May 19, 2012

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Wall Street Debt Investors’ Confidence Renewed?

July 14, 2010 By 1 Comment
NYSE-floor

Image via Wikipedia Corporate bonds, bets on the repayment of corporate debt, are experience a sustained rally. Investors are showing a renewed confidence in the global economy as they grab new debt securities in a variety of companies recent capital raises. This rally is currently the longest in four month--approaching the six day bond rally in March 2010. Retailer Target Corp. was able to raise $1 billion in their bond sales, the first in two years. And in the International markets Dutch … [Read more...]

US Credit Scores Decline, May Slow Economic Recovery

July 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Credit Scores

Image by Casey Serin via Flickr According to a report just released by FICO, Inc., US consumers are sinking to new credit lows. The credit score bell curve, traditionally skewed above 700, has now drastically shifted below 599. In data released on MyFICO.com, figure show that over 25% of consumer (an estimated 43.4 million people) now have credit scores below 599. The explanation seems to be the millions of people losing jobs, underemployed, or hit with crisis that have had to rely on … [Read more...]

Deeper Look at Unemployment

September 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The Economic Policy Institute does a deep-dive on the long-term unemployment picture (hat tip: Naked Capitalism). There are some significant pearls of economic consideration in this analysis, especially as it applies to long-term employment. Here is one that I think is particular enlightening regarding the unemployment deficit we need to recover from: "Furthermore, while the labor market has shed 6.7 million jobs since the start of the recession, it is important to keep in mind that in those … [Read more...]

Mortgage Market – Confusing Economic Signals

July 1, 2009 By 1 Comment

Image by Getty Images via Daylife In digesting any news or market an analyst most valuable contribution is sorting the signal from the noise. Unfortunately, in the current mortgage and real estate market we have too many noise makers: unpredictable executive and legislative actions, multiple regulatory opinions and guidance, skittish investors, and fearful consumers. So, with that being said, I won't try to be the mortgage market analyst. However, I will share some of the things I believe to … [Read more...]

Home Affordable, Mortgage Fraud, Bank Balance Sheet

April 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Image by Getty Images via Daylife Home Affordable Gets a Solution for Second Mortgages Okay, first off if you don't currently read Mike Shedlock (aka Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis) immediately do so now (Mish's RSS) and return. He seems to be one of the few not running a blind-sheep commentary on how the government (all parties included) are running this economic recovery. Here are his thoughts on the latest "tinkering" with the Home Affordable program--incentives for the writing down … [Read more...]

Looking for Mortgage Recovery and Attacking Mortgage Fraud

April 28, 2009 By 2 Comments

Image via Wikipedia Looking for Anything that Says Real Estate Recovery Home price deceleration leads the front-page real estate and mortgage news. "While the declines in residential real estate continued into February, we witnessed some deceleration in the rate of decline in some of the markets," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee. Still, 10 of the 20 metro areas reported record year-over-year declines. As of February, the 10-city index is down 32% from its mid-2006 … [Read more...]

Shifts in Mortgage Banking? Hyper-Inflation and Federal v. State Banking Powers

April 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Image via Wikipedia Federal Reserve and Hyper-Inflation Andy Kessler asks a very important question: How do you "Put the Toothpaste Back in the Tube?" Kessler begins thinking about how the Federal Reserve might go about heading off inflation as the economy begins to recover: But how? Doing the opposite of what it is doing now. By raising interest rates. By sopping up dollars by not only selling Treasuries, but also selling all those mortgage-backed securities and other toxic stuff bought from … [Read more...]

Robert L. Johnson Announces Plan to Assist Homeowners with Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis; Proposal Seeks $1Billion from the Federal Government

December 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Private sector steps out to help modify mortgage loans. Robert L. Johnson proposes to work-out 200,000  mortgage loans a year. Leveraging $1 billion from th US government Johnson would raise another $7 billion in private funds--turning his minority-owned Union Trust Bank into Homeowners First Bank to solely distribute loan modification funds to mortgage servicers. … [Read more...]

Consumer Squeeze, Charlie Gasparino, Election Trades, FDIC Loan Modifications, Consumer Capitulation, Deflation/Reflation Whipsaw

October 31, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Consumer Squeeze is On Minyanville does a nice analysis, using the Star Wars Death Star garbage masher analogy, of the consumer conundrum--damned for credit, and damned if you save. Consumers are certainly being pinched at both ends as the US government keeps trying to unfreeze credit by driving down interest rates. The result? Lenders are getting more attractive rates by "borrowing" from consumers tax dollars, than bidding for their savings. Therefore, savings rates are down and lending is not … [Read more...]

Mortgage Meltdown Swag, Bank Losses, Foreclosures Jump, My New Favorite Market Pundit

October 23, 2008 By Leave a Comment
http://site.despair.com

Where are Mortgage Rates Headed? Spreads showing tightening, but government keeps throwing curve balls on their own objectives. My shot at a mortgage rate forecast. Appropriate Mortgage Meltdown Swag Get your "We're the Government and We're Here to Help" mortgage meltdown swag. Major Banks Post Record Losses, Some Getting Investment Wachovia tips the scales with a staggering $23.7 billion quarterly loss! But, that is not the most incredible part. This latest loss makes it like Wachovia never … [Read more...]