The April S&P/Case-Shiller figures were released this morning. They showed home prices in 20 top metropolitan areas down 18.1% from a year earlier. That was better than the forecast for a reading of -18.6% and an improvement from the previous month’s -18.7% reading. Prices fell in all 20 cities tracked by the research organization, with [...]
From the monthly archives:
June 2009
I found myself in a lot of airports this past week (which also explains the lack of posts) … and I have to say that people have certainly not stopped flying in the midst of this recession. The Philadelphia airport was particularly crowded, even at 6AM. Columbus and West Palm Beach, less so … but [...]
Today, the Wall Street Journal elucidated a point I have made repeatedly in many venues. Heading off a potential foreclosure tied to the STRUCTURE of a mortgage is a lot easier than avoiding a foreclosure related to broader ECONOMIC trends (falling house prices, rising unemployment, etc.). This is one reason the foreclosure problem cannot be [...]
Key News
* Britain facing biggest deficit in Western world, warns OECD (Telegraph)
*Roth Signals New Swiss ‘Aggressiveness’ in Franc Intervention (Bloomberg)
*BOE King: Pound Weakness To Help Mitigate Poor Global Outlook (Bloomberg)
*Ship orders set to add to capacity glut (FT)
The Event Agenda
The Morning Run-Down
The 2-day Fed meeting resulted in a fairly lackluster event with one exception. The [...]
I have written a lot about Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, including details on the company’s own options positions.
And in Dividend Superstars, I have also been writing a lot about using options to generate additional income.
Now, the two subjects are colliding with a recent development in the Windy City.
The Chicago Board of Options Exchange recently began trading options Berkshire [...]
Fed keeps rates unchanged, doesn’t change debt purchase targets, gives no clarity on “exit strategy”
The Federal Open Market Committee left its interest rate target unchanged at 0% to 0.25%. Also, the Fed left its targets for purchases of Treasury debt, GSE debt, and mortgage backed securities unchanged. The complete statement is as follows:
“Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April suggests that the pace of economic [...]
The 5-year Treasury Note auction (of $37 billion in securities) just wrapped up and it was pretty good. The notes sold at a yield of 2.7%, compared with pre-auction talk of 2.724%. Indirect bidding was strong at 62.8%, and the bid-to-cover ratio came in at 2.58. Those were the highest figures since December 2004 and [...]
Just when almost everybody was beginning to believe this crisis was ending …
And just as millions of investors thought it was safe to buy stocks again …
The World Bank dropped a bombshell on investment markets across the globe this week, warning that, despite the recovery hype Washington [...]
The new home sales figures for May were released this morning. Here’s a recap …
* New home sales dipped 0.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000 from 344,000 in April. The numbers are a disappointment, considering economists were expecting sales of 360,000. Results for the past few months were also downwardly revised by [...]
Thank you for the comments and suggestions you posted on my personal blog yesterday!
You can be sure that Larry, Richard and I are pulling out all the stops to make sure next week’s presentation of SOLVING THE TIMING MYSTERY Part Two gives you everything you need to buy lower and [...]
