STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday November 14

[ozymandius]

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday November 14, 2007

COUNTING THE DAYS
DAYS REMAINING IN THE * REGIME 434 LONG DAYS
DAYS SINCE DEMOCRACY DIED (12/12/00) 2493 DAYS
WHERE'S OSAMA BIN-LADEN? 2215 DAYS
DAYS SINCE ENRON COLLAPSE = 2176
Number of Enron Execs in handcuffs = 19
ENRON EXECS CONVICTED = 10
Enron execs conveniently deceased = 3
Other Arrests of Execs = 54

---

U.S. FUTURES & MARKETS INDICATORS
NASDAQ FUTURES-----------------------------S&P FUTURES

---

AT THE CLOSING BELL WHEN BUSH TOOK OFFICE on January 22, 2001
Dow - 10,578.24
Nasdaq - 2,757.91
S&P 500 - 1,342.90
Oil - $27.69/bbl
Gold - $266.70/oz.

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON November 13, 2007

Dow... 13,307.09 +319.54 (+2.46%)
Nasdaq... 2,673.65 +89.52 (+3.46%)
S&P 500... 1,481.05 +41.87 (+2.91%)
Gold future... 799.00 -8.70 (-1.09%)
30-Year Bond 4.61% +0.01 (+0.24%)
10-Yr Bond... 4.26% +0.05 (+1.07%)






GOLD, EURO, YEN, Loonie and Silver

---

PIEHOLE ALERT

Heads Up!
Preliminary info on appearances by Bush & Co. throughout the country. Details & links are added as they become available so check back. And if you know more, are organizing something, or would like to, contact [e-mail]

For information on protests and other actions Citizens For Legitimate Government

---

Read more: du

[Buttercup McToots]

1. I was waitin` for you to wake up, Ozy...

I have something for you to read...gimme a sec...

:donut:

[ozymandius]

Thanks.

I patiently await.

:hi:

[zabet]

2. Just wanted you all to know...

this is the first thing I read every morning.
Thanks for the market reports condensed for
folks like me. :hi:

[ozymandius]

4. Thank you so much.

It's always a pleasure to post the thread. I, too, appreciate everyone here who contributes so mightily to the information and perspective presented.

[Roland99]

17. And it's my pleasure to put this on the Greatest Page today!

:hi:

[Ghost Dog]

32. That's a very nice, imho also very apt, handle

citizen_jane.

For you I/we serve.

[ozymandius]

3. Market WrapUp: Who's Zoomin' Who?

BY FRANK BARBERA, CMT

This week we maintain the approach of throwing a spotlight on that which is obvious to market observers, but which remains somehow oddly removed from broader public discussion. Last week, I pointed out the extreme declines in the Financial Sector, which hint strongly at a building banking crisis. Bank after Bank, Financial after Financial, we see price implosions, huge write downs, denials, and statements affirming a grand confidence that all is “contained.”

Do the good folks on Wall Street really believe we are all this naïve? One has to wonder. And what about those ‘kindly’ politicians who are running for elections next year? Can they really believe that Inflation is as quiescent as we are told to believe? How stupid do these people really think we are? It gets me upset to even hear the words “Core Rate” or “Ex Food and Energy.” Those words should be stricken from the linguistic database, as who really believes that inflation is below 4%? In the words of the great Aretha Franklin, -- Mr. Bernanke – 'Who is Zoomin Who?' Just look at the charts that follow and ask yourself, is it at all conceivable that Inflation isn’t really scorching red hot? Almost every CRB Sub-Index is making new all time highs and the few that aren’t are pretty darn close, and that includes Textiles which have been held back courtesy of the Peoples Republic of China, How long does that remain once the Yuan Revalues? Lie to me Ben, Lie to me – the charts sing a different song…

-charts-

While this is not a political endorsement, I have to admit it was really refreshing to see Congressman Ron Paul take on Ben Bernanke the other day. For the benefit of those of you who didn’t see or hear any of it, Congressmen Ron said a lot of things most of us have been writing and ranting about for months, if not longer. Here’s a small sample of some of the best lines:

Ron Paul to Benrnake: “Instead of looking at the prices – the consumer prices, which nobody in this country really believes - we need to talk about the distortion, the mal-investment, the misdirection, the bad information that is gotten from artificially low interest rates. In many ways, some people refer to you as a price-fixer, you know, because you fix interest rates. The market is powerful and usually overwhelms and does come into play, but when the Fed fixes an interest rate at 1%, that is price fixing.”

-cut-

Ron Paul to Bernanke: How can you do this and pursue this, the policy you have, without further weakening the dollar. There is a dollar crisis out there and people’s money is being stolen. People who have saved, they’re being robbed. I mean, if you have a devaluation of the dollar at 10%, people have been robbed of 10%. How can you pursue this policy without addressing the subject that, somebody is losing their wealth because of a weaker dollar and it’s going to lead to higher interest rates, and a weaker economy. -- If you’re retired and elderly and you have CDs and their cost of living is going up no matter what your CPI says. Their cost of living is going up and they’re hurting and that’s why people in this country are very upset.

To that end, it is all about Currency Debasement with the really big lie coming in the form of Export Growth? Note to anyone who hasn’t been asleep under a tree for the last 25 years, the US Manufacturing Base has been EXPORTED, and as a result, since we don’t make many things here anymore, a lower currency will NOT help the Balance of Trade Improve because most of the heavy industry is now somewhere else. There is NO DOMESTIC MANUFACTURING BASE to FALL BACK ON in lieu of rising Import Prices. Textiles, China, footwear, China, auto tires, China, -- the list goes on and on. No wonder Commodity prices just continue to rise. Yes, it may be true that from time to time we see declines in items like Crude Oil or Gold, but the advance in commodity prices has been and remains relentless. Just look at the chart of Crude Oil over the last few weeks. What do we see? We see new all time highs in prices accompanied on the heels of new all time highs in weekly MACD, which is Bullish Upside Momentum, -- a 9 Week RSI near +90 -- a sign of HUGE upside momentum -- and prices trending or “walking” up the one year upper Bollinger Band? There is no inflation; what a crock!

http://www.financialsense.com/Market/wrapup.htm

[Kolesar]

8. Actually, manufacturing output in Ohio has recovered

Automation has meant that we get that large output with less employment, though. There are still jobs to be found in manufacturing. The technical schools and colleges in Ohio have started special programs to train candidates because there has been a shortage of people who understand manufacturing concepts.

Note to anyone who hasn’t been asleep under a tree for the last 25 years, the US Manufacturing Base has been EXPORTED, and as a result, since we don’t make many things here anymore, a lower currency will NOT help the Balance of Trade Improve because most of the heavy industry is now somewhere else. There is NO DOMESTIC MANUFACTURING BASE to FALL BACK ON in lieu of rising Import Prices. Textiles, China, footwear, China, auto tires, China, -- the list goes on and on.

[AnneD]

35. Morning Marketeers...

:donut: and lurkers. It is always a pleasure to start my day here-no matter what is in store for us. I always vote it up even if I can't post. Even when I see the business 'recaps' at night-I find that I know more than what they are covering because of the info I get on this thread.

Boreal, you bring up a very good point that many of our leaders in DC forget. Many of our American companies are not American any more-but are multinational conglomerates or based offshore. If this is the case (and as you aptly put it, it is), what loyalty do they have to the American consumer. Their loyalty lasts as long as our ability to pay- and that is drying up fast what with our depreciating dollar. Are these companies hurt or sorry. Hell no, they go to these up and coming economies and peddle their trinkets there. The only way to prevent this imbalance act quickly to staunch the vital flow of money and expertise from this country. An cheap dollar will make our goods cheaper.....BUT YOU HAVE TO HAVE GOODS TO SELL. As it stands now-all we can sell are our assets. I don't know about you guys but I get nervous selling ports and toll roads.



Happy hunting and watch out for the bears.....

[Hugin]

39. Morning AnneD...

:hangover:

"YOU HAVE TO HAVE GOODS TO SELL. As it stands now-all we can sell are our assets. I don't know about you guys but I get nervous selling ports and toll roads."

Hear! Hear! Not to mention, I'd rather have a reliable market selling to Americans (Which... By-the-by, was at one
time the world's largest market. Back when there was a middle class) Than base our livelihoods on selling trinkets
in someone else's fickle market.

[Ghost Dog]

40. Go for QUALITY. John Coltrane, for example,

renders me speechless.

Um. >Ok. 'Nough said.

[Hugin]

41. ...

I demand PREMIUM Lead in my toys!


:rofl:

[AnneD]

43. When a gallon of gas....

costs less than a gallon of milk-we're in trouble. A little premium on those cornflakes Prag:spray:

[Hugin]

53. Looks like I need to find a good street corner from which to sell my...

assets. :D

[Roland99]

57. What better way to exercise your...

options?

[Ghost Dog]

48. No. Yeah. I mean to say,

(in the context of (relative) freedom of expression),

The USA's (so-called) "cultural" exports are not all, entirely, vacuous.

And, yes, I have read, amongst other things, what Frances Stoner Saunders has had to say on the issue...

(Books, certain books (thoughts, ideas, theater, cinema, ...) used to be (illegitimately) illegal in Spain, as elsewhere. Thanks, in part, to the USA that was so. Thanks, in part, also to the USA that is no longer, for the moment, so.

Although I feel myself under significant pressure, a self-exiled "Leftish" Brit here in mainland Southern Europe, I still find myself attempting to say: "It's not that simple. There are good reasons to defend the USA."

Of course, there are also plenty of good reasons not to.

[ozymandius]

5. Today's Reports

8:30 AM Retail Sales Oct
Briefing Forecast 0.0%
Market Expects 0.2%
Prior 0.6%

8:30 AM Retail Sales ex-auto Oct
Briefing Forecast 0.2%
Market Expects 0.3%
Prior 0.4%

8:30 AM PPI Oct
Briefing Forecast 0.1%
Market Expects 0.3%
Prior 1.1%

8:30 AM Core PPI Oct
Briefing Forecast 0.1%
Market Expects 0.2%
Prior 0.1%

10:00 AM Business Inventories Sep
Briefing Forecast 0.6%
Market Expects 0.4%
Prior 0.1%

10:30 AM Crude Inventories 11/09
Briefing Forecast NA
Market Expects NA
Prior -821K

http://biz.yahoo.com/c/e.html

[UpInArms]

25. 8:30 reports and they're all good!

02. U.S. retail sales up 5.2% in past year
8:30 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 9 minutes ago

03. U.S. core PPI up 2.5% in past year
8:30 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 9 minutes ago

04. U.S. Oct. retail gasoline sales up 0.8%
8:30 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 9 minutes ago

05. U.S. Oct. PPI up 6.1% in past year
8:30 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 9 minutes ago

06. U.S. Oct. retail auto sales up 0.2%
8:30 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 9 minutes ago

07. U.S. Oct. intermediate PPI up 0.1%
8:30 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 9 minutes ago

08. U.S. Oct. retail sales ex-autos up 0.2% vs. 0.3% expected
8:30 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 9 minutes ago

09. U.S. Oct. crude goods PPI up 2.4%
8:30 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 9 minutes ago

10. U.S. Sept. retail sales revised to 0.7% vs. 0.6% previous
8:30 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 9 minutes ago

11. U.S. Oct. PPI energy prices down 0.8%
8:30 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 9 minutes ago

12. U.S. Oct. retail sales up 0.2% vs. 0.1% expected
8:30 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 9 minutes ago

13. U.S. Oct. core PPI flat vs. 0.1% gain expected
8:30 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 9 minutes ago

14. U.S. Oct. PPI up 0.1% vs. 0.1% expected
8:30 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 9 minutes ago

[UpInArms]

58. Business Inventories Report:

87. U.S. Aug. business inventories rise revised 0.3%
10:00 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 7 hours ago

88. U.S. Sept. business sales rise 0.6%
10:00 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 7 hours ago

89. U.S. Sept. business inventories rise 0.4%
10:00 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 7 hours ago

[Buttercup McToots]

6. Deutsche Bank Foreclosures Tossed Out of Ohio Federal Court - "They Own Nothing!"

Sorry this is long, but I think it is important...

Deutsche Bank Foreclosures Tossed Out of Ohio Federal Court - "They Own Nothing!"
2007-11-12

by Moe Bedard and Aaron Krowne

Judge Christopher A. Boyko of the Eastern Ohio United States District Court, on October 31, 2007 dismissed 14 Deutsche Bank-filed foreclosures in a ruling based on lack of standing for not owning/holding the mortgage loan at the time the lawsuits were filed.

Judge Boyko issued an order requiring the Plaintiffs in a number of pending foreclosure cases to file a copy of the executed Assignment demonstrating Plaintiff (Deutsche Bank) was the holder and owner of the Note and Mortgage as of the date the Complaint was filed, or the court would enter a dismissal.

The Court's amended General Order No. 2006-16 requires Plaintiff (Deutsche Bank) to submit an affidavit along with the complaint, which identifies Plaintiff as the original mortgage holder, or as an assignee, trustee or successor-interest.

Apparently Deutsche bank submitted several affidavits that claim that Deutsche was in fact the owner of the mortgage note, but none of these affidavits mention assignment or trust or successor interest.

Thus, the Judge ruled that in every instance, these submissions create a "conflict" and they "do not satisfy" the burden of demonstrating at the time of filing the complaint, that Deutsche Bank was in fact the "legal" note holder.

While the decision is great for homeowners in distress (due to providing a new escape hatch out of foreclosure), it is a big blow to the cause of sorting out the high-finance side of the mortgage mess.

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid Attorney, April Charney, broke this news to us via email and made these comments in regards to the Ohio Federal Court ruling (emphasis ours):

This court order is what I have been saying in my cases. This is rampant fraud on every court in America or nonjudicial foreclosure fraud where the securitized trusts are filing foreclosures when they never own/hold the mortgage loan at the commencement of the foreclosure.

That means that the loans are clearly in default at the time of any eventual transfer of the ownership of the mortgage loans to the trusts. This means that the loans are being held by the originating lenders after the alleged "sale" to the trust despite what it says per the pooling and servicing agreements and despite what the securities laws require.

This also means that many securitized trusts don't really, legally own these bad loans.

In my cases, many of the trusts try to argue equitable assignment that predates the filing of the foreclosure, but a securitized trust cannot take an equitable assignment of a mortgage loan. It also means that the securitized trusts own nothing.

So with this decision, it appears confirmed that investors in the mortgage debacle may in fact own nothing---not even the bad loans they funded! It seems their right to the cash flow from the underlying properties does not extend to ownership of the properties themselves; thus clouding the recovery picture considerably.

Charney further remarked to us:

This opinion, once circulated and adopted by state and Federal courts across the country, will stop the progress of foreclosures, at first in judicial foreclosure states, across America, dead in their tracks.

We agree with additional remarks Charney made pointing out that this decision has major adverse implications for the prospects of an amicable financial workout for the various investor contingents in mortgage-backed securities (MBSes). Doubt is cast on where the full write-downs will eventually land, and this uncertainty can only be expected to further harm the market value of MBS and MBS-based synthetic securities, already in shambles purely due to rising underlying delinquencies. Investors in these securities might have assumed---wrongly, it turns out---that they actually owned some "real estate" in these deals.

To paraphrase Jim Cramer, "They own nothing!"

< page 1 >
It appears that Judge Christopher A. Boyko of the Eastern Ohio United States District Court is one of hopefully many federal and state judges who understand the basics of American Common Law.

Perhaps he even peruses this site and saw this very question of contract law; e.g. when individuals/entities enter into a contract, one of those entities cannot simply assign their interest in that contract to another party w/o the expressed written permission of the original contract signatory(ies).

It seems to me, this is how many Citizens in the USA in the 1990's voided their mortgages, etc. through a financial/legal action called a "Strawman Redemption". I never really understood nor accepted the legality of these SR's until recently.

Now that we have witnessed the illegal packaging and trading of primary mortgages/contracts by the banks and brokerages without the expressed written permission of the mortgage holder; I appreciate how some used 'strawman redemptions' to undo this non-judicial action.

Ergo, it appears original holders of 'sub-prime mortgages' can seek the protection of the federal district and perhaps state courts to maintain their interest in their home, which is threatened by the non-judicial, commercial actions of parasitical financial pirates.

It would also appear to me that if a home owner lives in a jurisdiction hostile to their interests they could protect their home with the so-called 'strawman redemption' or the plethora of common law tools which include:

Writs of Error
Writs of Prohibition
Writs of Mandamus

filed in both their state and a nearby federal district court.

Thereafter, American Citizens holding mortgages could be regarded by the courts as the 'senior trustee' of the property and protected from foreclosure and any other efforts to extort financial considerations.

Naturally, said trustees would be expected to pay a monthly fee to any parties authorized by the courts to receive a financial consideration. Which parties could include, charities, government taxing entities, financial institutions or individuals.

It would appear that this monthly fee must obviously be established by real market valuation of the home as opposed to financial spekilations.

Lady Pika, may I suggest that your legal experience armed with the above noted Common Law tools and tempered by a thorough understanding of Jude Boyko’s ruling via interviews with the Judge and the parties to this lawsuit, could do a world of good for your family, friends and neighbors facing these same financial parasites in Michigan state?



http://iamfacingforeclosure.com/article/20071113_Boyko/01.html

[ozymandius]

7. HA! The buyers of the securities were sold a "bill of goods".

To me, that means if any financial recovery is to be attempted then legal action would then be redirected to the agents or agencies that bundled these bad loans as "securities".

Pirates, indeed; parasites, indeed. These people who packaged subprime loans as "sure bets" merely took a different path to commit fraud. Everyone with a brain knows some other sucker has already purchased the Brooklyn Bridge.

[Buttercup McToots]

13. This has implications all over the country...

quote "An acquaintance of mine had a similar situation on the sale of a note for some of his heavy equipment...yep...the same type of deal, it was sold so many times, over a few years that NOBODY actually had any of the original paperwork and documentation...of course he did....but he wasn't telling anybody that he had it !...He quit making the payments when the new finance company told him there were extensions that were "tacked onto" the back of the loan for whatever scam they thought they could pull....THATS how he found out they had NO documentation from origination

The court THREW it out, and told the finance company to NOT WASTE the courts time!!...Like my buddy said:...Hell, if I knew THAT.. I would have quit making payments years ago"... end quote

[fasttense]

14. Now, there is a twist I didn't expect. n/t

[DemReadingDU]

15. It's really bad in Cleveland, Ohio

11/12/07
As the Treasurer of Cuyahoga County in Ohio, Jim Rokakis spends a lot of his time trying to deal with Cleveland's foreclosure crisis.

When asked recently just how bad it is, Rokakis unfurled a six-foot by four-foot Cleveland city plot map. Each lot was covered with dots of red ink where foreclosed homes filled the plots. From a few feet away, the map looked heavily freckled, while some neighborhoods nearly melted together in crimson masses.

Foreclosures hit Cleveland early and hard. By the summer of 2007, it had four of the top 21 ZIP codes for foreclosure filings in the United States. According to RealtyTrac, the city's 44105 ZIP, known as the Slavic Village, was the hardest hit U.S. community with 783 filings.

What made Cleveland the nation's foreclosure epicenter?

more...
http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/12/real_estate/Cleveland_foreclosure_factors/index.htm?postversion=2007111315


edit to add: This really should have been posted as a reply to #19, Foreclosure filings up in metro areas.

[Demeter]

24. WOW! Double WOW!

Who needs a 9/11 Conspiracy, when this is blatant and proveable! And it will take the wind out of the Overlords' sails just as effectively....

[InkAddict]

26. What of those who have gone before?

Does this mean that the county sheriffs have been the agents of fraud, receiving "stolen" property, property whose lawful and true owners are uncertain at best, and then selling it for their counties' cut?

[AnneD]

36. Great read Buttercup....

definantly one to bookmark and follow. Good catch.

[snot]

38. Hold on -- even if

the mortgages were not properly assigned, somebody still owns them.

I haven't read the court opinion, but sounds like, 'though this may be a giant glitch, but it doesn't mean the mortgages can never be foreclosed.

[Buttercup McToots]

42. I don't know...

But the implications are enormous...
We have to research and see what else comes out of this decision...
But spread the word to all you know that could be affected...
If proper paper work was never filled out as the
sub prime loans were being sold and resold and resold and resold,
and the bank that ended up with them as the owner couldn't keep up
payments, said bank then started foreclosure proceedings
but couldn't produce the proper paper work...
Hence...thrown out...
Very simplistic I know, but I'm not a rocket scientist in this area.
Sounds like a big loophole has developed
and the banks & whoever else (greedy bastards)might be left
with their shorts down...and their fanny blowing in the breeze...

Just my take...
And this adds more complication to an already complicated and almost impossible
situation to understand. Hurts my brain...

I'll look for my info...

[Hugin]

55. They may have 'churned' themselves into a corner...

Would serve them right.

[ozymandius]

9. Oil prices rebound in Asian trading

SINGAPORE - Oil prices rebounded modestly in Asian trading Wednesday as traders bought contracts after they dropped sharply in the previous session.

Crude prices had declined sharply after the International Energy Agency cut its demand forecasts and said Tuesday that crude supplies are rising.

"Essentially, what the IEA indicated was that high crude prices were weighing down on oil demand," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "The news is seen as bearish for the market."

The IEA, an energy policy adviser to 26 predominantly Western industrialized nations, lowered its fourth-quarter oil demand forecasts by 500,000 barrels a day, and cut its demand forecasts for 2008 by 300,000 barrels a day. Year-over-year demand growth will now average 1.2 percent in 2007 and 2.3 percent in 2008, the IEA said.

-cut-

Whether Tuesday's sharp decline marks the beginning of the end of an oil bubble remains to be seen. Analysts say investors who still believe oil will rise above $100 will swoop in to "buy the dips" whenever oil prices fall.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_prices

[ozymandius]

10. Petroleum inventory report will be delayed until Thursday n/t

[ozymandius]

11. No need for more oil now, OPEC tells U.S

RIYADH (Reuters) - OPEC sees no need to increase oil production at the moment, Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri said on Wednesday, rejecting a U.S. appeal to boost output sooner than the producer group's meeting next month.

U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said on Tuesday he had asked the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to agree as early as this week to increase oil production to tackle falling inventory levels and high crude prices.

But OPEC officials have said they will not act on policy at this week's heads of state summit in Riyadh, reserving discussion until they meet formally in Abu Dhabi on December 5.

"I would like to say to the Energy Secretary... that we don't want to see any shortage in supply, that this question will be raised in our meeting in Abu Dhabi," Badri told a news conference ahead of an OPEC heads of state summit in the Saudi capital.

"At this time, frankly, we don't see that we should add more oil, but this is up to the ministers to decide."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071114/bs_nm/opec_badri_dc_1

[UpInArms]

21. Study says lower income people effectively pay 8 times more to fill up;

broader economy could feel sting.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/13/news/economy/gas_burden/index.htm?eref=yahoo

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Lower-income Americans spend eight times more of their disposable income on gasoline than wealthier residents do.

The disparity is dramatic. In Wilcox, Ala., people spend 12.72 percent of their income to fuel one vehicle, according to a new study from the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS). In Hunterdon County, N.J., people spend 1.52 percent.

The study illustrates the impact rising oil prices are having on people's budgets. Many economists have downplayed the effect gasoline prices will have on consumer spending. But with prices now pushing above $3 and studies like this, some say the economy may take a hit.

"It's stinging less in some areas than it is in others," said Fred Rozell, retail pricing director at OPIS, an energy research firm. "It's tough out there for a lot of people."

The most painful places to fill up were in Alabama, Mississippi or Kentucky. In each case residents there pay more than 11 percent of their income to fuel their car.

...more...

[ozymandius]

12. BofA $3B write-down adds to credit angst

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Bank of America Corp. said Tuesday it will take a $3 billion debt-related write-down in the fourth quarter and warned its losses could grow, adding to fears the nation's housing and mortgage-lending slump might exact a greater toll than in the wretched third quarter — when industrywide write-downs topped $40 billion.

The Charlotte-based bank said it will also spend about $600 million to support a group of its money market funds because of "uncertainty around the value" of the funds' investments. Of specific concern are the funds' holdings in structured investment vehicles, which use borrowed money to make risky but potentially high-yielding investments.

"These are not normal times," said Bank of America chief financial officer Joe Price, who added the bank is also setting aside more money for potential losses it considers "manageable."

Despite the announcement, Bank of America shares rose $2.29, or 5.2 percent, to $46.27 Tuesday. Investors were likely heartened by Price's comments about Bank of America's investment in China Construction Bank, which he said had posted a gain on paper of more than $30 billion. The company paid $3 billion in 2005 for an 8.5 percent stake in the Chinese bank.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071113/ap_on_bi_ge/bank_of_america_writedown

[UpInArms]

16. dollar watch

http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DX&v=i

Last trade 75.555 Change -0.283 (-0.37%)

Will Retail Sales Be Strong Enough to Trigger a Turn in the US Dollar?

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/bio1/Will_Retail_Sales_Be_Strong_1194993546958.html

Even though the US dollar has seen some big moves over the past two trading days, the volatility was not triggered by a shift in the market’s attitude towards the dollar but instead by the sharp swings in the US equity markets and carry trades. This dynamic will change when we receive the reports on US retail sales and producer prices tomorrow. Normally these numbers can single handedly make or break it for the US dollar but unfortunately traders these days have become very skeptical. The forecasts for retail sales are low which means that even if they come out better than expected the market will question whether a strong pace of spending is sustainable. With non-farm payrolls holding steady over the past few months, consumer spending may be less affected by higher food and energy costs. Also, gas prices did not tick higher until November which means that there is a stronger case for dollar positive numbers. Pending home sales today was good as well, rising by 0.2 percent instead of dropping 2.5 percent like the market expected. As for inflation, analysts are expecting a tepid rise on month to month basis, but on an annualized basis, inflation growth is expected to hit a 2 year high. The combination of a weaker dollar and rising food and energy prices should lead to stronger inflation. Whether that will have a lasting impact on the US dollar however remains to be seen. When Bernanke gave his testimony to the Joint Economic Committee last week he focused more heavily on the downside risks to growth than the upside risk to inflation. Tomorrow’s numbers will tell us whether Bernanke’s balance of risk assessment was right.

Carry Trades Come Close to Erasing Tuesday Losses

The Dow is up 320 points and the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX) is down 7, paving the way for a sharp rebound in carry trades. There was no real news to drive the price action other than stronger than expected earnings by Wal-Mart and a 3 percent drop in oil prices. Although it may be tempting to believe that the downtrend in carry trades is over, with the exception of USDJPY, none of the Japanese yen crosses managed to close the US trading session above yesterday’s highs. This is not to say that the rebound will not continue but the lack of any real news to support the move makes it questionable. The Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged last night at 0.5 percent, which was right in line with expectations. GDP growth was also stronger than expected thanks to a rise in exports. Part of the Yen’s weakness today was blamed on the comments from Prime Minister Fukuda who warned against a rapid rise in the Yen, but he also indicated that he had no problems with long term appreciation in the currency. It appears that 110 is the line in the sand for the Japanese government and if we break that again we could hear more serious calls for intervention.

...more...

Euro Returns to 1.4700, Double Top or New Highs?

http://www.dailyfx.com/story/bio2/Euro_Returns_to_1_4700__Double_1195039994008.html

EURUSD continued its climb in overnight trade making its way back to the 1.4700 level, boosted by supportive global equity price action which spurred the return of the carry trade flows in the currency market. As the Nikkei, Footsie and Dax all rallied in the wake of yesterday 300+ gain in the Dow, risk appetite returned prompting traders to once again put on the carry trades which were liquidated just a few days ago.

The euro was also helped by the relatively strong GDP data out of the EZ as Q3 numbers printed at 0.7% vs. 0.6% expected - more than twice the growth rate of Q2. The news suggested that the region’s expansion remains robust with corporate investment responsible for the bulk of the improvement in data.

Whether the region can maintain this steady pace of growth remains to be seen. Many analysts believe that the high cost of energy and record high exchange rate will weigh down on EZ performance in 2008. Even the European Commission reduced its expectations next year from 2.5% to 2.2% given these factors. However, euro strength has served to offset the high energy costs to some extent while industrial production has been able to adapt to the higher exchange rate regime with minimal impact on growth. That dynamic may changing, as the latest EZ data points to more serious slowdown in the manufacturing sector, but for now the performance of the EZ economy appears solid and the market continues to give the currency the benefit of the doubt expecting further rate hikes from the ECB.

...more...

[UpInArms]

18. Miami condo at ground zero in mortgage fraud

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1246626320071113?sp=true

MIAMI (Reuters) - At first glance, the 43-story building in Miami's international banking district seems little different from other high-rise condominiums overlooking the turquoise waters of Biscayne Bay.

But the 643-unit condo known as the Club at Brickell is a leader in mortgage foreclosures and it appears also to stand at ground zero in a blizzard of fraud that may lie behind many of the failed loans threatening to bury the U.S. property market.

America's subprime mortgage crisis is partly due to predatory, or aggressive, lenders, hard-sell tactics by mortgage brokers and an easing of underwriting standards in the $10 trillion home-loan industry.

<snip>

The dubious transactions all fit a pattern that Theobald said should trigger "bells and whistles" for law enforcement anywhere -- time and time again properties that failed to sell for months when listed at around $450,000 were pulled from the market and then suddenly sold for more than $800,000.

Florida leads the nation when it comes to mortgage fraud, according to the Virginia-based Mortgage Asset Research Institute, a group that works closely with the U.S. Mortgage Bankers Association.

...more...

[UpInArms]

19. Foreclosure filings up in metro areas

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071114/ap_on_bi_ge/foreclosure_rates

LOS ANGELES - Homeowners across the U.S. are increasingly having trouble making their mortgage payments on time, but borrowers in metro areas of California, Florida and other once-booming housing markets are accounting for the biggest spikes in foreclosure filings, according to a mortgage research company.

An analysis of foreclosure activity in the nation's largest 100 metropolitan areas during the three months ended Sept. 30 shows seven cities in California and five each in Florida and Ohio were among the top 25 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates, according to the study being released Wednesday by RealtyTrac Inc.

The Irvine-based company calculates its foreclosure rate ranking by comparing the number of households in a metro area with the number of foreclosure filings, which include notices of default, auction sale notices or bank repossessions.

Stockton, about 83 miles east of San Francisco, had the highest foreclosure rate in the third quarter among the top 100 metro areas, with one foreclosure filing for every 31 households, RealtyTrac said.

Detroit was second, with one foreclosure filing for every 33 households. The Riverside-San Bernardino metro area, located about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, was third, with one filing for every 43 households.

...more...

[UpInArms]

20. Money (market) funds set aside cash for trouble

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071114/ap_on_bi_co_ne/of_mutual_interest

NEW YORK - One of the safest and, lately, most attractive places for people to park some of their savings — the money market account — is suddenly looking a little less secure thanks to fallout out from the mortgage mess.

Bank of America Corp. on Tuesday became the latest financial company to announce plans to shore up a group of money market funds, in its case with a $600 million reserve. The move raises questions about whether this category of savings might suffer hits that are serious enough to cause losses for investors.

The notion that some money market funds might give investors less than a dollar-for-dollar return on their investment, an occurrence known as "breaking the buck," is a sobering thought. Some experts say it remains unlikely, however.

The Bank of America funds have run into trouble with a type of investment known as a structured investment vehicle, or SIV, which uses borrowed money to invest in risky but high-yielding investments. These often complex transactions have operated, and made money, on a basic principle: that borrowing was easy to do and cheap.

When the market for risky mortgages collapsed this year, credit in general got squeezed, and SIVs have suffered badly. Still, Peter Crane, president of Crane Data LLC, which tracks money market mutual funds, says he doesn't believe this will wind up hurting the average money market client.

...more...

[UpInArms]

22. HSBC mortgage takes $3.4B charge in US - to close 260 branches

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071114/ap_on_bi_ge/britain_hsbc

LONDON - HSBC Holdings PLC will take a $3.4 billion charge against third-quarter profits because of accelerating losses at its HSBC Finance Corp. mortgage business in the United States, the company said Wednesday.

That is $1.4 billion (960 million euros) more than expected based on first-half trends, and the bank said it was shutting another 260 branches in the U.S. consumer finance division.

HSBC warned that the subprime crisis could deepen and said further volatility as a result of the credit crunch was "more than a remote possibility"

"There is the probability of further deterioration if the current housing market distress continues and further impacts the broader economy," the company said.

The 2.3 billion-euro charge follows last year's $10.6 billion bad debt exposure, which led to HSBC's first-ever profit warning.

...more...

[UpInArms]

23. Uh-oh. It's Enron all over again

http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/13/news/companies/bulldog_enron.fortune/index.htm

(Fortune Magazine) -- Start with the headlines about off-balance-sheet entities known as structured investment vehicles, or SIVs (or sieves, as some wags are calling them). As Gertrude Stein never said, an off-balance-sheet vehicle is an off-balance-sheet vehicle is an off-balance-sheet vehicle.

Just as Enron's off-balance-sheet vehicles were propping up its stock price by camouflaging the company's real financial results, so SIVs were inflating the credit market by providing demand for the complex securities created out of mortgages and loans used to finance buyouts.

Like Enron's off-balance-sheet vehicles, SIVs were invisible to those on the outside -- and to many on the inside -- until they weren't. When times were good, these creations made money for their sponsors, but when times changed, they became a problem for the rest of us.

It's a little bit like "heads I win, tails you lose," which is pretty much how a former Enron executive described that company's off-balance-sheet vehicles.

In both cases, part of the problem was that the rating agencies, which are supposed to serve as watchdogs, were blindly optimistic, either through sheer incompetence or because of conflicts of interest. Just as Enron's investment-grade rating -- which it kept until four days before its bankruptcy -- turned out to be an illusion, so did the investment-grade ratings on many mortgage-backed securities.

"Structured finance," as the Street calls the black art of making one thing look like something else, couldn't transform Enron from a money-losing company into a moneymaking one, and it couldn't make subprime mortgages into investment-grade debt.

...more...

[happygoluckytoyou]

27. IN RELATED NEWS------>

AT LEAST WE ARE REBUILDING IRAQ

AT LEAST OUR BRIDGES AREN'T FALLING DOWN AROUND US

AT LEAST WE CAN SPEND TO CONTROL OUR FIRES

AT LEAST OUR INFRASTRUCTURE IS STRONG

GOOD THING WE DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

GLAD OUR TAXES ARE GOING DOWN

GOOD THING WE DON'T HAVE THOSE DAMN TAX AND SPEND DEMOCRATS RUNNING THINGS... JUST THE "DONT TAX" AND SPEND REPUBLICANS

GOOD THING I HAVE ALL MY MONEY TIED UP IN LUNCH

[Mira]

28. Your last sentence is the best laugh I've had in ages ! Thank you

[Zenlitened]

29. Wow. It's like "True Confessions" time for Ben. B. - n/t

[DemReadingDU]

30. Whitney: A Nation on borrowed time

11/12/07 On Monday, Asian stock markets took another drubbing on fears that the credit squeeze which began in the United States would continue to worsen in the months ahead. Every index from Tokyo to Sidney fell sharply continuing the “self-reinforcing” vicious cycle of losses started last week on Wall Street. The Nikkei 225 average fell 3.3%, India’s Sensex dropped 2.9%, Taiwan tumbled 3.5%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slumped a whopping 4.5%. The subprime tsunami is presently headed towards downtown Manhattan, where nervous traders are already hunkered-down in the trenches---ashen and wide-eyed-- awaiting the opening bell. Local supermarkets reported an unexpected early–morning run on Valium and Tylenol. Good thinking.
.
.
For now, the stock market may slip the noose, but tomorrow could be different. The subprime orgy of endless credit expansion, speculative frenzy and murky accounting wizardry has generated a system-wide crisis. The financial apparatus has thrown a rod and is in dire need of repair. At the same time, the big-hand continues to edge ever-closer to midnight. We’re on borrowed time. The dollar is flagging, the banks are floundering, the consumer is upside-down, and Greenspan’s trillion-dollar “easy-credit” dirigible is crashing to earth.

The only thing looking up is oil futures. And they’ll be denominated in euros soon enough.

more...
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18713.htm

[Hugin]

31. ~9:30 ET: And based on nothing, but, an itch in Wal-mart's pants the lemmings continue their march..

to the sea.

Index Last Change % change
• DJIA 13361.39 +54.30 +0.41%
• NASDAQ 2692.15 +18.50 +0.69%
• S&P 500 1491.10 +10.05 +0.68%

Let's see... The full impact of the newly risen retail energy costs haven't really hit yet.
The full impact of having the lowest valued Dollar in collective memory hasn't hit yet.
The rate changes on all of those fancy mortgages haven't hit yet...

All good reasons for a rally. :eyes:

Let the jobless senseless 'recovery' continue with irrational exuberance!

(yay team.)

[DemReadingDU]

33. Roubini: The Next Shoe to Drop in the Credit Meltdown:

11/14/07 The Next Shoe to Drop in the Credit Meltdown: Commercial Real Estate and Its Massive Forthcoming Losses

While everyone’s attention is concentrated on subprime and other residential mortgages, as first reported by this blogger this past July the next shoe to drop - in the mortgage and credit crunch saga - will be commercial real estate (CRE); indeed investors’ worries and panic are now shifting towards CRE and its related securitized products (CMBS and CMBX).

The reasons for this coming bust are clear. Commercial real estate – or more generally non-residential investment in structures - includes two main elements: office buildings, shopping centers/malls; and construction of structures for the manufacturing sectors (i.e. new factories). Both components are now under stress. The reason why we will observe a sharp slowdown in construction of new offices and shopping centers is that, with a lag, commercial real estate follows residential real estate.

lots more...
http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/226654

[Hugin]

34. They will -never- bring up the 'Leveraged buyouts'...

Which were all the rage not too long ago.

Where'd everybody think all that 'leverage' was coming from? :shrug:


Edit: Replaced 'to' with 'too'... I'd swear I typed 'too' the first time.

[TrogL]

37. Loonie Watch

Highlights

Current:



30-day and 90-day vs.greenback:



30-day vs. Euro, Yen, UK Pound and Swiss Franc




Currency Comparison: http://members.shaw.ca/trogl/looniewatch.html

Detailed analysis: http://quotes.ino.com/exchanges/?r=CME_CD

Up-to-the-minute graph: http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=CME_CD.Y%24%24&v=s&w=5&t=l&a=1

Historical values http://www.x-rates.com/d/USD/CAD/data30.html

2007-10-03 Wednesday, October 3 1.00392 USD
2007-10-04 Thursday, October 4 1.002 USD
2007-10-05 Friday, October 5 1.01885 USD
2007-10-08 Monday, October 8 1.01885 USD
2007-10-09 Tuesday, October 9 1.01564 USD
2007-10-10 Wednesday, October 10 1.01906 USD
2007-10-11 Thursday, October 11 1.02627 USD
2007-10-12 Friday, October 12 1.02701 USD
2007-10-15 Monday, October 15 1.02501 USD
2007-10-16 Tuesday, October 16 1.0227 USD
2007-10-17 Wednesday, October 17 1.02712 USD
2007-10-18 Thursday, October 18 1.02743 USD
2007-10-19 Friday, October 19 1.03767 USD
2007-10-22 Monday, October 22 1.01926 USD
2007-10-23 Tuesday, October 23 1.03381 USD
2007-10-24 Wednesday, October 24 1.02987 USD
2007-10-25 Thursday, October 25 1.03381 USD
2007-10-26 Friday, October 26 1.03961 USD
2007-10-29 Monday, October 29 1.04745 USD
2007-10-30 Tuesday, October 30 1.04888 USD
2007-10-31 Wednesday, October 31 1.05307 USD
2007-11-01 Thursday, November 1 1.05296 USD
2007-11-02 Friday, November 2 1.06838 USD
2007-11-05 Monday, November 5 1.07101 USD
2007-11-06 Tuesday, November 6 1.0819 USD
2007-11-07 Wednesday, November 7 1.09075 USD
2007-11-08 Thursday, November 8 1.07492 USD
2007-11-09 Friday, November 9 1.06553 USD
2007-11-12 Monday, November 12 1.06553 USD
2007-11-13 Tuesday, November 13 1.03745 USD

Current values

http://quotes.ino.com/exchanges/?r=CME_CD)

Market            Open   High    Low   Last  Change    Pct 
CD.Y$$ Cash     1.0462 1.0485 1.0457 1.0457 +0.0081 +0.78% 
CD.Z07 Dec 2007 1.0472 1.0492 1.0455 1.0455 +0.0083 +0.80% 
CD.H08 Mar 2008 1.0473 1.0473 1.0365 1.0370 +0.0005 +0.05% 
CD.M08 Jun 2008 1.0799 1.0810 1.0690 1.0363 +0.0001 +0.01% 
CD.U08 Sep 2008 1.0380 1.0380 1.0380 1.0356 -0.0001 -0.01% 
CD.Z08 Dec 2008 1.0387 1.0395 1.0387 1.0349 -0.0003 -0.03% 
CD.H09 Mar 2009 1.0927 1.0927 1.0927 1.0342 -0.0005 -0.05% 

Other combinations: (http://quotes.ino.com/exchanges/?c=currencies)

Market              Open    High     Low    Last   Change     Pct 
AUSTRALIAN $/CANADIAN $ (NYBOT:AS)
AS.Z07 Dec 2007   0.8754  0.8754  0.8754  0.8588  +0.0139   +1.62%   
AUSTRALIAN $/US$ (NYBOT:AU)
AU.Z07 Dec 2007  0.89075 0.89075 0.89075 0.89075  +0.00895  +1.00%  
CANADIAN $/JAPANESE YEN (NYBOT:HY)
HY.Z07 Dec 2007   124.26  124.26  123.52  114.34  +0.55     +0.48%  
EURO/AUSTRALIAN $ (NYBOT:RA)
RA.Z07 Dec 2007  1.60300 1.60300 1.60300 1.63960  -0.01165  -0.71%  
EURO/BRITISH POUND (NYBOT:GB)
GB.Z07 Dec 2007  0.70700 0.71220 0.70700 0.71080  +0.00405  +0.57%   
EURO/CANADIAN $ (NYBOT:EP)
EP.Z07 Dec 2007  1.39720 1.39720 1.39720 1.40830  +0.01305  +0.93%  
EURO/JAPANESE YEN (NYBOT:EJ)
EJ.Z07 Dec 2007   162.60  163.30  162.60  163.13  +2.13     +1.33   
EURO/US$ (LARGE) (NYBOT:EU)
EU.Z07 Dec 2007  1.44620 1.46620 1.44620 1.46065  +0.00450  +0.31%  

Blather (from http://quotes.ino.com/exchanges/?r=CME_CD)

The December Canadian Dollar was higher overnight as it consolidates some of Monday's decline. Stochastics and the RSI remain bearish signaling that sideways to lower prices are possible near- term. If December extends the decline off last week's high, reaction low crossing at 101.79 is the next downside target. Closes above the 10-day moving average crossing at 106.14 would temper the near-term bearish outlook in the market. First resistance is the 10-day moving average crossing at 106.14. Second resistance is last Friday's high crossing at 110.09 First support is Tuesday's low crossing at 102.70. Second support is the reaction low crossing at 101.79.

Analysis

Uh, oh. It's on its way up again. I'm reminded of my mother telling me to get down from a really tall (and frankly dangerous) tree, but it was so kewl being up there I couldn't resist. What's really crazy is while the bot's finally given up on "uncharted territory" the high and low crossings are at 10% of the loonie's value. Or in other words, "this is the place where anything can happen and probably will".

[Ghost Dog]

44. German rail strike starts amid urgent calls for talks

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071114/bs_afp/germanyrailstrike_071114145638;_ylt=AngbFIqXI1RueDqRJoJJzaemOrgF
1 hour, 49 minutes ago

BERLIN (AFP) - German train drivers began a new 62-hour strike on freight services on Wednesday that industry and the government fear could have a dramatic impact on Europe's biggest economy.
ADVERTISEMENT
Click here to find out more!
Click here to find out more!

The strike started on freight services at 1100 GMT, with passenger train drivers to join in from 0100 GMT on Thursday.

Services are not expected to resume until 0100 GMT on Saturday.

The stoppage in Germany over the union's demands for a 31-percent pay rise and a separate contract from other rail workers represented a new peak in a dispute that has lasted three months.

...

The new strike threatens to paralyse key hubs such as the port of Hamburg because containers unloaded from ships cannot be transported to their final destination.



/(Raised fist, maybe forefinger also, on my part)... Workers (Wankers) of the World Unite! (US comments please)?...

[AnneD]

45. Chevron agrees to $30 million oil-for-food settlement

WASHINGTON — Chevron Corp. today agreed to pay $30 million to settle charges over its alleged role in illegal payments to Iraq related to oil purchase made in 2001 and 2002 through the United Nation's oil-for-food program, federal regulators said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Chevron agreed to the settlement brought under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations.

Chevron agreed to remit $25 million in profits and pay a $3 million civil penalty. The company also will pay the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Controls $2 million. Chevron will satisfy its profit obligation by forfeiting $20 million under an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and paying $5 million under an agreement with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

"This is the commission's fifth action against a company for participating in the Oil for Food kickback scheme and demonstrates our continuing commitment to combating violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act," Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said in a release.

<snip>

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5300865.html

Drugs for guns, oil for food....are we finally seeing a pattern here. Say, didn't some in this admin pimp...erh work on the Chevron Board. Wonder when the will ever check out Arbusto and Zapata dealings. It is really stinking here and I just don't mean the local refineries...:eyes:

[Ghost Dog]

51. It was "wire fraud", it seems:

According to the agreement, Chevron admitted obtaining Iraqi oil from third parties that paid secret, illegal surcharges to Saddam Hussein's regime, in violation of US wire fraud statutes and administrative regulations.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071114/ts_afp/unoiliraqjusticecompanychevron_071114174658;_ylt=ApU__35n03JJsbqqUV1_cFumOrgF

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

61. If they paid $30M, their profits were at least double or treble that.

:eyes: indeed.

[AnneD]

46. BP announces possible major Caspian gas find

LONDON — BP PLC made "a potentially significant" gas discovery in the Caspian Sea south of Azerbaijan, the British energy company said today.

Test results show sufficient gas at the Shah Deniz field for a second stage of development, BP said in a statement.

BP is leading the development of the field, and said it appears the second phase "will likely be similar or larger than stage 1" at 8.6 billion cubic meters a year.

The reservoir lies beneath an existing source at the Shah Deniz field, which lies in water depths between 164 feet and 1,968 feet, some 44 miles south east of Baku.

Azerbaijan's state oil company announced in September that natural gas reserves at the Shah Deniz field are believed to be nearly twice as large as previously estimated. Drilling at the field showed that total gas reserves could be as much as 1.2 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 240 million tons of gas condensate, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan said then.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5300401.html

Don't ya just love the foreigners sitting on OUR OIL :sarcasm:

[TrogL]

47. Guess they're gonna need that pipeline after all

[AnneD]

50. Who duv thunk it.....

:eyes:

[AnneD]

49. Foreclosure filings up in metro areas

LOS ANGELES — Homeowners across the U.S. are increasingly having trouble making their mortgage payments on time, but borrowers in metro areas of California, Florida and other once-booming housing markets are accounting for the biggest spikes in foreclosure filings, according to a mortgage research company.

<snip>

The housing market slump has made it harder for financially strapped home buyers to sell their homes and avoid missing payments or losing their homes in foreclosure. Increasingly, many borrowers who took out adjustable-rate mortgages and other loans that potentially adjust to higher monthly payments after an initial period are also finding they can't afford their payments.

<big snip>.

Dave Webb, co-owner of Hudson & Marshall, a foreclosure auction firm based in Dallas, said most of the properties being auctioned by his firm in inland areas of California are investment properties that ended up being repossessed by lenders after the market tanked.

<snip>

The properties that end up in foreclosure now, however, will likely be homes bought by first-time buyers and others with adjustable rate mortgages due to reset to higher monthly payments, he said.

"You'll see when we come back late next year," Webb said. "It will be mostly owner-occupied homes."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/5300252.html

Boy, he's more optimistic than I am.....

[Ghost Dog]

52. (uk) Bank chief warns of stock risks

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=stocksNews&storyid=2007-11-14T134203Z_01_GRI449169_RTRUKOC_0_BRITAIN-BANK-EQUITIES.xml&WTmodLoc=InvArt-C2-AlsoToday-3

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock markets around the world could be in line for falls and this could cause major ructions for the global economy, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said on Wednesday.

"It's very striking that despite developments we've seen in the last three months, equity prices are on average higher now than they were in August. This is true around the world and in emerging markets, they're 20 percent higher. There must be some downside risks there," King told reporters at a news conference.

The MSCI world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> hit a record high at the start of the month and some Asian stock markets are up almost 50 percent since the start of the year.

A fall in equity markets, he said, could have a bigger impact on the world economy than the recent credit squeeze.

"The repricing of risk we have talked about for some considerable time hasn't really fed through to markets such as equity markets and if there were to be an adjustment of risk premia in equity markets, with a fall in asset prices, then that could have a bigger impact on the world economy," King said.

/.

[Hugin]

54. Ructions?

Good lord! We've got RUCTIONS! :rofl:

[AnneD]

56. There's a cream for that...

at Walgreen's.

[UpInArms]

59. Lethal Bernanke Poot-Gas Blowings:

94. Bernanke says confident that Fed's forecasts will be wrong
9:10 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 8 hours ago

95. Bernanke: Inflation target does not fit with dual mandate
9:10 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 8 hours ago

96. Bernanke says conduct of monetary policy will not change
9:10 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 8 hours ago

97. Bernanke says headline inflation is goal of monetary policy
9:10 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 8 hours ago

98. FOMC forecast to include headline, core PCE inflation
9:10 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 8 hours ago

99. Fed has responsibility to be more open: Bernanke
9:10 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 8 hours ago

100. FOMC to expand content of forecasts, include narrative
9:10 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 8 hours ago

101. FOMC to release forecasts 4 times per year instead of 2
9:10 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 8 hours ago

102. First FOMC forecast to be released Tuesday Nov. 20
9:10 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 8 hours ago

103. FOMC to release more timely, expanded economic forecasts
9:10 AM ET, Nov 14, 2007 - 8 hours ago

why does Chopper Ben assert that the Fed is wrong? :crazy:

(edited 'cuz I missed a couple lines)

[UpInArms]

60. end o' the day - no winners at the roulette tables

Dow 13,231.01 76.08 (0.57%)
Nasdaq 2,644.32 29.33 (1.10%)
S&P 500 1,470.58 10.47 (0.71%)
10-Yr Bond 4.269% 0.013

NYSE Volume 4,031,473,750
Nasdaq Volume 2,505,499,000

4:30 pm : After spending most of Wednesday hovering slightly above the unchanged mark, a steep and broad-based late-day sell-off pushed the major indices into the red. There was not a specific news item to account for the plunge. Traders were likely locking in profits following yesterday's big move. Of note, there was a large number of buy orders right before the close.

Financials kicked off a positive start this morning after Bear Stearns (BSC 103.45, +2.58) said it will write-down $1.2 billion of subprime-related assets in the fourth quarter and report a loss for the period. The write-down amount, though, was less than the market expected; moreover, Bear Stearns noted its CDO exposure had been cut by more than half since August and that it hopes that the worst of the mortgage markdowns are behind it.

On a related note, The New York Post reported that Merrill Lynch (MER 57.88, +0.93) is expected to announce that it has hired New York Stock Exchange CEO John Thain to replace ousted CEO Stan O'Neal. Shortly after the closing bell, Thain appeared on CNBC and confirmed he is taking Merrill's top job.

The financial sector, though, eventually lost steam, finishing the day 0.7% lower.

In merger and acquisition news, it was widely reported that the nation's second and third largest airlines, UAL Corp (UAUA 44.17, +0.67) and Delta Air Lines (DAL 19.56, +0.81) are in talks regarding a possible merger. Reports indicate the companies would keep the United name and the corporate headquarters would be located in the Chicago area. Shares of the airlines spiked on the news, as did the Amex Airline Index (+0.2%).

The airlines then gave up a large portion of their intraday gains following subsequent reports and a confirmation that Delta is not in merger talks with UAL.

Overall, commodities gained today, as indicated by the 1.7% rise in the CRB Index. The strength in commodities helped the materials sector finish 0.4% higher, which, beside consumer staples, was the only sector to finish in positive territory.

Crude oil rallied 2.9% to $93.78 per barrel. Bloomberg.com reports that today's rise in oil prices was due to speculation that U.S. stockpiles will show a draw tomorrow, and that its recent sell-off was overdone.

The consumer discretionary sector (-2.0%) was the biggest laggard in today's session as retailers have come under pressure following the October retail sales report.

Although retail sales were reported to have increased 0.2%, the uninspiring pace of growth ahead of the key holiday selling season, and relatively disappointing fourth quarter guidance from Macy's (M 28.49, -2.16) have tempered some of the enthusiasm surrounding yesterday's retail rally.

There was also notable weakness in the tech sector today (-1.5%), which caused the Nasdaq to trail behind the other major indices. The sector rallied 4.0% on Tuesday.

Separately, the market received good inflation news before the start of trading as the core-Producer Price Index, which excludes food and energy, was unchanged in October. The market was expecting a 0.2% increase.DJ30 -92.75 NASDAQ -29.33 SP500 -11.53 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1785/1200/2.47 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 2033/1240/1.49 bln