Thursday May 8 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

NY Assembly Passes One Year Foreclosure Moratorium Bill - (www.ml-implode.com) – Ah, idiotic politicians again trying to change 200 years of contract law. They are going to ruin many businesses and investment in this country by the time they are through. Funny that NY, which hosts all the investment banks that originated this mess, is now making it worse. The bill would permit the courts to delay foreclosure up to one year for subprime borrowers who meet specific conditions, allowing at-risk homeowners to work with their respective lenders to avoid losing their homes
Vallejo, California City Officials Vote to File for Bankruptcy - (www.bloomberg.com)
House sitting: living free on a grand scale - (www.latimes.com)
"Zero rentals" a hit in Mumbai - (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
Fannie Mae Playing Russian Roulette With America - (www.nytimes.com)
Oil jumps over $123 on drop in diesel, heating oil supplies - (news.ino.com) – As my co-worker says, they might as well start raising the price in $5 or $10 increments J
White House threatens veto of FHA-rescue bill - (www.ml-implode.com) - The House on Wednesday will begin debate on a housing package that would let the government back loans for homeowners at risk ...
CitiMortgage To Drop Citi Residential Lending's Retail - 3,000 Jobs Gone - (www.ml-implode.com) - In a 2008-05-06 memo to CitiMortgage and Citi Residential Lending (CRL) employees, it is announced that CRL's retail staff and s...
Deterioration in Pending Home Sales Confirms Broader Trend, Economists Say - (www.ml-implode.com) - "Economists say the March report for pending home sales confirms what has been known for many months now: the U.S. housing marke...
Why Is Congress Doubling Down on Mortgage Mess? - (blog.heritage.org)
Once bulletproof housing markets get hit - (money.cnn.com)
Seattle sellers forced to lower prices - (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Countrywide Eliminates Equity Credit Lines in Vegas - (www.bloomberg.com)
Greeks set to pay price for feelgood years - (www.ft.com)
Emblem of O.C.’s $600,000 home market, now a short sale - (www.ocregister.com)


Other Stories:

Fannie Mae losing billions, taxpayers on hook - (news.yahoo.com)
Housing picture worsens as Fannie sees price drop - (www.latimes.com)
Banks negate Fed efforts to boost liquidity - (www.investmentexecutive.com)
Moving Chronicles In Silicon Valley - (www.viewfromsiliconvalley.com)
Fed Rate Cuts Boosting Food Prices - (www.marketwatch.com)KC Fed President Hoenig Says Inflation Serious - Rates Must Rise - (www.bloomberg.com)Paying for Greenspan's Lunch - (www.eastvalleytribune.com)
Congress: You Can’t Stop A Hurricane - (www.ml-implode.com) - In spite of the devastation, there were no "hurricane prevention" bills. Congress recognized that while the emergency respons...
Mirable Dictu! The Journal Says a Few Discouraging Words About the Markets and Economy - (www.ml-implode.com) - "The Wall Street Journal so often presents the optimistic case that it's important to reinforce those occasions when it provides...
Pending Home Sales Index Declines - (www.ml-implode.com)

How Closely Are You Tracking Your House's Value? - (blogs.wsj.com)
Big drop in Western WA house prices, sales - (www.nwcn.com)
Foreclosures double, house prices tumble - (www.usatoday.com)
Mortgage crisis spreads from subprime to standard loans - (www.fosters.com)
More Than Half of 2006 Sales Now Underwater - (www.housingwire.com)
NAR's Liar Learah finally tells a little truth - (www.newsweek.com)
Why should I EVER buy a house? - (patrick.net)

Market slides further on oil fallout - (www.reuters.com)
Oil jumps over $123 on drop in diesel, heating oil supplies - (www.ap.com)
Dollar Rises on U.S. Productivity, Signs of European Slowdown - (www.bloomberg.com)

Hoenig Says Inflation `Serious,' May Prompt Rate Rise - (www.bloomberg.com)
Pending Sales of Existing Homes in U.S. Decreased 1% in March - (www.bloomberg.com)
Cousins Properties bearish on residential outlook - (www.ajc.com)
Bernanke Wants Fed to Pay Interest on Bank Reserves - (www.bloomberg.com)
Productivity in U.S. Rose More Than Forecast in First Quarter - (www.bloomberg.com)
Merrill Expects U.S. Consumer Loan Defaults to Rise - (www.bloomberg.com)
Vegas sewer rate hikei in the cards - (www.lvrj.com)
Week-to-week mortgage applications up 15.6% - (www.marketwatch.com)

Some See Oil At $150 a Barrel This Year - (online.wsj.com)
Student-Loan Market: Another Bubble? - (online.wsj.com)
Blank check companies can't find deals - (www.financialweek.com)
Corporates Go on Borrowing Binge - (www.cfo.com)
For FHA, a Huge Task and Uncertain Role - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Corporate defaults on upswing as debt comes due - (www.usatoday.com)
GE Real Estate to lend $960 million to REIT - (www.financialweek.com)
Short Interest Is Steady on Big Board - (online.wsj.com)

Cisco Profit Falls 5.4%; Forecast Meets Estimates - (www.bloomberg.com)
Discounts May Hurt Retail Earnings - (online.wsj.com)
Legg Mason hit by first loss in 25 years - (www.ft.com)
UBS Faces U.S. Tax Evasion Probe; Employee Detained - (www.bloomberg.com)
Healthcare costs pinch employers - (www.latimes.com)
More pink slips coming, as UBS aims to cut 5,500 jobs - (www.financialweek.com)
Tight Credit Worries for a Hotel and Mall Operator - (www.nytimes.com)
GM, Ford and Toyota won't match Chrysler gas subsidies - (www.latimes.com)
With food costs rising, ethanol benefits now questioned - (www.signonsandiego.com)
Fannie's Alt-A Issue - (www.forbes.com)
A Feud in the Bear Stearns Family - (www.nytimes.com)

European Retail Sales Drop by Record on Rising Costs - (www.bloomberg.com)
China Stocks Fall on Share Glut Concern - (www.bloomberg.com)
Petrobras Hiring 14,000 Geologists, Oil Rig Workers - (www.bloomberg.com)

California screaming: Tales from the housing bust - (money.cnn.com)
Malware discovered in swapped MP3s, MPEGs - (www.news.com)
Subprime disease breeding ground: pools - (www.marketwatch.com)
Frustrated owners try to unload their guzzlers - (www.boston.com)
Electric vehicles get Georgia Tech viewing - (www.ajc.com)

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)