From the category archives:
This past weekend was the bike ride/race I first mentioned in a Money and Markets column back in January. I’m happy to report that I did in fact cross the finish line on my bike, rather than on a stretcher! The 100-kilometer ride took about 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete and I couldn’t have [...]
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I highlighted General Growth Properties as a company that was in serious debt trouble a little while back. This morning, GGP filed for bankruptcy protection. The firm is entering Chapter 11 with $27 billion in debt, making this the biggest commercial real estate bankruptcy ever. More from the Wall Street Journal below:
“Mall owner General Growth [...]
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It seems like every so often, the “bidding” on the level of total global credit losses goes higher. Some economist somewhere re-runs his or her models and throws out a gigantic number — which is then topped by yet another astronomical number published by someone else a few weeks or months later. Only this time, [...]
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I took some time out this morning to do a Fox Business spot on the latest Fed move and what it means for mortgage rates. If you have time, you can check that out below:
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I keep reading about how the problem with the banking system isn’t all the crappy securities and loans it’s loaded up with. It’s not that they took on too much excessive risk, lending against assets whose value is plunging. It’s not that they funded asinine private equity deals, stupid commercial construction deals, and dumb home [...]
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First American CoreLogic is a company that tracks all kinds of mortgage and property data. The firm’s latest report on “underwater” or “upside down” borrowers — those who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth — suggests the problem is getting worse.
More than 8.3 million mortgages exceeded the value of the homes [...]
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Pending home sales data was released for the month of January this morning. Here is what the figures from the National Association of Realtors looked like:
* Pending home sales plunged 7.7% in January. That was much worse than the 3.5% decline that economists were expecting. December’s reading was also revised to a gain of just [...]
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There was more interesting market action today. The S&P 500 closed at a 12-year low, with other key indices (transports, utilities) also falling sharply. Despite that selling, long bonds couldn’t catch a bid. The futures finished down 31/32 at 124 25/32, a fresh low for this bearish move. Meanwhile, the dollar index is finishing the [...]
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The Obama administration has released its big-picture budget outlook for 2009 and beyond. The big headline: The U.S. government is on track to record a deficit of a whopping $1.75 TRILLION in fiscal 2009. That is by far the biggest deficit ever, and almost four times as large as the $459 billion figure for 2008. [...]
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The bank nationalization chatter continues to increase in volume. Meanwhile, the government’s bank bailout plans continue to morph in form and scope. The latest development? The government is moving toward converting preferred share stakes in banks into common shares. More about the process comes from the Washington Post below …
“The change paves a road toward [...]
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