The latest S&P/Case-Shiller figures just hit the tape, and they continue to show home prices heading south. The 20-city index dropped 18.7% year-over-year in March, ever-so-slightly worse than the 18.67% drop in February.
On a month-over-month basis, prices slipped 2.17%. That was ever-so-slightly better than the 2.21% monthly decline in February and the smallest monthly drop [...]
From the monthly archives:
May 2009
American assets continue to be sold aggressively. The Dollar Index is down 59 basis points to 79.94. The long bond futures are off 25/32 (the day’s low). The 10-year Treasury Note yield is up just over 5 basis points to 3.42%. And gold is up more than $5 to around $960. When will someone in [...]
In each successive phase of this debt crisis, investors have consistently attacked and destroyed the market value of institutions that owned large amounts of toxic assets — Countrywide Financial, Fannie Mae, Citigroup, Bank of America and many others. Their shares were pummeled; their ability to raise new capital, virtually extinguished.
Now, [...]
Remember that catchy 80s song “Talk, Talk“? That’s what I think of when I read stories like this. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner keeps blathering about how he’s concerned about U.S. borrowing and how he will — somehow — figure out a way to bring down the deficit over time. But it’s all just that — [...]
It’s a massacre for U.S. assets today, with the Treasury Bond market getting crushed … gold flying … and the U.S. dollar tanking. Specifically, as I write, the long bond futures are off 2 13/32 in price. The yield on the 10-year Treasury Note is surging by 17 basis points to 3.36%. Spot gold is trading [...]
Sigh. It just keeps getting longer. I’m talking about the bailout list, of course. It looks like the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., or PBGC, is going to need a bailout due to its ever-deepening deficit. The agency’s deficit is up to $33.5 billion, triple the level just six months earlier. And huge new obligations could [...]
We just got the latest look at jobless claims and once again, the numbers weren’t pretty. Initial claims came in at 631,000, above forecasts for a reading of 625,000. But the real news continues to be the fact that people who lose their jobs are not finding new work. Continuing jobless claims ramped up again [...]
Key News
*U.S. Housing Starts Drop on Apartments, Condominiums (Bloomberg)
* IMF’s Lipsky Warns Against Complacency on Economy (Bloomberg)
*Despite Oil Reserves, Norway Slips Into Recession (NY Times)
*Goldman, Morgan Stanley ask to repay TARP funding (MarketWatch)
The Event Agenda
The Morning Run-Down
After Friday’s break down in stocks and in the risk trade, this week, it’s more optimism. Goldman, JP [...]
Deadline to protect yourself and profit: TOMORROW!
This morning, we learned that the real estate crisis — the meltdown that triggered America’s economic nightmare — has just entered a catastrophic new phase:
April housing starts and building permits plunged to new all-time lows. Duplexes and other multi-family housing were the hardest hit, with [...]
This Thursday’s complimentary emergency briefing may well be the single most timely and crucial event you’ll attend this year.
The simple truth is, we saw this crisis coming and began warning you two full years in advance.
We urged you to dump your stock in GM, Fannie Mae, Washington Mutual and [...]
