The banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, and balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustained recovery. – Robert Reich
Archive for the ‘U.S.’ Category
Sustained Recovery?
Posted in Bankruptcy, Equities, Federal Reserve, Foreclosure, Herd Mentality, Interest Rates, Investment Banks, Liquidity, Recession, U.S. on July 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
It all points to physical gold
Posted in Currencies, Energy, Equities, Fixed Income, Foreign Exchange, Gold, Herd Mentality, Interest Rates, Liquidity, Real Estate, Silver, U.S. on October 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Now that all asset classes including:
property
equities, mutual funds
bonds
cash/currencies/money market funds
commodities
have gotten hammered, and the US dollar has rallied due to mass redemptions of foreign investments, an optimal position is in physical gold and silver. The paper market of gold is 2.5 times the size of the physical market, and with the IMF and others selling [...]
So much for mutual funds
Posted in Equities, Herd Mentality, Liquidity, Recession, U.S. on August 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Out of almost 2,100 diversified retail U.S. stock mutual funds that are open to new investors, just 17 have positive returns for both the past 12 months and year-to-date, according to investment researcher Morningstar, Inc.
IndyMac Chief Complains of ‘Panicked’ Market
Posted in CMBS, Federal Reserve, Foreclosure, Herd Mentality, Interest Rates, Liquidity, Real Estate, Recession, Subprime, U.S. on July 14, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Michael Perry [CEO of IndyMac] called the markets for mortgage securities “panicked and illiquid” in a letter to employees Thursday.
He said the lender has “very strong liquidity, a good amount of excess capital,” and added that “there are no realistic scenarios that I can foresee that would impair IndyMac’s viability.”
He goes on to say that [...]
Foreign central banks own 60% of Fannie & Freddie Debt
Posted in CMBS, Federal Reserve, Foreclosure, Herd Mentality, Interest Rates, Liquidity, Real Estate, Recession, Subprime, U.S. on July 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I think that this will collapse the bond market regardless of whether they actually put it on the books. The implied guarantee is too well understood by the financial community. The government can always change its obligations on SS and Medicare. Those are not contractual. They are legislative, and more importantly, they are not owed [...]
Mortgage delinquencies up 62%
Posted in CMBS, Foreclosure, Herd Mentality, Liquidity, Real Estate, Recession, Subprime, U.S. on June 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Interesting article by Amy McAlister of HousingWire today:
Borrowers more than 60 days in arrears on their mortgages hit a record high 3.23 percent for the first three months of 2008, TransUnion said — that’s up 8 percent over the previous quarter’s 2.99 percent average, and is a staggering 61.5 percent higher than the first quarter [...]
Gold headed dramatically higher
Posted in Currencies, Energy, Equities, Federal Reserve, Fixed Income, Gold, Herd Mentality, Interest Rates, Liquidity, Natural Gas, Oil, Real Estate, Recession, Silver, U.S. on June 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This deleveraging process has been a very unique one. Over the last decade, the Fed led many central banks around the world in an unprecedented expansion of money supply. While there is massive credit being withdrawn from the global system, the long-term effects of this money supply expansion has yet to filter through. Investors are [...]
Level 3 assets jump at Merrill
Posted in CDS, CMBS, Foreclosure, Herd Mentality, Interest Rates, Liquidity, Real Estate, Subprime, U.S. on May 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In a quarterly filing today, Merrill Lynch & Co. dislosed that Level III assets had jumped to nearly $70 billion, an increase of 70% over the same quarter of 2007. The firm also stated that more than $16 billion of this exposure is related to subprime. Definitely a sign of things to come though relative [...]
Goldman helps arrange financing for WaMu, Recommends Short Sale
Posted in CMBS, Foreclosure, Herd Mentality, Interest Rates, Liquidity, Real Estate, Recession, Subprime, U.S. on April 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Goldman helped arrange the $7 billion in financing for Washington Mutual announced last week by a consortium led by TPG. Yet, Goldman’s research group predicts another $23 billion in losses (revising upward the projected per share loss for last year from $1.00 to $3.30), and is recommending a short sale of the stock (we [...]
