrow, sideways range throughout the day and finished with mixed results, as investors awaited details of the government’s financial bailout package. The Nasdaq Composite ticked 0.1% higher, the S&P 500 dipped 0.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%. Showing the most relative strength was the large-cap Nasdaq 100 Index, which rallied 0.[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Should Agents Be Taxed To Compensate For Real Estate Losses In The Market?

A discussion at the Seattle P.I. on whether or not the government should restructure sub-prime loans morphed into a conversation as to whether real estate agents and others "responsible" for the monetary crisis should be taxed to compensate those who’ve lost money in buying or selling a home. One reader proposes a $500 federal excise tax on all real estate transactions until the debts are settled. Hilarity ensues.[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Four Years Later Gmail Still In Beta . . .

Isn’t it time Google dropped the "beta" on GMail and took full responsibility for the email service?Why is it still hiding behind the "beta" label?Does this mean the service will continue to be buggy and poor--some of the time? And that "beta" means we can’t complain?We complain when Apple’s .Mac online service is buggy. But is that because it is a paid service and it is not in "beta?"GOOG chose to finance GMail via advertisements, Apple chose subscriptions. Choice of business model shouldn’t mean GOOG can shirk its responsibility to offer a solid service.
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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Is The Commodity Correction Nearly Finished?

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.As the U.S. Congress postured over the eventual terms of the Fed’s financial bailout package yesterday, stocks hinged on every word, bobbing and weaving their way throughout the session. After drifting lower at mid-day, the major indices briefly recovered into positive territory later in the afternoon, but selling pressure in the final thirty minutes of trading shoved stocks back into the red. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.5%, and the S&P 500 1.6[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Dupont Succession Issues

DuPont (DD) announced that its board of directors has elected Ellen J. Kullman, 52, president and a director of the company effective Oct. 1 and chief executive officer effective Jan. 1, 2009. Charles O. Holliday, Jr., 60, chairman and CEO, will serve as chairman of DuPont and as a member of the board until Kullman’s expected succession as chairman.The press release went on to highlight Ellen Kullmans recent accomplishments with DuPont. They are clearly impressive. Here is the problem. Its not with the people its with the process.’Kullmans expected succession as[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Today’s Outlook: Up

NASDAQ Technical Picture - Low Volume Retracement U.S. stock futures pointed to a firmer start on Wednesday as billionaire investor Warren Buffett injected a shot of confidence into the financial sector by announcing he’s going to buy at least $5 billion worth of G[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

3 Parts To The Factoring Deal

A basic factoring transaction has 3 parts. First is the ’advance,’ this is the percentage of dollar amount that is funded initially. It is the percentage of the total value of the invoice. For example, if the invoice submitted is $10,000 and the advance rate is 80% then the advance will be the $8,000. Next is the ’reserve.’ This is held back until the customer pays the invoice - directly to the factoring company. Once the payment is made then the reserve is released. Factoring companies handle the reserve differently, so be sure to understand what the offer specifies. Some companies hold [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

More San Diego Job Losses

This month’s employment estimates show a deterioration in the retail sector but a slight improvement in the construction sector. Other than that the region’s job growth, or lack thereof, has been on a path similar to recent months. So I will simply note that overall employment fell by 5,700 jobs or .4 percent from last year and then move on to the graphs.The first graph is the usual one displaying the number of jobs gained or lost by the housing beneficiary sectors
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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Credit Default Swaps Back In The News

Back in early 2007 I wrote about the risks in the market for credit default swaps, a type of financial instrument that basically serves as insurance against bond default. The crux of the article was that some of the insurers in question might not be able to pay when the time came, and that would be trouble.Almost exactly a year later, in January of this year, I wrote that the Fed’s bailout of investment bank Bear Stearns may have been intended to prevent exactly that type [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Odd Coincidence? Broke Homeonwers Going Into Foreclosure

Odd coincidence or the source of the problem?Traditionally, the government and most lenders consider home owners spending 30 percent or more of their income on housing costs to be financially burdened. That definition now covers nearly 38 percent of American home owners with a mortgage 19 million of them.Here are the top 13 areas where the most mortgage holders spend more than 30 percent of their income on their homes. The information is an estimate based on an analysis of Census data by Harvard Universitys Joint Center for Housing Studies. 1. Mia[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Guest Comentary: Ramsey On The Search For The Illusive Bottom

Longtime piggs will recognize the name of one Ramsey Su, a former REO broker who enjoys lengthy excursions into the data rathole. Ramsey has kindly agreed to let me post his latest analysis here (this includes the original piece followed by a clarification/update).If you like this one, click here for Ramsey’s previous postings. Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

Financials Surge On The News

A massive government rescue plan and a temporary ban on short selling has boosted the Financials Sector SPDR by nearly 12% (Chart 1) on Friday. It’s the day’s strongest sector on a day when all sectors are in the black. Brokers (not shown) are up 12% and banks nearly a similar amount. Chart 2 shows the PHLX Bank Index trading over its 200-day moving average for the first time in more than a year. If the financials can hold most of those gains through this week, it will be a big positive [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

How To Handle The Quicksand Of Trading

In the past few weeks, have you felt like you were in quicksand? By the markets volatility causing a lot of uncertainly and P&L swings, does it feel like the harder you try, the worse things get? Do you feel overwhelmed? Well, you are not alone. These are very hard times in the markets. One of the hardest things to deal with is uncertainly. You hear a lot about risk management which has different aspects. The normal ones are market, credit and operational risk. One of the most important risks that people seldom talk about and it is much more evident [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

On The Lookout For New ETF Setups. . .

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.The major indices wrapped up an extremely wild, volatile week with a second straight session of enormous gains. However, fully all of the advance was the result of another news-driven opening gap that disallowed for low-risk intraday buying opportunities. Stocks’ opening prices marked their best levels of the day, as the main stock market indexes subsequently oscillated in a sideways to slightly lower range throughout the entire session. The S&P 500 zoomed 4.0%, the Nasdaq Composi[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Morgan Stanley Becomes A Bank, Gets Overseas Investment

Thanks to the Fed’s actions last week, Morgan Stanley (MS) has averted an emergency sale to Wachovia (WB), received permission to become a bank holding company, and has sold a minority stake to Japan’s Mitsubishi. The company is going to try to remain independent, for now anyway.With the competitive landscape having changed in recent days, namely fewer competitors in the investment banking marketplace, the stronger players who can whether this liquidity storm will clearly be in a great position to take market share in this volatile environment.It will be interesting to [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Ruling Out Speculation In The Oil Market

Well, not quite... Some of you may be wondering this morning why, if oil posted its largest gain ever yesterday and closed at $120/barrel sending the markets into a tailspin, crude is quoted at $107.60, down $1.81/barrel. Yesterday’s price action was the most cut and dry example of speculation in the commodities markets we have seen to date. Contracts for October delivery expired yesterday, meaning anyone who was short those contracts would either have to cover their short or deliver the oil. A $25 spike was the result of hasty short covering before the market closed[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Market Woes Continue, Consolation Possible

Wall Street was shaken to its foundations in the most harrowing and volatile week in modern history, as a widening crisis of confidence led to the demise of the 158-year-old Lehman Brothers, a government takeover of American International Group , a shotgun marriage of Merrill Lynch with Bank of America , and the merging of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley into banks.But there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Watch closely how Wall Street insiders console each other.Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

Buffett’s Partner Charlie Munger In 2005: Derivatives Blowup In Next 5-10 Years

Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 classid="http://feeds.feedburner.com:80/clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135C[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

My money advice to TV viewers

I've been treating TV viewers to the same level of advice normally reserved for This is Money's army of 1.2m readers. Here's what I said Watch the video

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

Huey - Panic (in A Good Way)

Okay, off the grand macro horse and back to what I enjoy more; charting, trading and investing in what IS. And what IS is that people are chasing the gold stocks higher in a panic to protect themselves [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Christopher Hohn Rethinks Activism

Christopher Hohn is beside himself. Its a dreary rain-swept morning in early September, and Hohn, looking more like a graduate student, with his rimless glasses and rumpled shirt, than the most feared shareholder activist in Europe, strides briskly across a conference room in his hedge funds stark, glass-partitioned, modern headquarters in Mayfair, London, and drops down into a black leather chair. The intensely private, 41-year-old founder of the Childrens Investment Fund Management (UK) has just made a rare public announcement and still wears the pained expression of the reluc[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

GOOG Founders Could Buy All Us Newspapers And Still Have $12bn

Valleywag reports that entire US newspaper business is valued at $20 billion. Sergey Brin and Larry Page are worth about $16 billion each.Foremski’s Take: US newspapers didn’t realize GOOG is a media company until it was too late. Google was able to scrape its content virtually for free, from newspapers and other web sites, and sell advertising around that content. Newspapers spend huge amounts of money to create their content.Newspapers, and other media companies, [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Public Notice: Rental Scam

We received this notice from the REALTORS Association of Edmonton while we were away. I know most of our readers would never fall for something like this but Renters should be aware:Rental property scamThe bad guys have figured out another way to profit from a tight rental market. Apparently they are copying information about homes for sale from mls.ca and reposting it on Internet property rental websites. Potential renters can drive by the property to verify that it e[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Early Look: Financials Lead Market Bounce

I think yesterday’s selloff was part options expiration, part the drop in the dollar, and part concern over whether the bailout plan will be quickly passed, and if any of the details will change. Last week’s market lows were pretty climactic, and I think that they will mark the lows for this year.The market is bouncing in early trading, while most eyes are watching the Senate Banking Committee hearing where key officials are giving their testimony on the proposed plan. The media is calling this a Wall St. bailout plan, but I think that is putting a negative conno[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

High Water Mark & Hedge Fund Bonuses

The hedge fund format is a great business model. You collect a 1-2% fee on the money under management ostensibly to pay for office expenses. Although when you’re running a billion dollars or more.....you can do the math. Then you collect 20% of the profits generated each year, your so-called performance fee or carried interest (in venture and private equity parlance). Most funds require that partners keep the bulk of their net worth in the fund at start-up (although, like anything else, exception[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Thank You Sir, May I Have Another*

Yes, that worked well. Just one example - Capital One Financial (COF), added to the "banned short sale list" today. Not only did that action help stabilize COF, but it provided breathing room for a rally. Or not.Dow, -372.75 (-3.27%)Nasdaq, -94.92 (-4.17%)S&P 500, -47.99 (-3.82%)I don’t want to pontifi[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Rally Attempt Not Dead Yet

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.It was not surprising that stocks retraced some of their huge gains of the preceding two days, but the extent of yesterday’s sharp pullback was undoubtedly more than the bulls wanted to see. After opening near the flat line, the major indices trended steadily lower throughout the entire session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 3.3%, the S&P 500 3.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite 4.2%. Small and mid-cap stocks, which showed the most relative strength during the recent rally, sold of[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

"the Mother Of All Bailouts"

Nope. Housing prices make a whole lot of sense; completely justified. Yup. No housing bubble here.WASHINGTON (AP) The Bush administration insisted Sunday that Congress must move quickly to approve what one lawma[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Web-Using Homeshoppers Make Quicker Decisions

The California Association of Realtors annual technology survey shows that buyers rely increasingly on the Web when shopping for a home and take less time to decide on a purchase. Among the findings: 78% of buyers used the Internet to search for a home and find an agent this year, vs. 72% in 2007. The association reported in 2005 that only around 60% of home shoppers used [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Wall Street Now Services Main Street

Day traders might appreciate high market volatility, but lending banks like the once proud Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, who rely on successful short term funding to keep their banks solvent, do not. With the former heading into bankruptcy, and the latter being purchased by Bank of America, it became evident over the weekend that the Wall Street model could not sustain itself.And so it is, as reported in the WSJ, that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, two Wall Street financial heavyweights, have anno[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

I Love Craigslist

I am RICH and I want to spend it on YOU tonight. [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Another Huge Bailout Or Two

I spoke too soon yesterday. After Treasury Secretary Paulson apparently refused to bail out AIG, the Federal Reserve stepped in and cut the mortgage giant a check for $85 billion in exchange for 80 percent of AIG shares. That $85 billion of taxpayer money is just a loan, we are told, but I don’t quite understand the distinction between and loan and a handout when the whole trigger for this loan was that AIG is unable to pay back its other loans. Once again, this is b[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

A New Trading Range For Crude Oil

Looking at the oil charts it appears a new range is developing for NYMEX WTI Crude Oil. There appears to be good support at $85per Bbl with over head resistance at $110per Bbl. With this new support/resistance there is a high probability that crude has established a new trading range from $85per Bbl to $110per Bbl. Based on this and being at the low end of a new range I am looking for a rally on energy related stocks, especially oil service and drillers. All the energy stocks have been hard hit over the past week and I believe allot of this selling came [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Post Modern? Bank Run

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.Franklin D. Roosevelt 1932My partner jokes that he has never seen me and Paul Krugman in the same place at the same time - so maybe we’re the same guy. I’m not sure how I came to have so much common ground with the "liberal" economist, but our views of the unfolding of this crisis have been similar for some time. The Princeton econo[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Can The Early Bounce Stick?

The market is bouncing at the open, but these days its how the market closes that matters. Late day selloffs have been brutal. Yesterday, the market looked like it was coming back around midday, but by the close that rally was just a mirage.The S&P 500 is +2.04% right now, after news that the Fed had indeed coordinated a global liquidity injection. The Fed, the ECB, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, and the Swiss Natl. Bank together injected $180 billion into money markets to keep fearful banks from hoarding cash.If you don’t think there was an[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Fed Decides To Leave Rates Unchanged At 2.00%

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 2%.Here are some of their comments:Strains in financial markets have increased significantly and labor markets have weakened further. Economic growth appears to have slowed recently, partly reflecting a softening of household spending. Tight credit conditions, the ongoing housing contraction, and some slowing in export growth are likely to weigh on economic growth over the next few quarters. Over time, the substantial eas[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Ginormous Stimulus = Ginormous Rally

The Fed, ECB, Bank of England, Swiss National Bank and BoJ plan to pump $180 billion into the world financial system. That on top of the more than $230 billion pumped into various markets by central banks so far this week (not to mention the massive bailout fund apparently being worked on by Congress, the Fed and the Treasury department). Amazingly (tongue firmly implante[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Wednesday Outlook: Down

The Fed did nothing on interest rates yesterday and their statement was unrevealing and perhaps was meant to demonstrate that theyre cool. However, they caught bears flat-footed with a subsequent report/rumor of an AIG bridge loan "to nowhere" [see late-breaking news below]. The Fed has also injected $140 billion in the past 24 hours. I dont know if that includes $87 billion to JPMorgan who are being reimbursed for an advance to Le[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Power Of Linkedin And The Speed Of Trust

Recently, my team identified 189 high-traffic web sites that we want to approach in the coming months with a very innovative partnership opportunity. We think we can increase their web site traffic and that our proposal makes a lot of sense.But cold calling 189 these companies would likely be frustrating. Who would we ask for? How many calls would it take to find the right person, or to find a helpful person who could direct us to the right person? And then, even if we found the right person to talk to, how interested could they possibly be in a startup company from Utah, [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Market Tremors Series - Rationale

RationaleThis is 3 in the Market Tremors series.I previously stated that few retail investors ask and answer the right questions before portfolio construction, with the result that they panic during both bear and bull markets. This panic, whether due to significant market decline or portfolio lag, is the cause of mo[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Woman Sues City After It Orders Her To Remove A Link To The Local Cops? Website

A woman in Sheboygan, WI is suing the city because the city’s attorney used legal threats to get her to remove a link to the local police department website &8212; the city apparently believes you need permission to communicate the URLs of its pages: The city went further, the lawsuit claims, launching a criminal investigation of Reisinger for linking to the department on one of her sites. Many agents offer community links for home shoppers, including links to their local police departments, city offices and neighborhood resources. Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

It’s Bailout Week!

Earlier in the week I jokingly suggested that the federal government was limiting itself to one financial industry bailout per day. Well, that was sure wrong.Let’s review the week so far:The Fed announced it will lend even more to financial institutions (many of them not under the Fed’s regulatory authority) in exchange for even more dubious collateral than before. This allows everyone to continue to pretend that the collateral, such as some subp[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

How Far To A Housing Bottom?

Twohistorical guides offer clues. First, theres ultimately always arelationship between incomes and home pricesthe latter can only riseso far above income-based affordability before an inevitable adjustmentprocess kicks in. Unlike Internet stocks, most houses are usefulpeoplewith incomes buy them to live in. So over the long haul, homes must bepriced at levels buyers can afford. Julys median house price was$204,000. Assuming a 6.4% mortgage rate, that works out to an initialafter-tax monthly payment of $795, or 20.7% of after-tax income, whichhistorically is [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The U.s. Mortgage Company

Wow, it has already been a historic morning. The Fed, Treasury, and the SEC have all announced major steps aimed at bolstering confidence in the financial system and easing the credit crisis.Yesterday, there was significant concern about money market funds, heretofore thought to be among the safest investments out there. This morning, the Treasury is bringing back an arcane fund which will provide up to $50 billion to guarantee money market funds. Here is a link to the story: http://biz.yaho[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Whither Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac

A week or so ago in news that no one could have missed, the Federal Government took over these two Government Sponsored Entities. The ramifications are not quite clear. It&39;s about the same as if the Government took over Ford and Chrysler and GM. That&39;s actually not all that far-fetched as I see where a Congressman has introduced a bill to provide $25 billion of aid in automobile industry in the Rust Belt. Who is next?What the ramifications are that for a while it will be business as usual. Rates took a drop, as I noted recently, probably largely due to the world r[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Rough Open

Yesterday’s glimmer of hope for the bulls will be erased on the open today as the market will open nearly 2% lower. We remain in a very high risk daytrading environment.Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Paulson Pump

’Stocks Surge on Entity for Bad Debt’. Here it is for all to see; America’s financial system bared naked. It comes down to this genius talking about creating another government entity to act as the national toxic waste dump and the dopey bulls celebrate. Optimism reigns supreme. More likely the pig would have bottomed on its own amid the palpable fear[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Dare We Say. . .Capitulation?

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.With the major indices down approximately 2% just a few minutes after yesterday’s open, investors might have expected a repeat performance of Monday’s plunge, but yesterday’s action played out much better. The main stock market indexes reversed their morning losses, rising to unchanged levels just before mid-day. At 2:15 pm ET, the Fed stated in their announcement on economic policy that interest rates would remain unchanged, initially causing stocks to fall back to nearly test their mo[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Week That Was

Stunning is a word that sums up this week’s action. It fits because it can be used in proper context for all parties involved in the capital markets, regardless of whether they held short or long positions. The behavior of stocks? Stunning. The behavior of Treasuries? Stunning. The behavior of commodities? Stunning. The behavior of currencies? Stunning. The behavior of the government? Stunning.Recounting all that transpired with sufficient detail would make this wrap a rival to War and Peace in length. Accordingly, we’ll spare you the nitty-gritty and will fo[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Krazee Market

If you ever watched Curb Your Enthusiasm you probably know the guy on the right and his tag line question which is exactly what I was thinking as I watched the US stock market skyrocket in the last hour or so of its Tuesday session.Yesterday I called for a sn[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Who Bails Out The Fed?

I woke up this morning, and the sunrise came up a deep shade of red.In their latest bid to save the market from certain ruin, the Federal Reserve has committed $85 billion dollars over a 2-year period to bail out the crumbling insurance titan, American International Group (AIG). In return for this tax-payer chump change, the U.S. government will own 79.9 percent of the company.Thankfully, Treasury Secretary Paulson put his foot down on bank bailouts; hopefully putting an end to the notion that banks will be pulled[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Best Features Of Newer Homes

[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Who Will Be Next?

I was swamped again all day, which accounts for the lack of blog posts. I really thought today would be better after the AIG bailout news last night. But today they went after Morgan Stanley (MS), and that seemed to unravel any inkling of positive sentiment.The raids on these stocks that have driven large financial institutions to the brink of insolvency on little fundamental news is amazing. I don’t know how to remedy the situation, but someone should come up with something regarding these credit derivative swaps.Panic selling is ta[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Reserve Primary Money Fund Falls Below $1 A Share

Good morning. Reserve Primary Fund became the first money-market fund in 14 years to expose investors to losses after writing off $785 million of debt issued by bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The fund, whose assets plunged more than 60 percent to $23 billion in the past two days, said the Lehman losses forced the net value of its assets below $1 a share, known as breaking the buck. Reserve Primary, the oldest money fund in the nation, fell to 97 cents a sh[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

A Long-term Look At The S&P 500

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.Unless you’ve been living in a cave since yesterday afternoon, you don’t need me to tell you the stock market absolutely got slammed yesterday! After the failure of America’s oldest investment brokerage firm caused the major indices to open several percent lower, bulls quickly took advantage of the perceived buying opportunity, enabling stocks to recover much of their opening losses. But despite the valiant reversal attempt, the bears resumed control in the afternoon, sending the main s[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Financials Lower Despite Lehman’s Attempts To Shore Up Its Balance Sheet

The market is getting a small bounce in early trading, but the gains look paltry compared to yesterday’s selloff. The financials are one of the few groups that are lower this morning, despite some announcement’s by Lehman Bros. (LEH) that it is taking bold steps to strengthen its balance sheet. (LEH was down an eye-popping -45% yesterday)The brokerage firm posted a $3.9 billion loss for the third quarter, and announced several initiatives: its cutting the dividend to $0.05 from $0.68; it plans to sell a 55% stake in its investment management business (maybe $3 b[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Afternoon Rally Pops Indices To Session Highs At The Close After Big Opening Gap Lower

Afternoon Rally Pops Indices To Session Highs At The Close After Big Opening Gap Lower By Harry Boxer, The Technical Trader (www.thetechtrader.com)The markets had an interesting but generally bullish session. However, the underlying technicals were very mixed, with advance-declines showing negative tendencies.The day started out with a gap down and a big one based on negative futures. But the lows for the day were reached very quickly, and the market turned around sharply and steadily. The Nasdaq 100 had a [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Citi Says Fitty (five)

In my post yesterday on greenfaucet I touched on a WSJ article and CNBC segment about Citigroup’s recent suggestion that its clients go to 55% foreign in their equity portfolios.My add on to the greenfaucet post would be about evolution which is a popular word in my posts. You either agree the investment world is evolving or you don’t but if you do then it only stands to reason that the rest of the world (well most of it) is developing and moving ahead at a faster rate than the US. It will be those countries that p[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Happy Real Estate

Tired of gloom and doom stories about the US real estate market? We are, too. Check outHappy Real Estate News via Curbed.Does your home make you happy? Alain de Botton can tell you why with his book The Architecture of Happiness. This book about architecture and design of y[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Like A Needle In A Haystack?

Get this.... A guy in England wanted to build a "castle" to live in. He was unable to get the necessary building permits. He found a loophole in British planning law that if a building has been up for 4 years with no objection the building becomes legal.So he put up a 40-foot pile of straw, covered with tarps and went ahead and built his castle behind the straw. His neighbours and the government were none the wiser. He then lived in the home for four years with his family, behind the enormous pile of straw (they moved in on his son’s first birthday who spent the next four years w[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Playing Around With Google Forms

The other day I noticed an new feature on Google Docs. When I tried to created a new document, it gave me the option of creating a Form.I was curious, so I started playing around with it and realized that Google Form is a simple, powerful, and free way to create online surveys which can be emailed to anyone or embedded in a blog or website. All the responses are captured in a Google spreadsheet, and charting features make it easy to see the results.I’m writing a magazine article about business, social networking, and Twitter, and decided to post a Google Form survey o[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Surveying The Landscape

A few things today.There is a new frontier market CEF from Morgan Stanley that has ticker FFD. Here is a little bit of info, here is a little more but fo[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Nightmare on Fleet Street

In a week when we were warned the UK is heading into 'an economic horror movie', I would argue that we should calm down and enjoy the sunshine

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

How buy-to let property could stage a comeback

General wisdom at the moment says now is a bad time to buy property and an awful time to get into buy-to-let, but some properties are starting to look good value

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

Guest Comentary: Ramsey On The Search For The Illusive Bottom

Longtime piggs will recognize the name of one Ramsey Su, a former REO broker who enjoys lengthy excursions into the data rathole. Ramsey has kindly agreed to let me post his latest analysis here (this includes the original piece followed by a clarification/update).If you like this one, click here for Ramsey’s previous postings. Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

Is Worst Over For Financials?

Some are calling to buy the financials now. I’m not so quick to think so. With the Lehman situation still unfolding, and possible more problems coming for the financials, the short sale is still not over yet in my opinion. I’m currently selling short on JP Morgan. See my "JP Morgan: Why I’m Selling Short" article on Seeking Alpha. I see a bottoming[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

House prices: Four reasons to be optimistic

My crude 'house price predictor' issued a warning in June 2007. Now it's turned positive

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

Unconvincing Bounce

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.Stocks recovered a bit of their previous day’s losses yesterday, but lighter turnover and choppy price action suggested participation by the "smart money" was absent. The Nasdaq Composite bounced 0.9%, the S&P 500 0.6%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.3%. Small and mid-caps advanced the most, but also fell the hardest on Tuesday. The small-cap Russell 2000 and S&P Midacp 400 indices posted matching gains of 1.4%. The main stock market indexes closed just below the middle of their i[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Good, The Bad And The Uuuhhgggly

The good: HUI has finally hit the H&S topping target that has been hanging over our heads like a dark cloud bearing a potential downpour. Huey has decided to get to our downside targets sooner rather than later, which is err, positive. 250 shows strong support from 2003 through 2005.The bad: We had a close below the August ’07 low likely due to the get me outta here at all costs desperation of the elephants AKA large speculators coming under pressure of forced liquidation of anything in the perceived ’inflation trade’. Now gold advisers that had been bullish will flip [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

If Housing, Why Not Everything?

It is important that the government bail out Fannie and Freddie.The free enterprise system, with its private property rights, profit and loss system of incentives, and market prices that allow individuals to rationally plan, works just fine for all other goods and services: food, clothing, health care, etc.The one exception is housing. Here, greed and rampant capitalism reign supreme, causing vast harm to the populace. The only hope for the average person is government.They are there to help us. No, wait, that’s all wrong. That is nonsense on stilts. Yet, this sort of mischiev[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Fedex Guidance Shuffle

Fedex (FDX) announced guidance for EPS for the quarter ending Aug 31 at $1.23. Well above the last guidance. Reason cost cutting and an unexpected drop in fuel prices toward the end of the quarter. But they still have not yet budged on guidance for the year. In fact they point to worsening economic situations in both the US and overseas.The shares pop in after market trading.The press release does not parse out how much of the gain is attributable to improved fuel prices and what may be rightfully attributable to cost cutting. We can all comprehend fuel costs as a major[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

My week of estate agent hell

Growing rental demand has made estate agents just insufferable. They're an easy target but, sod it, I have a right to take aim

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[Source: This is Money | Money blog]

NASDAQ Technical Picture - Tech Titans Swoon to Support

The NASDAQ is underperforming as it approaches key technical support levels between 2200 and 2175 on increasing volume. Oil is also approaching its 50% Fib. retracement level and the psychologically significant $100.00 mark. The aggressive selling makes me less confident that the key technical levels will result in anything more than a consolidation point. Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

Basic Materials Setting Up For Another Leg Down

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.Stocks followed up the previous day’s bearish reversal with a narrow-range day of choppy, noncommittal trading that caused the major indices to finish with mixed results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a gain of 0.1%, but the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.7%. The benchmark S&P 500 Index was lower by 0.2%. Small and mid-cap stocks also showed divergence with one another. The Russell 2000 advanced 0.5%, as the S&P Midcap 400 lost 0.7%.&nb[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Market Tremors

Image: Portland Oregon skyline, Mt Hood in background.In my family of origin, reading something you thought interesting to a sibling, parent or child was a sign of love and affection, as well as a way to stay connected and to expand your world. Receiving one of those readings was taken similarly.So, on [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Diversification, Continued

Yes, it’s that time again. ’Tis the season, and I’m not talking about the holidays. The season I am talking about is what has historically been the most volatile season in the financial markets. That season usually starts in September and continues through October. These two months are, historically speaking; when we’ve seen the biggest one-day declines and the most significant market lows (think Black Monday in October 1987). So far in September, we are seeing volatility that’s nearly off the charts. Read More...

[Source: The Money Blogs]

Subversion Time-lapse View Updated For Svn 1.5

Just a quick note that Subversion Time-Lapse View has been updated to work with Subversion 1.5.Subversion Time-Lapse View lets you scroll through the revisions of a file, making it easy to see who changed what and when.[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Despite Earnings Warning, Corning Retains Strong Balance Sheet & Market Position

There are many times, particularly in bear markets like this one, when I look at a company and am quite baffled as to how investors can let a stock drift so low. Then I remind myself that Wall Street is short-term oriented and only cares about today, this week, and maybe this month. What the reality will be a year or two from now is ignored, which creates the very investment opportunities that long term, value-oriented investors like myself focus on.I have been a long time investor in Corning (GLW), a leading provider of glass for LCD displays as well as fiber optic cable for the t[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Signs Of A Short-term Bottom?

NOTE: Please click on the charts below to enlarge them if they do not appear clearly.Stocks got off to a scary start yesterday morning, as several of the major indices dipped below their prior closing lows from July, but an impressive bullish reversal day enabled the broad market to finish significantly higher. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite started the day with matching losses of 1.7%, but the bulls bought into weakness for a change, causing the indices to rally 3% off their intraday lows to close higher by 1.4% and 1.3% respectively. The blue-ch[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Is Lehman Close To Selling Itself?

There are rumors making the rounds that Goldman Sachs (GS) is in talks to buy (or save) Lehman. I don’t know if it is true or not, but Lehman is now in sad shape. Here is an interesting story that I received this morning:-- Lehman Bros. Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld continued his high-wire act to try to save his firm Wednesday. Before the market opened, Lehman said that it was looking at a net loss of $3.9 billion for its preliminary third quarter results, following the $2.8 billion loss announced for the bank’s second quarter. Estimated net revenues were [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

The Charts Are Looking Up!

The old market saying that, ’Its hard to pick the market tops and bottoms’, is so very true but looking at todays price action, the charts for the three major indexes are signaling a potential bottom? Today, September 11th, all three indexes had outside reversals on above average volume. An outside day is a lower low with a higher high and higher close than the prior days low and high. Also, the extreme lows for 2008 are getting higher. On the DOW, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, the July 15th low is holding fo[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Response To Fannie/Freddie Article

This is a response to D-Money’s comments on my last article Government Panic is Killing Us and Our Banks. I was just going to reply to him in the comments section but it ran a little long, so here’s just to you!D Money- I see what you’re saying but let’s also keep in mind that the current housing situation is also the result of the Federal government incentivizing banks in the 1990s and early 2000s to give mortgages to people with no proof of income qualification. And as a result there were many people who didn’t qualify and chose to default on their mort[...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Chart Of The Day: "outside" Reversals

The S&P 500 posted another "outside" day yesterday. These types of reversal days are defined by the stock or index trading below the previous day’s low, and then reversing to close above the previous day’s high [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]

Canslim.net Morning Comment And Links (for Traders)

MORNING MARKET COMMENTARY- Thursday, September 4, 2008Retail and Financial Gains Offset by Semiconductor and Commodity Group Weakness - Kenneth J. Gruneisen, CANSLIM Certified, Registered Principal, Source Capital Group, Inc. (Members NASD, SIPC)Volume totals were reported higher than the prior session on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq exchanges while the major averages ended mixed on Wednesday. Commodity prices and tepid economic data cast a dark cloud over the market. Advancers narrowly led decliners on both the [...]

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[Source: The Money Blogs]