Wednesday January 30 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

IndyMac says Moody's pulls rating at its request - (us.rd.yahoo.com)
Housing Prices Drop 8.4%, Setting New Record - (www.ft.com)
Subprime Meltdown - (60minutes.yahoo.com)
O Wise Bank, What Do We Do? - (www.nytimes.com)
Open Letter from Gray Davis - California needs a 'rainy day' fund – (www.insidebayarea.com)
US homebuilders face growing bankruptcy threat - (www.ft.com)
Countrywide Financial Posts Loss on Overdue Mortgages - (www.bloomberg.com)
Basis hedge fund valued at 2 cents in dollar - (www.ft.com)
Foreclosure rate almost doubled in 2007: report - (www.reuters.com)
FBI Probing 14 Companies in Connection With Subprime Lending - (www.bloomberg.com)
Corporate America braced for recession - (www.ft.com)
Cleanup crews often can tell why eviction happened - (www.ohio.com)
Sales of New Homes Fell by 26% in 2007 - (www.nytimes.com)
REITs Point to Further Decline In Commercial-Property - (online.wsj.com)
Banks' bad loans hit level of S&L Crisis - (atlanta.bizjournals.com)
Nevada had top foreclosure rate in 2007 - (www.ml-implode.com)


Other Stories:

House Passes $146 Billion Economic Aid Package - ``But on Tuesday, Ms. Pelosi said that her personal support for some of the proposals being floated in the Senate was secondary ... - (www.ml-implode.com)
Feds open subprime mortgage probe in 14 companies... - SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Federal investigators have opened criminal inquiries into 14 companies as part of a wide-ranging i... - (www.ml-implode.com)
Bank Reserves Go Negative - 'A deepening recession, a falling stock market, plunging commercial real estate, and social acceptance of walking away are all g... - (www.ml-implode.com)
Fired VP files suit against lender (Countrywie) and builder (KB Home) joint venture - (www.ml-implode.com)
Countrywide And The Failure of Mortgage Socialism - (www.ml-implode.com)

Yahoo Warns on 2008 Outlook; Shares Fall and announce 1000 layoffs - Shares of the company fell as its sales guidance was light and Chief Executive Jerry Yang warned of 2008 "headwinds." - (www.ft.com)
Feds Investigate Banks Over Subprime Lending - (www.ft.com)
House Passes Economic Stimulus Package - (www.ft.com)

U.S. Consumer Confidence Declined to 87.9 in January From 90.6 - (www.bloomberg.com)
Case-Shiller Home Prices in U.S. Fall for 11th Month - (www.bloomberg.com)
Fed May Cut Rate to Below Inflation, Risking New Asset Bubbles - (www.bloomberg.com)
Fed risks 'blood on the floor' on rate cuts - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
IMF slashes US growth forecast - (www.ft.com)
Regulator opposes stimulus plan's mortgage fix - (money.cnn.com)
Write Your Senators - (patrick.net)
Beyond the Stimulus Package - (nytimes.com)
Junk Bond Rising Spreads Signal Worst Bust Since 2001 - (www.bloomberg.com)
Foreclosure Filings Surged 75% in '07 - (online.wsj.com)
Emerging Market Debt Rises Sevenfold Since 1994, Says ABN Amro - (www.bloomberg.com)
Ratio of distressed debt soars to its highest level in five years - (money.cnn.com)
For private-equity firms, it's no longer a done deal - (www.usatoday.com)
A Beautiful Model for Loan Fraud - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Speculation or Investment? - (www.irvinehousingblog.com)
Median House Prices If Bubble Never Happened - (www.homeguide123.com)
French Inquiry: Bank’s Inaction Grows as Issue - (www.nytimes.com)
France says SocGen in crisis, pressure on chairman - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Countrywide deal spurred by crackdown worries: report - (www.reuters.com)
US homebuilders face growing bankruptcy threat - (www.ft.com)
US recession will dwarf dotcom crash - (telegraph.co.uk)
Let The Market Work - (patrick.net)
How to Survive the Fortune You Made in Subprime - (www.bloomberg.com)
Countrywide's Mozilo to give up $37.5 million severance - (www.marketwatch.com)
Mozilo should give it all back - (www.lendingsanity.com)
Gulf States Face `Inflationary Spiral,' Moody's Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
Credit crunch spreads eastwards - (www.ft.com)
French consumer confidence plunges - (www.ft.com)
Private investors take the money and run - (www.ft.com)
Whose Fault Is This? - (www.newsweek.com)