Headlines...

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
The mega, mega bailout plan?

Central banks float rescue ideas

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a233faa2-f789-11dc-ac40-000077b07658.html

Central banks on both sides of the Atlantic are actively engaged in discussions about the feasibility of mass purchases of mortgage-backed securities as a possible solution to the credit crisis.

Such a move would involve the use of public funds to shore up the market in a key financial instrument and restore confidence by ending the current vicious circle of forced sales, falling prices and weakening balance sheets.
 
"Such a move would involve the use of public funds to shore up the market"

Why is it that none of these plans ever say where these public funds will come from? Does anybody know or care to speculate?

What public funds? Are these public funds just sitting around someplace waiting to be used? If public funds are now just sitting around doing nothing else, be my guest, use 'em. But where are they? Isn't our government now spending more than it is taking in?

Oh, I get it. The government will borrow the public funds.
 
awgee - turns out the US Fed & Bank of England deny the FT article. This is getting ridiculous, it's as bad as the Buffet will bail out ________ rumors that fly around.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120614432484956499.html
 
Great article by Barry Ritholtz in Esquire mag.

Warning f-bomb coming...

The mortgage industry built their entire business on ass-backwards, shit-kicking, dumb-fuck assumptions. The housing market couldn't just go up forever. Yes, that was part of their “models.” You just have to be alive for 15 years to know that these things cycle. People who said that real estate prices weren’t ever going to go down should be beaten over the head with piles and piles of foreclosed mortgages. Idiots.
 
Homeowners are more likely to vote, and they volunteer time for political and charitable causes more frequently than renters.

Wow...I had no idea buying a house would add more hours to my day. I need to get on that whole "buying" thing ASAP!
 
Homeowners are also older, on average, than renters. The cause and effect here is obvious--if you want to stay young and have more time to yourself you need to keep on renting.
 
U.S. Stock Volatility Climbs to Highest in 70 Years, S&P Says...

March 20 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. stock market is the most volatile in 70 years, according to a Standard & Poor's study of daily price swings in the S&P 500.

The benchmark for American equities has advanced or declined 1 percent or more on 28 days this year. That's 52 percent of the trading sessions so far, which is the highest proportion since 1938, said Howard Silverblatt, S&P's senior index analyst. The S&P 500 lost 12 percent in 2008 through yesterday following $195 billion in bank losses related to subprime mortgages.

``The enormous uncertainty of the market is translating into volatility,'' New York-based Silverblatt said in an interview. ``Everyone is reacting to the day-to-day events as opposed to the longer-term trends.''

In 1938, the most volatile year since the index's inception in 1928, the S&P 500 rose or fell at least 1 percent during 57 percent of the trading days, according to Silverblatt's analysis. The measure advanced 25 percent that year.

Option prices, which increase when investors expect wider share-price swings, have risen this year. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, the price gauge for contracts linked to the S&P 500, has averaged 26.15. That's 49 percent higher than the level in 2007. The so-called VIX closed at a five-year high of 32.24 on March 17.

In 2002, when U.S. stocks hit bottom after collapsing in March 2000, 1 percent moves in the S&P 500 occurred 50 percent of the time, Silverblatt said. That fell to 12 percent in 2006 and 13 percent during the first half of last year. The figure increased to 39 percent during the second half of 2007.

``The upcoming earnings season appears poised to add to the volatility,'' Silverblatt wrote in a report yesterday. Profit ``estimates are unusually wide, given how close to the quarter end we are.''

The first quarter concludes in less than two weeks. Alcoa Inc. is scheduled to become the first member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average to report results for the period on April 7.
 
February Existing Home Sales Fell 23.8%

Today's fictional headline, via The Onion, National Association of Realtors: "Sales of existing homes increased in February and remain within a fairly stable range."

Why is this fictional? Changes from January to February are measuring seasonal differences, not actual improvements. January is one of the slowest months of the year for home sales. (We would never report retail sales from December to January this way; We always use year over year data).

What dos that show Year over year changes showed that single family home sales were 23.8% below February 2007 levels.

The national median sales price was also a big surprise, freefalling down 8.2%.

Single-family home sales decreased 22.9%, while the median existing single-family home price was $193,900 in February, down 8.7% from year ago prices.

The best news in the release was the 3% decrease in total housing inventory. At the end of February, there were 4.03 million homes for sale -- 9.96-month supply.

existing_home_sales_324.gif


graphic courtesy of Barron's Econoday
 
A reporter would get fired if they used the news judgment NAR does when they put together press releases. That's a perk of being on the PR side instead of the reporting side - you can pretend the most important part of the story is anything you want it to be...
 
Calif. prosecutors target mortgage fraud

Federal prosecutors on Monday announced indictments in a mortgage scheme that siphoned off nearly $13 million in home equity and victimized more than 100 homeowners who had been seeking to avoid foreclosure.

Dozens of people in California and elsewhere lost their homes in the scam, which prosecutors say was led by Charles Head of La Habra. He and 18 others face allegations that they preyed on homeowners who were struggling to make payments on adjustable-rate and other mortgages.

Under the scam, homeowners facing foreclosure were promised lower house payments and even cash upfront to help pay bills if they agreed to add another name to their home's title. The victims were led to believe they were paying rent to the investor while they got their finances back in order.

According to the unsealed indictments, Head and the others actually used the scheme to switch the names on the titles, take control of the homes, refinance them and walk away with whatever equity homeowners had built up.
 
Housing downturns in Ireland, Spain, France,Thailand and Norway? How can that be? Thought this was contained, or consumerism was local disease...

In Real Estate, Think Global, Not Local

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120640821192661215.html?mod=hps_us_at_glance_columnists
 
US home prices drop 11.4 pct. in January

NEW YORK - A widely watched index of U.S. home prices fell 11.4 percent in January, its steepest drop since data for the indicator was first collected in 1987.

The decline reported Tuesday in the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index means prices have been growing more slowly or dropping for 19 consecutive months.

The index tracks the prices of single-family homes in 10 major metropolitan areas in the U.S

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_bi_ge/home_prices

www.cnbc.com/id/15840232
 
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States 1801-1809
 
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