The Lost Decade Ahead

“The worst is behind for the economy, and we’re on the mend,” was the quote of the week, and it came from David Katz, chief investment officer of Matrix Asset Advisors. (Katz was interviewed for a piece on Bloomberg.com this morning.) This wonderful summation regarding the state of the economy came on the heels of [...]

Conventional Idiocy Takes Hold Again

It’s been another stellar week on Wall Street. Good news came from the housing front (prices rose for the first time in almost three years) and the labor market (the number of continuing jobless claims fell to the lowest level since the middle of April). And the profits reported by many large tech firms [...]

Investors Turn a Blind Eye to Commercial Real Estate Troubles

The Dow passes the 9,000 mark for the first time since January this week. The stock market’s big rally was fueled by optimistic Investors who are now firm in the belief that the worst financial crisis in 70 years is finally over and the recession that it spawned will soon fade away. The report of [...]

Goldman Thrives while CIT Dives

There were some big stories in the bizarre world of finance this week, and decent profit reports from some of America’s largest companies. The good news about earnings helped promote a sense of calm, as thoughts about last year’s financial crisis faded into distant memory. I will focus today on two developments that I [...]

Federal Budget Deficit Kills Spring Fever

Spring is finally here after a long, frightfully cold winter. And with it comes the delusions induced by spring fever. Both the Obama administration and investors are stricken with the heady optimism associated with this illness, classifying the trickles of less than horrible economic data as green shoots that will bring America out of the [...]

A Record 533,000 Jobs Lost in November

12.05.08 – A Record 533,000 jobs vanished in November, bringing the total number of jobs lost to 1.87 million since the recession officially began last December. This marks 11th consecutive monthly decline, bringing the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent. (November’s whopping decline was the largest since 1974.)

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, [...]

Bears take cash…

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 [...]