housing
Market Meets Reality
The stock market met reality yesterday – it did not go well. Record high oil prices and a warning about inflation form the Federal Reserve smacked sobriety into U.S. investors. Oil traded at $135 a barrel and the minutes from the Fed’s late April policy meeting implied that further interest rate cuts are unlikely [...]
AIG Needs $12.5 Billion – Time to Pay Attention, Wall Street!
The stock market rumbled ahead on greased rails of delusion cheered by the glimmer of light perhaps flickering at the end of the credit crisis tunnel. But, the news Thursday afternoon signaled that the frail twinkling they thought meant hope may be an oncoming freight train instead.
After the closing bell Thursday, American International Group, the [...]
Get out the Bubbly?- by Greg Strid
Sales of existing homes and condos increased 2.9 percent
to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 5.03 million,
crawling past the 4.85 million low-ball concensus estimate
from America’s practitioners of the dismal science- sometimes
known as economists. So, is it time to bring out the bubbly?
This marks the strongest showing for existing home sales
since last October. But, sales are [...]
2007: Naughty Banks Spanked- by Greg Strid
The meltdown in the market for subprime mortgage
securities is fast unraveling into a banking crisis that
threatens to drag the American economy into recession.
During the final stretch of the greatest housing bubble
in American history, financial institutions were tripping
over themselves to extend excessive amounts of credit
to prospective buyers that were lacking in both
qualification and responsibility.
No document loans, [...]
Major Home Builder Hovnanian Reels from Losses
The real estate market’s death spiral is taking a heavy toll on publicly traded home builders. Hovnanian Enterprises, the embattled and bruised New Jersey-based McMansion builder reported another staggering loss in the quarter that ended October 31. The total amount of red ink generated amounted to $469 million, or $7.42 per share. This compares to [...]
Wall Street Relies Too Heavily on Interest Rate Cuts
A decaying housing market, deteriorating credit conditions, a sickly dollar, sky-high oil prices, two expensive and useless wars, and the looming mass-retirement of baby boomers are the main ingredients that will create the fuel for a tumble in US economic growth over the next year or two (or three or four, etc.)
Yet the party on [...]
Citigroup smacked by reckless bets
Citigroup reported a 57% decline in profits for the third quarter of 2007. Apparently it received some nasty wounds from souring fixed-income investments and sinking consumer loans. This sad quarter reflected approximately $5.9 billion of write-offs; once light was shed upon faltering securities prices and proprietary trades gone terribly wrong.
Much of the damage inflicted upon [...]
Mc Mansions to go
According to the Wall Street Journal, auction companies are reporting
that disposals of brand new-homes represent a growing part of their
revenue. This business ultimately comes from builders and developers
who can no longer finance the unsold homes they have constructed.
They lack emotional attachments to the properties they erect, and are
much more concerned with rising inventory levels.
Unlike [...]
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