Tuesday April 22 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Libor rate jumps again, still not quite honest - (www.marketwatch.com)
Minnesota's new ghost towns - (www.startribune.com)
Chic, Urban, and Deserted in Vegas - (www.lasvegassun.com)
Subprime debt selling at 10-20 cents on the dollar - (www.goldmau.com)
When a HELOC freezes over - (money.cnn.com)
Bank of America Net Income Falls 77% on Writedowns - (www.ml-implode.com)
$10 Billion Hedge Fund Trade Stings Rivals - (www.nytimes.com) – Yes, Hedge Funds have been playing the steep yield curve trade again and some got partially burned last week.
Amid strong farm economy, some dire signs - (www.ap.com)
Credit getting even tighter for condominium buyers - (www.chicagotribune.com)
BoE unveils 'special liquidity scheme' - (www.ft.com) – Bank of England silently nationalizing mortgage market like the US. Also taking bad debt off the hands of unwise and speculative lenders.
Bank of England Will Unveil Bond Swap to Ease Mortgage Market - (www.bloomberg.com)
$100 Billion Securities Swap at Bank of England - (www.nytimes.com)
Are 98% of the Henderson, NV area houses for sale in foreclosure? - (patrick.net)
OC's high-rent districts suffer higher apartment vacancies - (lansner.freedomblogging.com)
The Orange County you won't see on fantasy TV - (www.businessweek.com)
Analyst Whitney Thinks Wells Fargo Needs Reserves, Capital - (www.ml-implode.com) - Whitney believes that Wells Fargo is under-reserved by at least $4.5 billion as of Monday and will need to raise capital to res...
Auction-Rate Market Shrinks by 18% Amid State Probes - (www.ml-implode.com) - The U.S. auction-rate bond market is starting to disappear. At least $58.9 billion, or 18 percent of the securities outstan...


Other Stories:

Homebuilder shares fall ahead of earnings this week amid troubled housing market - (www.ml-implode.com) - ''Homebuilder shares fell Monday as several companies prepare to report quarterly results this week amid a housing market that c...
The trillion-dollar mortgage time bomb - (www.ml-implode.com) - ''Among the nightmares lurking around the corner for the already battered housing and credit markets would be a meltdown at mort...
Maladjustment - (www.ml-implode.com) - ''Don’t look now, but the next casualties of Bubble-Economics is being set up. Agriculture today is a about as distorted and mal...
An Alarming Forecast For The Housing Bust - (www.ml-implode.com)

Auction-Rate Market Shrinks by 18% as SEC, States Investigate - (www.bloomberg.com)
Euro Rises to Within Cent of Record Versus Dollar on ECB View - (www.bloomberg.com)
Treasuries Little Changed as Fed Rate Cut Expectations Decline - (www.bloomberg.com)
Bernanke Grapples With Greenspan as Volcker Scorns Fed Bailouts - (www.bloomberg.com)
Credit Woes Stifle Small-Biz Loans - (www.cfo.com)
Risks rise for Fannie, Freddie - (money.cnn.com)
Florida luxury home market shows signs of wear - (www.ml-implode.com)

Financial slump could hit new graduates - (www.ft.com)
Teens turn to thrift as jobs vanish and prices rise - (www.usatoday.com)
Door maker to shut down Tolleson plant - (www.azcentral.com)
Colorado town outsources public works - (denver.bizjournals.com)
Survey: 30 percent believe economy will shrink - (www.newsday.com)

Treasury sell-off hits housing recovery hopes - (www.ft.com)
Wheels Come Off ADS, Blackstone Deal - (www.thestreet.com).com
Debt may be a factor in suspicious house, car fires - (www.latimes.com)
Housing: Time to Halt Taxpayer Subsidies - (www.businessweek.com)
Fed hawks warn on inflation - (www.reuters.com)
Ponzi Squared - (norris.blogs.nytimes.com)
Big Pensions Slash Stock Investments - (www.cfo.com)
Venture capital investing slows in first quarter - (www.marketwatch.com)
Oil producers refuse to raise output - (news.yahoo.com/s/afp)

Lenders lock out new borrowers - (www.independent.co.uk)
Bring back the Gold Standard? - (optionarmageddon.blogspot.com)
Foreclosed listings from Hollywood to Glendale - (www.latimes.com)
Housing slide picks up speed in Chicago - (www.chicagobusiness.com)
Housing sales tumble across Canada - (www.reportonbusiness.com)
How I am Surviving the Sub-Prime Crisis - (www.hubpages.com)
A seller triumphs in a bad micro-market's micro-bloodbath - (www.sfgate.com)
Greenspan, Cheerleader for debt - (from 2004) - (www.bloomberg.com)
Gas, CPI, and Fraud - (www.youtube.com)

Bank of America Net Income Falls 77% on Writedowns - (www.bloomberg.com)
XM, Sirius Still Have Much to Prove - (www.thestreet.com).com
Funds to invest up to $8bn in National City bank - (www.ft.com)
Dollar's plunge becoming lynchpin in 1Q earnings - (www.signonsandiego.com)
Student Lenders Pull a Failing Grade - (www.thestreet.com).com
Corroded to the core: How a staid Swiss bank let ambitions lead it into folly - (www.ft.com)
AT&T to cut about 4,600 jobs - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Is this the end for cheap airline fares? - (www.chicagotribune.com)

Hint of Division in ECB - (online.wsj.com)
World recession 'worst since 70s' - (news.bbc.co.uk)
Asia Risks `Silent Famine' as Food Soars, WFP Warns - (www.bloomberg.com)
Wall St. Socialism A Brave New Federal Reserve - (www.nypost.com)
D.C. debate is whether to regulate or not - (www.ap.com)

Monday April 21 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Libor's Rise May Sock Many Borrowers - (online.wsj.com)
Traders Braced For Fresh Libor Reading - (www.fxstreet.com) - The British Bankers' Association said Wednesday it had brought forward a review of the Libor setting process and was investigating whether banks had misquoted Libor in recent months. The investigation comes in response to concerns that some banks may have been giving artificially low Libor quotes over recent months in an effort to mask their funding problems.
LIBOR Rate Apparently Rising In Response To BBA Investigation ... – (www.bumpzee.com)
Florida has a 5-year Condo Glut - (www.ml-implode.com) - ''A great article in Builder highlights Jack McCabe’s research report which calculates that the Florida condo market has a whopp...
Fed Officials May Be Nearing Rate Pause as Inflation Quickens - (www.ml-implode.com) - ''Federal Reserve policy makers, sensing both renewed inflation dangers and a possible economic boost from government rebate che...
Gas prices push closer to $3.50 a gallon, oil hits $117 - (ap.google.cm)
Speculator Nightmare as Losses Mount in England - (www.bloomberg.com)
Foreclosure future grim for Utahns - (www.deseretnews.com)
Auction-Bond Probes Widen as Cuomo Subpoenas 18 Firms - (www.ml-implode.com)
Citigroup Has Second Straight Loss After $12 Billion Writedown - (www.bloomberg.com)
BOE Prepares 50 Billion-Pound Mortgage Plan, BBC Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
Britain Said to Consider Shoring Up Debt Market - (www.nytimes.com)
Another record low for Bay Area home sales - (www.sfgate.com)
Wall St. braces for thousands of pink slips - (www.reuters.com)
1 Man, 1 Year: $3.7 Billion Payout - (www.washingtonpost.com)
San Francisco Area median price tumbles 16.1% - (www.sfgate.com)
San Francisco area prices plunge - (www.insidebayarea.com)
Buiter Says U.K. Banks Need $200 Billion Aid From BOE - (www.ml-implode.com) - ''Former Bank of England policy maker Willem Buiter said the central bank will need to offer loan swaps to financial institution...
Public opinion about the economy erodes rapidly - (www.ml-implode.com)


Other Stories:

The Economist's Cheery View of Credit Default Swaps - (www.ml-implode.com) - It's remarkable how attending an industry love-fest can distort one's perception. The Economist seems to have fallen hook, lin...
Wilmington Finance: "We're still here..." - (www.ml-implode.com) - In a conference call today announcing yet more layoffs, the speaker ended by saying "We are still here, no matter what they say ...
Bush Taps Preston as New Chief at HUD - (www.ml-implode.com)
How do you recognize a credit-card fueled city with a fake economy full of $30k millionaires? - (www.ml-implode.com)
Barratt Cut by UBS as Homebuilding Profit Nears Brink - (www.ml-implode.com)
Are South Florida foreclosure numbers misleading? - (www.ml-implode.com)

Beach communities not immune from crash - (lansner.freedomblogging.com)
Dallas foreclosures rise 40% - (www.dallasnews.com)
Condo Glut In Florida - (www.builderonline.com)
Paying for College Without the Home Equity Option - (www.nytimes.com)
Trapped in the Middle - (online.wsj.com)
Video from Mr. Mortgage: Fannie/Freddie 'Con' Jumbos a Bust - (www.ml-implode.com)
Fed hawks Lacker, Fisher warn on inflation - (www.reuters.com)
Fed's Kohn says banks' caution an economic threat - (www.signonsandiego.com)
Mortgage plan could cost taxpayers $6bn - (www.ft.com)
San Diego median price keeps falling - (www.signonsandiego.com)
California house prices plummet 26 percent - (www.sfgate.com)
Financial CEOs sees 88 pct chance of US recession - (www.forbes.com)
Latest Economic Tea Leaves Point to Recession - (www.nytimes.com)
Fannie and Freddie Are Risk to US Credit Rating - (nalert.blogspot.com)
Be wary of federal housing "help" - (www.wickedlocal.com)
Your House Is Worth Less? Good - (from 2007) - (www.time.com)
Bear Robbed By Insiders, Loss Paid By Taxpayers - (www.badcyclopedia.com)
Workers Get Fewer Hours, Deepening the Downturn - (www.nytimes.com)
Fuel prices fatten up airfares again - (www.usatoday.com)
Clearing the fog - (www.economist.com)
Why Russia should help America - (english.pravda.ru)
House Price Divided By Income, Over 20 Years - (PDF - comstockfunds.com)

U.S. housing bust not so special - (www.financialpost.com)
FBI sees surge in mortgage fraud investigations - (www.sfgate.com)
"Home buyers go wild over zero down" - (from 2004) - (eastbay.bizjournals.com)
Citigroup Records a Loss and Plans 9,000 Layoffs - (www.nytimes.com)
Harley-Davidson cuts shipments, jobs at quarterly profit skids - (www.latimes.com)
Pfizer quarterly profit falls on buyout charges, patent losses - (www.latimes.com)
Fannie Regulator May Settle With Raines, Person Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
At Merrill, Write-Downs and More Layoffs - (www.nytimes.com)
OFHEO Plans Settlement With Raines - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Earnings Reveal Economic Split - (online.wsj.com)

Iceland, a Tiny Dynamo, Loses Steam - (www.nytimes.com)
Booming Brazil could be world power soon - (www.ap.com)
Let Britain’s housing bubble burst - (www.ft.com)
U.K. Budget Deficit Widens to Record on Investment - (www.bloomberg.com)
Russia's Richest: Why a Billion Won't Cut It Now - (www.cnbc.com)


Looking Up, but From a Deep Hole - (www.nytimes.com)
Authorities lose patience with collapsing dollar - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Behind the Food-Price Riots - (online.wsj.com)