Friday April 18 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Review of Libor brought forward as closely watched rate spikes - (www.marketwatch.com)
"Who to Blame When the Next Bubble Bursts" - from 2003! - (www.commondreams.org) – Good analysis predicting Greenspan’s next bubble in 2003.
Fed Accepts Dodgy Collateral in Race to Bottom - (www.bloomberg.com)
Big Tax Breaks for Businesses in Housing Bill - (www.nytimes.com) – Yes, this story has been a top story for 3 days running, but I think it is important to know how the big business lobbying powers are making a killing here.
Vacant Homes in U.K. Prove Speculator Nightmare as Losses Mount - (www.ml-implode.com) - ``The unraveling buy-to-rent investment market contributed to a 2.5 percent drop in home prices last month, the biggest since 19...
Sinking housing market maroons homeowners - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'As America's housing market has foundered, homeowners who bought into newly rising projects at just the wrong time have found t...
FHA's Risky Business - (www.forbes.com)
The worst spring in San Diego's history! - (www.californiahousingforecast.com)
Court Case Is Lost in Cauldron of Muni Market Woes: Joe Mysak - (www.bloomberg.com)
Feds to Collect DNA from Everyone They Arrest - (news.yahoo.com) – Yes, we now live in a pseudo-police state
Libor's accuracy questioned - Fraud? - (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)
JPMorgan's Dimon Says Real Estate Is Getting Worse - (bloomberg.com)
Appraisers say WaMu cut corners - (businessvoip.tmcnet.com)
Copper Jumps to Record as Strike in Chile May Disrupt Output - (www.bloomberg.com) – Expect more copper theft in abandoned houses and industrial parks.
Walking Away: The Next Mortgage Crisis - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
Art dealers brace for a bust - (money.cnn.com)
Merrill Reports Loss on $6.5 Billion of Writedowns - (www.bloomberg.com)
Sallie Mae Sounds the Alarm - (online.wsj.com)
NYT: "US Inflation Appears to Be Retreating" (What are they smoking?) - (www.nytimes.com)
Mobius: Credit Crisis Near End. Time to Buy! - (www.bloomberg.com)


Other Stories:

FBI home mortgage probe now targets 19 firms - (www.ml-implode.com)
Germany is in shock as subprime gets worse - (www.ml-implode.com)
Flashback to 2005: NAR States "Foreclosure Risk Minimal" - (www.erica.biz)
The Pentagon's $1 Trillion Problem (Where's the money?) - (www.portfolio.com)
Oil Futures Jump to Record $115 - (biz.yahoo.com)
As Australia Dries, A Global Shortage of Rice - (www.iht.com)
Sickened Pork Workers Have New Neurological Disorder - (www.reuters.com)
Retailers Get Stingy With Data - (www.nytimes.com)
Housing Starts Slide ot Lowest Level in 17 Years – (www.bloomberg.com)
Jim Willie: Liars, Wall Street and Your Gold - (www.financialsense.com)

CA Foreclosure news nobody reporting - (mrmortgage.typepad.com)
Rate of foreclosures expected to get worse - (www.usatoday.com)
Treasuries Fall as Traders Bet Fed to Cut Rates Just Once More - (www.bloomberg.com)
Rice Rises to Record in Chicago, Leading Wheat, Soybean Gains - (www.bloomberg.com)
Oil steadies after hitting record over $115 - (www.reuters.com)
Most U.S. Stocks Retreat on Earnings; Pfizer Shares Decline - (www.bloomberg.com)
Fed causes inflation above 6% for 6 months running - (patrick.net)
The Fed Undermines Democracy - (robertreich.blogspot.com)
The Madness of Ben Bernanke - (www.spiegel.de)
My Foreclosure - (foreclosuremine.blogspot.com)

Philadelphia Fed Index Declines More Than Forecast - (www.bloomberg.com)
S.F. Federal Reserve chief sees long recovery - (www.latimes.com)
Big questions on collateral for Fed loans - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Fed favors loans over dividends - (www.boston.com)
Reports Offer Grim Picture of Economy - (www.washingtonpost.com)
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rise 17,000 to 372,000 - (www.bloomberg.com)
US mortgage clock ticking, Dodd warns - (www.ft.com)
Net widening in FBI probe of mortgage fraud - (www.financialweek.com)
Now is not the best time to buy - (patrick.net)
O'ahu rents dipped 1% last year - (www.honoluluadvertiser.com)
San Diego median price keeps falling - (www.signonsandiego.com)
Pace of O.C. foreclosures triples 90's slump - (mortgage.freedomblogging.com)

Hedge Funds Cut Risk, Wait for Opportunities - (online.wsj.com)
Are Credit Derivatives Next? - (online.wsj.com)
Soros urges regulation for hedge funds - (www.forbes.com)
Top hedge fund managers raked in billions - (www.usatoday.com)

Where are Google's clicks? - (www.nypost.com)
Slower American sales hit prescription market - (www.ft.com)
GM plant partially halts production due to strike - (money.cnn.com)
Retailers angling for your tax rebate - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Two banks to cut $265m in credit for struggling Talbots - (www.boston.com)
Capital Spending SeenFalling in Chip Market - (online.wsj.com)
Low Liquidity Plagues More Firms - (online.wsj.com)
Banking Watchdog Barks at Poor Disclosure - (www.cfo.com)
Harley-Davidson cuts back - (money.cnn.com)
Eli Lilly looks to cut 500 jobs - (money.cnn.com)
Freddie Mac to announce agreement with lenders: report - (www.reuters.com)
SLM Has Loss as Student Loan Business Looks `Broken' - (www.bloomberg.com)
Freddie Mac to Unveil Lenders' Pact - (online.wsj.com)
Harley cuts guidance; to slash output - (www.reuters.com)

China Cuts Fertilizer Sales; Philippine Tender Flops - (www.bloomberg.com)
Weber Says ECB to Assess Whether Rates High Enough - (www.bloomberg.com)
BOE Received Most Bids in Three Months at Auction - (www.bloomberg.com)
As Australia dries, a global shortage of rice - (www.iht.com)
India's Inflation Near Three-Year High on Food Prices - (www.bloomberg.com)
Brazil Seeks to Curb Prices by Raising Rate More Than Forecast - (www.bloomberg.com)
Samsung Group chairman indicted on tax-evasion charge - (www.iht.com)
'10% of GDP' - (online.wsj.com)
Goldman's Glass Brims, Lehman's Cracks: Mark Gilbert - (www.bloomberg.com)

Wednesday April 16 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Implications of Central Bank monetary policies, Politician subsidies for farmers to convert food to Bio-Fuels. But do we expect anything other than market meddling from our representatives in government?
· Stupiditiy, Fuel Choices & Food Crises - (www.nytimes.com)
· Riots, Instability Spread as Food Prices Skyrocket - (www.cnn.com)
· IMF Alert on Starvation and Civil Unrest - (www.smh.com.au)
· Food Riots 'An apocalyptic warning' - (www.abc.net.au)
· Oil Hits $113 - (www.bloomberg.com)
· Egyptians Cannot Afford Daily Bread - (edition.cnn.com)

Mortgage Payments Worry Many - (www.sfgate.com)
Many Homedebtors Can Walk Away With No Penalty - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
Fuel Choices, Food Crises and Finger-Pointing - (www.nytimes.com) – I like how the originators of the food to biofuel programs are trying hard to defend the program.
Foreclosures on Marco Island, FL - (patrick.net) – Look at the foreclosure map/chart for the island. Pretty wild.
Feeling cheated, houseowners sue Realtors - (www.lvrj.com) – This is another case. Previous case was near San Diego. This one is near Las Vegas.
Youngstown Ohio: The Incredible Shrinking City - (money.cnn.com)
Falling corporate profits gouge wider hole in Calif. budget - (www.latimes.com)
Southern California home prices slide to 2004 levels - (www.latimes.com)
March's median is off 5.6% from the previous month and 23.8% from February 2007.
Crocs to fire 600 workers in Canada after cutting profit, sales forecasts - (www.latimes.com) Crocs, maker of the namesake colorful clogs, said it would fire its 600 Canadian plant workers after lowering annual earnings and sales forecasts as consumer spending
Citi allows loan 'cherry picking' - (www.ft.com)
'Tranche warfare' breaks out over CDOs - (www.ft.com)
Sour economy casts pall over once sunny Florida - (www.reuters.com)
Jefferson County Wins Bond Payment Break as State Mulls Options - (www.bloomberg.com) – Alabama county spared bankruptcy for now.


Other Stories:

Southern California home prices take another hit - (www.latimes.com) - The region's median sales price drops to $385,000 in March. The total number of homes sold is up from February, but down 41% from a year ago.
FT: US Credit Rating Under Threat - (ws.ft.com)
March Wholesale Prices Soar – (biz.yahoo.com/ap)
Cascading Retail Bankruptcies as Recession Takes HoldBear Market Rally Fooling No One - (www.stuff.co.nz)
Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo Warn "Delusional" Investors on Stocks - (www.telegraph.co.uk)US Foreclosures Jump 57 as Homeowners Just Say No - (www.bloomberg.com)
Bulging Prisons Drain Michigan's Budget - (www.detnews.com)
And now this: Boomers to Flood Medical System - (www.sfgate.com)

Oil, Gasoline Climb to Records as Investors Move to Commodities - (www.bloomberg.com)
Corn, Soybeans Rise on `Buying Panic' to Avoid Food Shortages - (www.bloomberg.com)
US consumer confidence lowest since Oct 1993 - (www.reuters.com)
US Foreclosure Filings Jump in March - (www.chicagotribune.com)
U.S. Foreclosures Jump 57% as Homeowners Walk Away - (www.bloomberg.com)
America's long hangover - (www.economist.com)
The next mortgage crisis - (www.slate.com)
New York Fed Factory Index Unexpectedly Rose in April - (www.bloomberg.com)
Largest Vegas casino operator fires 440 - (www.allheadlinenews.com)

Swaps Tied to Losses Transformed Into `Frankenstein's Monster' - (www.bloomberg.com)
Hedge funds don't need rules, just guidance: - (www.ap.com)
Global funding pressures intensify - (www.ft.com)
More shock than awe this earnings season - (www.nypost.com)
Mark to market good for the long term? - (www.cfo.com)
Growing Majority Avoid Buying Houses - (apnews.myway.com)
Embracing shrinkage - (money.cnn.com)
National web of greed lured foolish buyers - (news.bostonherald.com)
Auction-Rate Bond Market Will `Cease to Exist', Citigroup Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
Credit-Default Swaps Market Grows to $62.2 Trillion, ISDA Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
Pessimism over housing crisis grows - (www.signonsandiego.com)
Food Shortage Rises With Prices - (www.forbes.com)
Squeeze takes toll on US student loans - (www.ft.com)
Success as a trader linked to testosterone level? - (www.chicagotribune.com)
America's Worst-Selling Housing Markets - (www.forbes.com)
Fourth-largest US bank resorts to emergency fundraising - (www.guardian.co.uk)
U.S. housing collapse spreads overseas - (www.iht.com)
An Economy Built On Lies - (www.lewrockwell.com)

Report Highlights Fannie, Freddie Risks - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Intel Forecast Tops Analysts' Estimates; Shares Rise - (www.bloomberg.com)
The bust is starting to catch up with regional lenders - (www.economist.com)
Retailing Chains Caught in a Wave of Bankruptcies - (www.nytimes.com)
Surprise Loss at Wachovia Stirs Profit-Season Unease - (www.nytimes.com)
Fitch downgrades Macy's to near junk - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Chrysler, Nissan buy each other's vehicle - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Small business: How to borrow in a weak economy - (www.newsday.com)
Appraisers say WaMu cut corners to increase its mortgage business - (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Fannie, Freddie pressed on risk management - (www.ft.com)
The Housing Bailout Backlash - (www.usnews.com)
California Median: $373,000, Fannie Limit: $729,500. Make Sense? - (www.mybudget360.com)
Letter To Senators - (patrick.net)
At Wachovia, Pick-A-Pay Becomes Pick-A-Problem - (money.cnn.com)
What Warren thinks investors should do - (money.cnn.com)

London could lose 40,000 financial jobs - (www.reportonbusiness.com)
Eurozone inflation at 16-year high - (www.ft.com)
Fears that Russian oil output has hit its peak - (www.ft.com)
UK housing gloom 'worst in 30 years' - (news.bbc.co.uk)
German Investor Confidence Unexpectedly Fell in April - (www.bloomberg.com)
City may lose 40,000 jobs, predicts JP Morgan - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
U.K. RICS House-Price Balance Is Worst Since 1978 - (www.bloomberg.com)
Insight: Watch out for aftershocks - (www.ft.com) ($) , Stephen Roach
Goldman Says "Awful" Profits Will Drag Down Stocks - (www.bloomberg.com)
Auction Rate Collapse Creates 12% After-Tax - (www.bloomberg.com)
House Price Crash Calculator - (img.thisismoney.co.uk)

Tuesday April 15 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Terrified Fannie "warns" housedebtors who walk away - (www.sfgate.com) – On March 31, Fannie Mae sent out new guidelines to lenders intended for walkaways and other foreclosure situations. Fannie will now prohibit foreclosed borrowers from getting another mortgage through the giant investor for five years, unless there are "documented extenuating circumstances." In those cases, the mortgage prohibition is for three years.
You Thought You Had an Equity Line - (www.nytimes.com)
Continental, United Could Merge 'Pretty Quickly': Source - (www.cnbc.com)
Continental Airlines and United Airlines have laid most of the groundwork for a merger, sources said, and could have a deal ready if Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines announce a tie-up.
Sinking housing market maroons houseowners - (www.insidebayarea.com) – Homes are supposed to be more than 1-2 year investments so homeowners “should” be marooned in their homes.
What is Paulson Smoking? "IRS's $600 Stimulus Checks Will Add 500,000 - 600,000 Jobs to Economy." - (www.nytimes.com)
Restaurants Find Diners Choosing Cheaper Fare - (www.boston.com)
Jury Says Realtor Not to Blame for Purchase Price - (www.voiceofsandiego.org) – For once I agree, it is about time the home-purchasers take some blame here for their greed and stupidity instead of blaming everyone else.
New loan changes bring no relief - (www.sfgate.com)
Walking Away From Your Mortgage - (www.ml-implode.com) – The San Francisco Chronicle reported the threat by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac 'to make anyone thinking about joining the growing "walkaway" trend,..., feel the pain'. Here are some good observations on the subject on minyanville.com
Biofuels Nothing Short of a Disaster - (www.canada.com)
No-down-payment mortgages are gone - (www.marketwatch.com)
‘Tranche warfare’ breaks out over CDOs - (www.ft.com)
Assets seized to halt payment to others - 18:45
Did appraisers juice Florida real-estate market? - (www.orlandosentinel.com) – Yes, but so did the banks, realtors, homeowners and everyone else. They all participated on the way up and are now blaming each other on the way down.
Stresses on Fannie, Freddie pose wider risks - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'A deep recession could force mortgage-finance titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to require a federal bailout large enough to hurt the U.S. government's top-grade credit rating, Standard & Poor's warned Monday.'
Banks Must Write Down Loans to Prevent a Mass Homeowner Exodus - (www.ml-implode.com) - The word is out and the banks and servicers need to get a clue. People are walking from their underwater homes in droves. Wha...
John Rubino: America, Ex-Distortion - (www.dollarcollapse.com) – Key paragraphs below:
"Almost four decades have passed since the United States scrapped its last currency ties to precious metals. Our copper and nickel coinage still retains some metallic value, but not nearly enough for the purpose of currency tampering--the historic temptation of inflation-plagued or otherwise wayward governments, including, at times, our own. Instead, since the 1960s, Washington has been forced to gull its citizens and creditors by debasing official statistics: the vital instruments with which the vigor and muscle of the American economy are measured. The effect, over the past twenty-five years, has been to create a false sense of economic achievement and rectitude, allowing us to maintain artificially low interest rates, massive government borrowing, and a dangerous reliance on mortgage and financial debt even as real economic growth has been slower than claimed. If Washington’s harping on weapons of mass destruction was essential to buoy public support for the invasion of Iraq, the use of deceptive statistics has played its own vital role in convincing many Americans that the U.S. economy is stronger, fairer, more productive, more dominant, and richer with opportunity than it actually is."


Other Stories:

Nationalization or monetization? - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'Fortunately, given the rate at which home prices are now declining in many parts of the country, any government action in suppo...
Mortgage payments worry many - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'In an ominous snapshot of how the sagging real estate market and sour economy are intersecting, the Associated Press-AOL Money ...
Accounting failures enter the subprime equation - (www.ml-implode.com) - As homeowners, shareholders and federal investigators pick through the subprime wreckage, many have asked how effectively fro...
Bank denies cash-raising reports - (www.ml-implode.com)
Phoenix Median Home Price Down A “Stable” 17% In March - (www.ml-implode.com)
Many skeptical of Foreclosure Protection Act - (www.ml-implode.com)

Credit Crisis Could Affect Markets for Decade: Study - (www.cnbc.com)
Citi allows loan ‘cherry picking’ - (www.ft.com)
Move could complicate balance sheet clean-up - 23:22
Inflation takes bite out of paychecks: Fed's Fault - (www.idahostatesman.com)
Blunt former Fed chairman Volcker takes on Bernanke - (www.theglobeandmail.com)
A Tale of Two Coasts - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Price boom redistributes wealth destructively - (www.independent.co.uk)
California Mortgage Rates Still High - (www.mybudget360.com)
Stocks Brace for Flood of Earnings - (www.marketwatch.com)
Congress study: Housing aid wouldn't help economy - (news.yahoo.com)
'Subprime Relief Plan' May Make a Bad Situation Worse - (www.seekingalpha.com)
US Housing Woes Spread Around the Globe - (www.nytimes.com)
CitiGroup, Merrill Reveal Fresh $15B Losses - (business.timesonline.co.uk)
Oil, Gasoline Close at Records on Dollar Weakness Against Euro - (www.bloomberg.com)
Stocks Close Down Amid Earnings Concerns - (www.ap.com)
Against a housing bailout: let the prices fall! - (www.walletpop.com)
Shiller: Housing Will Continue to Fall - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Pending sales index points to declines ahead - (www.businessweek.com)

U.S. Retail Sales Rise on Gain in Gasoline Purchases - (www.bloomberg.com)
The consumer spending mirage - (www.businessweek.com)
Phoenix job growth slows - (www.azcentral.com)
As Greenspan’s reputation sinks, Volcker’s rises - (www.ap.com)
Atlanta gas prices hit new high of $3.36 per gallon - (www.ajc.com)
Schools Get A Lesson in Lunch Line Economics - (www.nytimes.com)
The Meltdown Lowdown - (www.prospect.org)
Gold as an investment - (en.wikipedia.org)
Is A House Really A Good Investment? - (cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com)

Goldman Strategists Say U.S. Earnings Are `Awful' - (www.bloomberg.com)
Is Street Turmoil Coloring Art Market? - (online.wsj.com)
Record grain prices provide food for thought - (www.ft.com)
Nothing Special With Treasuries as Fed Has Mortgages - (www.bloomberg.com)
IRS audits of largest corporations declining - (www.ajc.com)

Wachovia Posts Loss, Plans $7 Billion Capital Raising - (www.bloomberg.com)
Northwest, Delta near merger deal - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Newspaper Vendors Worry About Downturn - (www.chicagotribune.com)
Ex-Commerce Chief down on big banks - (www.nypost.com)
Housing Woes in U.S. Spread Around Globe - (www.nytimes.com)

Monday April 14 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

http://www.netcastdaily.com/broadcast/fsn2008-0412-1.ram - Idiot politician of the week: Listen to minutes 40-43 of the clip. Congresswoman in California scolding the oil executives about high prices, but tells them she doesn’t want to hear anything about drilling (even though oil is seeping off the coast near Santa Barbara), restarting an existing oil refinery in Whittier CA, or other solutions. At the same time, others in her party are blocking wind farms off the coast in MA
Wind farm initiative off Cape clears big obstacle - The Boston Globe - (www.boston.com) - Idiot politicians #2: Ted Kennedy and Mitt Romney trying to kill wind farm off Cape Cod because it would be unsightly to the Kennedy compound and would kill the sailing lanes
Jury Says Realtor Not to Blame for Purchase Price - (www.voiceofsandiego.org) - A jury sided Thursday with Carlsbad real estate broker Mike Little in a closely watched lawsuit that pitted a local couple against the agent that helped them buy a home. The couple, Vern and Marty Ummel, claimed that Little neglected to mention recent sales in their neighborhood, leading them to overpay by about $150,000 for their home in July 2005
Maryland Foreclosure Law Changes - (www.housingwire.com) - 'The legislation significantly lengthens the foreclosure process from 15 days to approximately 150 days, by requiring a lender to wait 90 days after default before filing the foreclosure action and to send a uniform Notice of Intent to Foreclose to the homeowner 45 days prior to filing an action.'
Lehman makes move to turn unsold debt to cash - (http://www.reuters.com/)
Lehman Moved to Turn Unsold Debt to Cash: WSJ - (us.rd.yahoo.com) – Sounds like Lehman, Fed, and S&P/Moodys conspiring to dump Lehman’s bad corporate debt on the Fed and US taxpayers
Mish: The Swap-O-Rama Gets Crazier - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com) – More on shameless Lehman.
Jury set to get case of unhappy Carlsbad homebuyers - (www.nctimes.com)
Fence Sitters Will Be Sorry - (www.voiceofsandiego.org) – More crap coming out of a realtor’s mouth
U.S. Consumer Confidence Index Falls to 26-Year Low - (www.bloomberg.com)
Foreclosures in Key West's Most Expensive Neighborhoods - (keywestchronicle.blogspot.com)
Fraud Leads To 286 Foreclosures - (www.10news.com)
Senate passes crappy foreclosure bill - (www.politicalgateway.com) – Helps homebuilders, lenders, mortgage brokers, but will it help anyone stay in their homes?
Tax breaks, boondoggles mar efforts to help homedebtors - (news.yahoo.com)
Senate Agrees to Mortgage Bailout for Bankers and Builders - (www.efinancedirectory.com)
Illegal workers paying chunk of Social Security taxes - (www.azcentral.com) – Biased story which doesn’t discuss people being paid under the table.
Fed Readies for a Reload - (www.independent.co.uk)
UPDATE - Banks may need to raise $140 bln more of capital: CS - (www.reuters.com)


Other Stories:

Citigroup's Market Value Drops Below Apple's Amid Credit Crisis - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'At the end of 2006, Citigroup Inc. was the fourth-largest company in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, with a market value of $2...
Lehman CFO Says Market Recovery May Take Until 2009 - (www.ml-implode.com)
WaMu Estimates Cut by Goldman, Short Sale Recommended - (www.ml-implode.com)
Fitch Warns on Home Builders - (www.ml-implode.com)
California Mortgage Rates Still High - (www.ml-implode.com)

Housing Prices Closely Linked to Monetary Policy - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Bank will "need" to cut interest rates further - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Failures of the Term Auction Facility - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
Fewer Options Open to Pay for Costs of College - (www.nytimes.com)
G-7 Signals Concern on Dollar's Slide, Weaker Growth - (www.bloomberg.com)
Our Financial Bailout Culture - (online.wsj.com)
Surprising Growth in the Trade Deficit - (www.nytimes.com)
Greenspan's media offensive glosses over shortcomings - (money.cnn.com)
The Bush Recession - (visitorfromtomorrow.com)
Victims and villains - (www.worldnetdaily.com)
GSEs: The Tail Wagging the Credit Market Dog? - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Economists: More Downside - (online.wsj.com)
Consumer confidence falls to new low - (www.ap.com)
U.S. import prices rise 2.8% in March - (www.marketwatch.com)
Watering ban means pollen-colored cars for dealers - (www.ajc.com)
Worst financial crisis since Depression, says IMF - (www.guardian.co.uk)
Foreclosure crisis hits rental market - (www.bankrate.com)
Cheapest Houses in the Bay Area - (www.ibabuzz.com)

Auction Market Shrinks by $51 Billion, With Failure Rate at 71% - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.S. credit crunch rocks student loan business - (www.ajc.com)
Revolvers trigger dangers for banks - (www.ft.com)
Prying Open Hedge Funds' Exit Door - (www.businessweek.com)
Gas, diesel hit new records - (www.chicagotribune.com)

GE Says Profit Fell, Citing Finance; Forecast Reduced - (www.bloomberg.com)
As Housing Boomed, Moody's Opened Up - (online.wsj.com)
How Lehman Opened the Fed's Spigot - (online.wsj.com)
GE's Results Pull Plug on Wall Street - (online.wsj.com)
Retailers report weakest March in 13 years - (www.latimes.com)
Linens 'n Things bankruptcy may come Tuesday: report - (www.reuters.com)
Exclusive Lines May Prove Risky In Cool Economy - (online.wsj.com)
Linens 'n Things Files for Bankruptcy - (www.thestreet.com)
Frontier Airlines Files for Bankruptcy Protection - (www.bloomberg.com)
Airline investors find they're always losing altitude - (www.chron.com)
Freightliner to lay off 1,500 in N.C. - (portland.bizjournals.com)

Philippines Caught in Rice Squeeze - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Dearer imports drive up UK prices - (www.ft.com)
Wage settlements suggest impact of inflation - (www.ft.com)
Saudis to phase out wheat production - (www.ft.com)
Nations in secret deals over grain supplies - (www.ft.com)
India Ends Export Incentives for Rice, Steel to Tame Inflation - (www.bloomberg.com)

Friday April 11 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Senate Passes Bill with Builder Tax Breaks - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'At a cost of $15 billion over 10 years, the Senate bill would give a $6 billion tax break to home builders by temporarily exten...
Lucrative Grim Repo Man - (clubs.ccsu.edu) – Entrepreneur takes foreclosure hunters on bus tours
Lehman Brothers Says It Liquidated Three Investment Funds - (www.bloomberg.com)
Jefferson County AL Close to Bankruptcy - Meets With Fed - (www.bloomberg.com)
Wall Street Banks May Cut 35% of Jobs - (www.bloomberg.com)
Auction Failures Force Students to Lose College Funds - (www.bloomberg.com)
Jefferson County Advisers Meet U.S. Officials as Crisis Looms - (www.bloomberg.com)
Americans with mortgages exceeding value of homes unlikely to be helped by Bush refinance plan - (www.signonsandiego.com)
Another Flavor of Bonds Threatens to Turn Sour: Mark Gilbert - (www.bloomberg.com)
GMAC's Bank Unit Has a Problem - (online.wsj.com)
Hedge Funds Make It Hard To Say Goodbye - (online.wsj.com) – Was it such a great deal to be in a hedge fund when they prevent you from withdrawing your money?
Slowdown Deals A Bad Hand to Las Vegas Casinos - (online.wsj.com)
The REO Life: Vandalism - (www.youtube.com)
Opposition to Proposed Houseowner Bailout Growing - (www.npr.org)
House committee backs additional theft of renter taxes - (www.reuters.com)


Other Stories:

White House Presents Plan To Aid Subprime Borrowers - (www.ml-implode.com) - 'The proposal was quickly criticized by consumer groups, who said it would do little to slow a mortgage meltdown that last year ...
Phoenix Foreclosures: If Not A Crisis, Pretty Close To It - (www.ml-implode.com) - "Home inventories are continuing to rise and prices are declining, so there is still some more time before the Phoenix area mark...
Scam Spam Flyer from FHA "Downpayment Assistance Firm" - (www.ml-implode.com) - We received this lovely mailer as spam to our inbox today. It quite nicely demonstrates and proves that down-payment assistance...
We only thought we were getting wealthier - (www.ml-implode.com)
Failures of the Term Auction Facility - (www.ml-implode.com)
Trouble in the Cockroach Hotels - (www.ml-implode.com)
Stress Returns to Interbank Lending - (www.ml-implode.com)
Lust helped drive the housing bust, but mass amnesia also factored - (www.ml-implode.com)

Fed Prepares for More Bank Failures In Wake of Housing Collapse - (www.marketoracle.co.uk)
Denver house prices continue to plummet - (denverpost.com)
Housing-market joy spread to England - (www.economist.com)
Lenders Giving Underwater Borrowers Cash for Keys - (www.homeguide123.com)
Drop in house values brings dip in property taxes - (www.modbee.com)

Ron Paul Questions General Petraeus Yesterday [Video] - (www.dailypaul.com)
Fed fears deep recession - (www.thestar.com)
The Fed Is Terrified - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
Fed mulls options in easing credit crunch - (www.financialnews-us.com)
Volker: Is the Fed's Bear Stearns Loan Legal? - (www.bloomberg.com)
Interactive Foreclosure Map of Denver - 11,000 More Foreclosures Expected This Year - (www.usatoday.com)
Americans: Can't Get Ahead, Hard to Keep Up - (www.washingtonpost.com)
US Trade Deficit Unexpectedly Widens - (www.bloomberg.com)
Iceland Raises Benchmark Rates to 15.5% - (www.bloomberg.com)
Treasury Notes Fall as U.S. Stocks Advance, After Fed Auction - (www.bloomberg.com)
Crude Oil Falls on Signs Record Prices Will Curb U.S. Demand - (www.bloomberg.com)
Diesel price fuels US truckers’ anger - (www.ft.com)

Real Estate: A Capital Trap for National Savings - (Charles Hugh Smith)
Bob's tips on renting safely during the next few years - (www.politicalgateway.com)
Ambac, MBIA Finally Get the Rating They Deserve - (www.seekingalpha.com)
35 signs the market hasn't hit bottom - (www.marketwatch.com)
U.S. Trade Deficit Unexpectedly Widened on Imports - (www.bloomberg.com)
Inflation Is Set to Reach Decade High - (online.wsj.com)
IMF sees U.S. falling into recession - (www.chicagotribune.com)
U.S. office vacancies up as leasing ebbs - (www.latimes.com)
Volcker, ex-Fed chairman, chides Bernanke - (www.iht.com)
Fed Bashed, ECB Spared in Finger-Pointing Match - (www.cnbc.com)

Housing Bust Offers Insights - (online.wsj.com)
The Bank-Loan Haircut - (online.wsj.com)
'B-Pieces' Wield Their CMBS Clout - (online.wsj.com)
Asian currencies rise as recession fears hit dollar - (news.yahoo.com/s/afp)
Having lost fortunes, banks such as UBS have to raise money - (www.economist.com)
Soros Says Credit Crisis Will Worsen Before Improving - (www.bloomberg.com)
Are you upside down in your home? - (www.ocregister.com)
Painful shake-out seen for Asian hedge funds - (www.reuters.com)
Volatile Waters Tossed Around Hedge Funds - (online.wsj.com)
New Delays Loom as F.A.A. Expands Airliner Review - (www.nytimes.com)
Slowdown Deals A Bad Hand to Las Vegas Casinos - (online.wsj.com)
Fuel Costs Just Part of Airlines’ List of Woes - (www.nytimes.com)

Bank of England cuts key rate by quarter point - (www.marketwatch.com)
World inflation fuelled by surge in farm, energy prices - (news.yahoo.com/s/afp)
Iceland Raises Benchmark Interest Rate to 15.5% - (www.bloomberg.com)
Australia aims regulatory fire at hedge funds - (www.ft.com)
A New Poll Finds Americans Feeling a Lot More Squeezed - (www.washingtonpost.com)
What We've Learned From the Market Mess - (online.wsj.com)