Thursday June 26 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Vital Part of Housing Bill Is Brainchild of Banks - (www.washingtonpost.com) A key provision of the housing bill now awaiting action in the Senate -- and widely touted as offering a lifeline to distressed homeowners -- was initially suggested to Congress by lobbyists for major banks facing their own huge losses from the subprime mortgage crisis, according to congressional staff members and bank officials. Credit Suisse, a large investment bank heavily invested in mortgage-backed securities, proposed allowing hundreds of thousands of homeowners to refinance their mortgages with lower-cost government-insured loans, relieving financial institutions of the troubled debt. After the bank proposed this to Congress in January, it became known as the "Credit Suisse plan" among congressional staffers and lobbyists. It later formed the basis of housing provisions in both the House and Senate.
Bank of America, which is acquiring Countrywide Financial, the country's largest mortgage lender, followed with a similar and more detailed proposal, principal negotiators on the legislation said. In approaching congressional aides, the lobbyists suggested that banks take less than full payment for the distressed loans on their books. But the measures would allow financial institutions to get cash out of foreclosed properties that would otherwise sit on their books as dead weight.
High Medicare Costs, Courtesy of Congress - (www.nytimes.com) On Wal-Mart’s Web site, you can buy a walker for $59.92. It is called the Carex Explorer, and it’s a typical walker: a few feet high, with four metal poles extending to the ground. The Explorer is one of the walkers covered by Medicare. But Medicare and its beneficiaries aren’t paying $59.92 for the Explorer or any similar walker. In fact, they’re not paying anything close to it. They are paying about $110. For years, Congress has set the price for walkers and various medical equipment, and it has consistently set them well above the market rate, effectively handing out a few hundred million dollars of corporate welfare every year to the equipment makers.
Calif. attorney general sues Countrywide Financial - (www.ml-implode.com) – First Illinois, now California. Funny how CA AG did not sue until days before the merger with BofA. When Countrywide was a CA corporation, CA was fine with all the lending practices. Now that they are ready to move HQ out to the East Coast, time to sue. "Countrywide Financial Corp. is accused of using misleading advertising and other unfair business practices to trick borrowers i...
Countrywide's Licenses Revoked By State of Washington - (www.ml-implode.com) - Gov. Chris Gregoire says the state is pulling the license of Countrywide Home Loans to write loans in Washington and that invest...
Illinois to Sue Countrywide, CEO Mozilo - (www.cnbc.com) The lawsuit is the first known case of a state authority charging Countrywide, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, for actions related to the housing crisis. It also comes on the same day the company's shareholders are expected to vote on its sale to Bank of America. The acquisition is expected to close on July 1.
Illinois attorney general says she'll sue Countrywide Financial - (www.latimes.com)
Chrysler Taps $2 Billion Line of Credit - (online.wsj.com) Chrysler LLC tapped a $2 billion credit line from its owners, Cerberus Capital Management LP and Daimler AG, to bolster the auto maker's liquidity amid a painful downturn in U.S. sales that is stretching its resources.
California Police Gone Wild: Charity carnival scrapped because of police fees – (www.insidebayarea.com/argus). First Vallejo police/fire department cause Vallejo to file for bankruptcy. Now Police departments are padding their pay by mandating police coverage (rather than private security) at town events. But a carnival fundraiser the group had planned to begin Thursday in Fremont has fizzled because of high police fees, organizers said. The carnival was set to start at the Hub shopping center, but league Executive Director Shirley Sisk said the hoped-for take of up to $30,000 through the weekend was offset by an expected $21,000 bill from Fremont police for security. Gorman said his understanding is that the police department wanted seven officers, two gang task force members and a dispatcher at the Hub event at time-and-a-half pay rather than private security that Butler typically hires at a fraction of the cost.
The Market Created the Money, Not the State - (www.brookesnews.com) – Of course, this conservative think-tank would never blame the Republican Admin or the Fed for creating this credit mess due to lowering interest rates to 1%.
Marshals Make Millions Serving Foreclosure Papers - (www.ml-implode.com) Last year, John T. Fiorillo earned almost twice as much as University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma and more than 10 times the salary of Gov. M. Jodi Rell. The Bristol resident grossed more than $2 million, but not by coaching a team to the Final Four or running state government. Fiorillo is a self-employed state marshal who serves legal papers to people about to lose their homes through foreclosure. Fiorillo’s bounty can be attributed to his relationship with two law firms — Hunt Leibert Jacobson and Reiner, Reiner and Bendett — that have a virtual monopoly on the burgeoning foreclosure market.
CIBC likely to take big Q3 writedown - (www.reuters.com)
GMAC's $60 Billion Deal Loses Confidence as Mortgages - (www.bloomberg.com)
Rebate checks diverted to pay $2B in debts - (www.usatoday.com) About $2 billion in economic stimulus rebate checks are being confiscated to pay overdue bills for child support, student loans and back taxes, the government says. So far, 1.8 million rebate checks have been intercepted by Treasury Department computers showing that individuals owe money to federal or state governments.


Other Stories:

Profits seen off more than 10 percent - (www.bloomberg.com)
Consumer confidence fell sharply in June - (www.latimes.com)
Chapman University forecasters say U.S. is in recession - (www.latimes.com)
Home Not-So-Sweet Home - (www.nytimes.com)
Communities suffer as foreclosure rate rises - (www.msnbc.msn.com)

Phoenix Commercial Real Estate Financier Files Bankruptcy - (www.ml-implode.com) - Mortgages Ltd. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday night, under pressure from a borrower that earlier had filed a petition ...
$200 oil? - (www.ml-implode.com) - "If Israel bombs Iran, $200 oil is a distinct possibility. Both look more likely given recent developments."

You Might Want To Think Twice Before Gutting Your Preforeclosure - (www.ml-implode.com) - "We’ve heard tale after tale of bitter homeowners stripping their homes in foreclosure, prior to losing the home. Now they migh...
American Express Says Late Payments Rising Faster Than Expected - (www.ml-implode.com) - ``Business conditions continue to weaken in the U.S. and so far this month we have seen credit indicators deteriorate beyond our...
Mr Mortgage Update: Ultimate Fannie/Freddie ‘Con’ Job - (www.ml-implode.com) - Now, the big guns have come out to weigh in. Today, Bloomberg released a detailed story on just how little demand there is for t...
Mark to Misery in the cash equivalent fund biz - (www.ml-implode.com) - "A bond fund closed down yesterday and it brings up another interesting dilemma that few people if anyone wants to address, incl...
Case-Shiller home prices - (www.ml-implode.com)
Taxpayers Helping Bank Of America Finance Countrwide Deal - (www.ml-implode.com)
Mortgage Rates Continue to Set New 2008 Records, Applications Fall - (www.ml-implode.com)
Man with a Tan Needs a Plan - (www.ml-implode.com)
False Housing Turnaround Expectations - (www.ml-implode.com)
Senate ethics committee proposes Senators disclose their mortgage details, may now be investigating Dodd and Conrad - (www.ml-implode.com)
Countrywide shareholders set to vote on BofA takeover - (www.ml-implode.com)
Update: Vanguard operations illegal? - (www.ml-implode.com)
Politico Gets Mortgage Answers from Senators - (www.ml-implode.com)
Senate seen approving [BofA/CFC] rescue bill - (www.ml-implode.com)

Oil Declines After Supplies Rise for First Time in Six Weeks - (www.bloomberg.com)
Treasuries Decline; Fed May Shift Focus to Fighting Inflation - (www.bloomberg.com)
Gold Futures Decline on U.S. Inflation Outlook; Silver Steady - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.S. Stocks Advance Ahead of Fed; JPMorgan, Jabil Circuit Climb - (www.bloomberg.com)

Durable Goods Orders in U.S. Are Unchanged; Ex-Transportion Decline 0.9% - (www.bloomberg.com)
Consumer confidence fell sharply in June - (www.latimes.com)
U.S. Economy: Home Sales Fall, Durable Goods Orders Stagnate - (www.bloomberg.com)
Stagflation fears vexing for Bernanke - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Fed Vacancies Pose Challenge - (online.wsj.com)
Economist forecasts softer landing - (www.ft.com)
Rethinking the Country Life as Energy Costs Rise - (www.nytimes.com)
Chapman University forecasters say U.S. is in recession - (www.latimes.com)
Bernanke May Halt Rate Cuts, Shift Focus to Inflation Concern - (www.bloomberg.com)
Whatever Happened To Inflation Targets? - (www.forbes.com)
Approval Is Near for Bill to Help U.S. Homeowners - (www.nytimes.com)
Hedge Funds Fear Backlash From Congress - (online.wsj.com)
Speculating on why oil, gasoline prices are soaring - (www.latimes.com)
Short Interest Increases on the Nasdaq - (online.wsj.com)

Oil May Cost Jet Makers Orders - (online.wsj.com)
Illinois to Sue Countrywide - (www.nytimes.com)
Barclays to Raise $8.9 Billion to Shore Up Capital - (www.bloomberg.com)
Pump pain hits independents - (www.signonsandiego.com)
Lowe's Weighs Increases - (online.wsj.com)
Eurozone growth fears as inflation bites - (www.ft.com)
Trichet: ECB determined to combat inflation - (www.marketwatch.com)
New Zealand Consumer Confidence Falls to 17-Year Low - (www.bloomberg.com)

Friday June 6 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Holyfield's Estate Under Foreclosure - (www.11alive.com) - A legal notice that appeared in a local newspaper showed his Fayette County estate is under foreclosure. The home worth an estimated $10 million is set to be auctioned by a bank on July 1. The mother of one of Holyfield's nine children said he has missed two child-support payments. Toi Irvin, who lives in Clayton County, filed a petition for contempt in Fayette County Superior Court on behalf of her 10-year-old son. Irvin said she was told by Holyfield's representatives not to expect the payment for May and June totaling $6,000.
Ed McMahon Loses Home - (and Blames Britney Spears) - (www.clusterstock.com) - "In the midst of trying to sell this property, there were a lot of distractions," Davis said, citing paparazzi who have converged around the nearby home of Britney Spears. "When we were trying to sell the house one time, there were about 100 paparazzi there," he said. Where's that mortgage bailout when you need it?
Home foreclosures set record in first quarter - (www.ml-implode.com) - "Home foreclosures and late payments set records over the first three months of the year and are expected to keep rising, stark signs of the housing crisis' mounting damage to homeowners and the economy. The latest snapshot of the mortgage market, released Thursday, showed that the proportion of mortgages that fell into foreclosure soared to 0.99 percent in the January-through-March period. That surpassed the previous high of 0.83 percent over the last three months in 2007.
Luxury houses in Napa Valley falling into foreclosure - (www.latimes.com) - Napa County saw 112 homes repossessed in the first quarter, up from 23 a year earlier, according to DataQuick Information Systems. Most of those foreclosures have been in lower-priced areas, where new-home construction and sub-prime lending were widespread during the housing boom. But the top end is now starting to tumble.
Builder sees 'depression' in housing market - (money.cnn.com) - The chief executive of Toll Brothers Inc., the nation's largest luxury-home builder, said Wednesday the housing industry is in a "depression" and any recovery could be two or three years away.
$5 Trillion Hidden Off Bank Balance Sheets - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com) The absurdity is not $5 trillion coming back on bank balance sheets. Rather the absurdity is with accounting rules that let banks hold this much stuff off balance sheets in the first place. It makes a mockery of stated leverage, value at risk, and capitalization ratios. Banks claim to be well capitalized but the ratio is a mere 6% and that 6% does not include the effects of hiding $5 trillion off balance sheets.
Jeff Lacker, Suddenly Uncomfortable With These Fed Lending Facility Things - (www.ml-implode.com) - Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, in a speech — and later, an interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Greg Ip — says the acronym soup the Fed has created (TSLF, TAF, et al) to combat the credit crisis is distorting asset values and encouraging risky behavior. In essence, he has thrown the “moral hazard” flag on the various creative efforts undertaken by Mr. Bernanke & Co. to help markets that are frozen.''
Tax Those Vacant Properties Away! - (www.ml-implode.com) - The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to double the tax rate on vacant properties and make permanent some of the tighter enforcement rules the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs has been practicing since early last year. Starting Oct. 1, the vacant property rate will be $10 per $100 of assessed value, up from $5, once approved by D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and Congress. The new rate is more than five times the $1.85 charged to the majority of commercial properties and the 85 cents charged for residential properties.
Countrywide’s Mozilo Hushes Homeowner With an Unaffordable Loan Modification - (www.ml-implode.com) - it is interesting that Mr. Dan Bailey was given a pretty decent loan modification. But what was VERY interesting was the fact that Dan still can’t afford the loan offered and gave to him by Countrywide.



Other Stories:

Fixed Mortgage Rates Hold Steady; Adjustable Rates Fall Sharply - (www.ml-implode.com) - "During a week when mortgage applications took a nose dive, average mortgage rates tended to hold tight as inflation concerns do...
Toll Bros. CEO: Housing in 'depression'; recovery years away - (www.ml-implode.com) - The chief executive of Toll Brothers Inc., the nation's largest luxury-home builder, said Wednesday that the housing industry i...
Home Equity Loans Losing Value - (www.ml-implode.com)
REO Tech Provider Sees Historic Growth as Bank-Owned Properties Swell - (www.ml-implode.com)
BofA's Ken Lewis moving forward with Countrywide Toxic Mortgage - (www.ml-implode.com)
Court OKs Fieldstone Mortgage Chapter 11 BK plan - (www.ml-implode.com)
Subprime Debacle May Spark 2-Year Credit Crisis - (www.ml-implode.com)
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Conspire to Put Real Estate Investors In Harm's Way... - (www.ml-implode.com)

Mortgaging America: America For Sale - (www.latimes.com)Lawrence Lindsay: It Is Only Going to Get Worse - (www.aei.org)Return of the Credit Crisis: Did It Ever Leave? - (www.financialsense.com)Wall Street to Shed Up To 25,000 Jobs - (www.thestar.com)Airline Industry Faces 'Worst Crisis Since 9/11' - (www.marketwatch.com)

Bernanke "warns" of danger of weak dollar - (www.guardian.co.uk)
Downsizing the American house - (money.cnn.com)
Subprime debacle may spark 2-year credit recession - (news.yahoo.com)
Prices are falling. Wait. - (patrick.net)
MBIA, Ambac Credit Ratings Under Threat - (www.bloomberg.com)
Sliced, Diced Mortgages More Likely to Default - (www.bloomberg.com)
Buying debt at deep discount - (www.dailybusinessreview.com)
MBIA, Ambac Hammered on News of Likely Downgrades - (www.housingwire.com)
In South Florida, Eviction Spares Few - (www.nytimes.com)
The Golden Collapse - (www.reason.com)

Treasuries Decline as Policy Makers Stoke Inflation Concern - (www.bloomberg.com)
Oil Rebounds From a 3-Week Low After Dollar Drops Against Euro - (www.bloomberg.com)
Euro Rises After Trichet Says July Rate Increase Is `Possible' - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.S. Stocks Rise Most in Month on Retail Sales, Jobless Claims - (www.bloomberg.com)

Lacker Says Fed Loans to Wall Street Risk More Crises - (www.bloomberg.com)
Even with bad economy, job number could be good - (www.nypost.com)
Bernanke to Grads: No Repeat of '70s - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Summer airfares double, triple, quadruple - (www.usatoday.com)
Jobless claims show unexpected improvement - (www.ap.com)
Atlanta may charge street vendors rent - (www.ajc.com)
Large lot inventory hangs over Tuscon market - (www.azbiz.com)
Airfares from Bush Intercontinental leaping skyward - (www.chron.com)

S&P in warning over leveraged loans - (www.ft.com)
Food Is Gold, and Investors Pour Billions Into Farming - (www.nytimes.com)
As layoffs bite Wall St, New York real estate hit - (www.ap.com)
Number of Wall Street IPOs pulled - (www.ft.com)
Small businesses turn to alternative lenders - (www.dallasnews.com)
Ed McMahon fights foreclosure on Beverly Hills home - (www.reuters.com)
Santa Maria house bought with no money down goes into foreclosure - (www.latimes.com)

MBIA, Ambac May Quit Aaa Battle on Moody's Likely Cut - (www.bloomberg.com)
Parts suppliers crushed by auto plant closings, cuts - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Chrysler may be next to announce production cuts - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Betting against Lehman at record levels - (www.ft.com)
Detroit wakes up to need for new vehicle mix - (www.ft.com)
Neiman Marcus plans to add discounts - (www.dallasnews.com)
Fidelity in new round of layoffs - (www.boston.com)
Electric Retailer's Default Pushes Texas Into Action - (online.wsj.com)
More fliers are cashing in their miles - (www.startribune.com)
Continental to cut 3,000 jobs, slash domestic flights - (www.chron.com)
Airlines raise nonstop fares sharply for summer - (www.azcentral.com)

Upturn in costs fuels higher pay deals - (www.ft.com)
ECB, Bank of England leave key rates unchanged - (www.ap.com)
Britain faces deepest slump since 1990s - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Producers lose taste for going overseas - (www.ft.com)
U.K. House Prices Decline Most in 15 Years, HBOS Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
Indonesia, Philippines Raise Rates to Fight Inflation - (www.bloomberg.com)
Russian Inflation Accelerated to 15.1% in May on Food - (www.bloomberg.com)
Fuel price rise may only power inflation - (www.ft.com)
China's trade surplus 'to shrink' for first time in five years - (news.yahoo.com/s/afp)
Bollard Says New Zealand May Cut Interest Rate; Currency Slumps - (www.bloomberg.com)
Time to Put Investment Banking Back in Its Box: Mark Gilbert - (www.bloomberg.com)
Climate change will add to food, utility bills - (www.reuters.com)

Thursday May 22 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Congresswoman Walks Away - (www.ml-implode.com) - "The story of the foreclosure of Long Beach Democrat Laura Richardson's Sacramento home is a tale of a real estate market gone s...
Mortgage Applications & Fundings Are Surging. But… - (www.ml-implode.com) - In a nutshell, all increased mortgage volume is great. But, when exotic interest only programs and high loan-to-value FHA programs make up the lion’s share of the volume, you have to be skeptical about the numbers and the quality of the business.
Mortgage Application Volume Sinks as Rates Rise - (www.ml-implode.com) - mortgage application volume fell 7.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending May 16, according to the latest weekly survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association
Shortage fears push oil futures near $140 - (www.ft.com). Current price near $135/barrel but futures are pushing $140.
Oil Powers to Record, Above $135 as Supplies Fall - (www.cnbc.com)
Countrywide CEO Mozilo's E-mail Bumble Sparks Furor – (www.cnbc.com) – Yes, the tan-man we all love to hate ruining shareholder value and pissing off more customers. Let’s give him another $100M bonus.
Sen. Dodd: Housing Bill Not a Bailout - (www.cnbc.com). Yes, I am saving all Senator Dodd stories saying this is not a bailout so that when it comes out that taxpayers are covering this, we can go back to him and politely correct him.
Commodity collapse coming - (www.news.com.au) - The commodity boom may be turning into a bubble that could burst around the end of the year, according to a special report from Lehman Brothers in New York.
Soros warns global boom is over - (news.bbc.co.uk) - He warned the "financial bubble" of the last 25 years could be drawing to an end and the post World War II "super-boom" era could also be over.
He predicted a "more severe and longer" US slowdown than most people expect. And he said that the UK was worse-placed than America to weather the coming economic storm, because it had such a large financial sector and has had the biggest increase in house prices.
Fannie CEO sees steep house-price drop - (ap.google.com)
Soaring Foreclosure Numbers Mean More Prey for Vulture Funds - (www.sdbj.com)
American cuts flights as oil rises - (www.ft.com). American Airlines said it would eliminate flights, cut thousands of jobs and charge most passengers $15 to check a single piece of luggage, as surging oil prices exacerbated the crisis in the US airline industry
Former AIG chief could face SEC charges - (www.ft.com). Greenberg served with Wells notice. Hopefully the crooked ex-AIG CEO and smarmy rat will stop bothering the existing board (as he is the root cause of many of the problems). Hopefully, they will collect back the money he shuffled to his wife. And hopefully he will get what he deserves - jail time. Last week, a federal judge presiding over a criminal trial that led to convictions of former AIG and Gen Re executives said there was “sufficient evidence” to show that a conspiracy began with a phone call from Mr. Greenberg. Mr. Greenberg had not been previously charged by federal prosecutors or the SEC over the transactions that allegedly inflated AIG’s reserves by $500m and he has always denied any wrongdoing.
Has the Fed really flooded the world with dollars? - (blogs.telegraph.co.uk) - It reinforces my fear that we are heading into a deflationary crunch. No doubt the Fed, ECB, the Bank of England, et al, will ultimately flood the system with money and set off another asset bubble. We are not there yet. The professor warned that yields on 10-year Treasuries (now 3.79pc) have shot up so much on inflation fears since the Fed bail-out in March that the effect risks short-circuiting the whole monetary rescue. “They may find that they don’t benefit after all from cutting rates,” he said. Well, yes, this is the great fear. The Fed may now be trapped. The argument is that the US 10-year rate - set by market forces, and increasingly by the actions of Chinese and Mid-East governments - is the key price setter for the US housing market and corporate debt.
Analyst Meredith Whitney on U.S. banks - (www.businessweek.com) - Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney believes the credit crisis will extend well into 2009, perhaps beyond. She sees three years of multi-billion dollar revenue reversals.
Moody’s launches review in wake of errors - (www.ft.com) - Charles Schumer urges SEC probe


Other Stories:

Crackdown on Foreclosed Kids? - (www.ml-implode.com)
US economy in ‘uncharted waters’ - (ww.ft.com)
US corporate property prices take hit - (www.ft.com)
Citigroup to close down branches in UK - (www.ml-implode.com) - Citigroup announced plans to extricate itself completely from new sub-prime lending in Britain, with the loss of up to 700 jobs,...
Home loan failures rise for 37th straight month, extending record - (www.ml-implode.com) - "Home loan failures in San Diego County continued to set new records in April, the 37th consecutive month of year-over-year incr...
A trying time to lead a bank - (www.mlive.com)
Hedge Funds in Swaps Face Peril With Rising Junk Bond Defaults - (www.bloomberg.com)
Mr Mortgage - ‘Short-Refinances’ Gaining Popularity.. - (www.ml-implode.com)
World Savings Option ARM Training Video - (www.ml-implode.com)
Delta Financial Execs Plan New Mortgage Venture - (www.ml-implode.com)
Impac Mortgage reports loss of $2B for 2007 - (www.ml-implode.com)

Government's 'numbers racket' is about to blow up in our faces - (www.marketwatch.com)
Ownership costs outpacing rental costs by as much as 300% - (www.brokeragentpro.com)
Foreclosures 4 in 10 SoCal house sales - (lansner.freedomblogging.com)
UBS $100 Billion Mortgage Wager Caused $24 Billion Loss - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.S. bank shares sink after Oppenheimer cuts outlook - (www.reuters.com)
60,000 second houses could be sold off in English slump - (www.guardian.co.uk)

U.S. Stocks Drop on Credit Concern, Producer Prices; Banks Fall - (www.bloomberg.com)
Minutes of Federal Open Market Committee, April 29-30, 2008 - (www.federalreserve.gov)
The Risks of Rescuing Borrowers - (www.nytimes.com)
AAA expects fewer Americans to travel over Memorial Day - (www.azcentral.com)
Wealthy consumers cut back on spending, sort of - (www.latimes.com)
Georgia Power bills to go up $2.93 for fuel costs - (www.ajc.com)
NY Times Still Does Not Understand the Housing Crash - (www.prospect.org)
Economic Tide Is Rising for Repo Man - (www.nytimes.com)
US and Canada Demographic Time Bomb - (Mish at globaleconomicanalyst.blogspot.com)Things Are Heating Up - (Mike Morgan at realestateandhousing2.blogspot.com)
Four Overlooked Houseownership Costs - (biz.yahoo.com)

Banks still tough on buyouts - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Why a Housing Bailout Won't Help - (online.wsj.com)
Are commodity traders bidding up food, fuel prices? - (www.latimes.com)
Oil for 2016 Delivery Nears $140 on Supply Concern - (www.bloomberg.com)
Plunge in US commercial property - (www.ft.com)

Target 1Q profit drops, cites higher costs - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Saks profit jumps, but misses expectations - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Less Shopping = Fewer Malls - (online.wsj.com)
Trouble Hid in the Hedges - (online.wsj.com)
Airlines’ Cuts Making Cities No-Fly Zones - (www.nytimes.com)
Shoppers Stick to Buying Only Basics, Retailers Say - (www.nytimes.com)
Banking's Bear Roars Again - (www.portfolio.com)
Customer satisfaction with airlines lowest since 2001 - (www.latimes.com)
Chrysler extends gasoline offer - (www.chicagotribune.com)
AIG Hits 10-yr. Low On Capital Woe - (www.chron.com)
Southern casinos feeling economic pinch - (www.ajc.com)
Local governments rethink municipal Wi-Fi initiatives - (www.chicagotribune.com)

BOE Voted 8-1, Defeating Blanchflower's Call for Cut - (www.bloomberg.com)
German Business Confidence Unexpectedly Increased in May, Ifo Survey Shows - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.K. Rentals See a Boom As House Purchases Cool - (online.wsj.com)
Tice Proves Every Bear Has Its Day With 9.5% Return as He Invokes `D' Word - (www.bloomberg.com)