The Onion skewers the real estate industry’s ubiquitous use of head shots. Here’s an excerpt and full link to the story. But as far as I was concerned, the deal was sealed the moment I saw real estate agent Mary T. Ellington looking back at me from that Re/Max sign, her face just barely visible
March 2010
The US Producer Price Index, which measures inflation at the business and manufacturing levels of the economy, was -0.6% in February and 4.4% year-over-year through February. Excluding volatile oil and food costs from the readings, “Core” PPI for February was 0.1% and 1% YOY through February. These monthly “All” and “Core” numbers were lower than
The US Producer Price Index, which measures inflation at the business and manufacturing levels of the economy, was -0.6% in February and 4.4% year-over-year through February. Excluding volatile oil and food costs from the readings, “Core” PPI for February was 0.1% and 1% YOY through February. These monthly “All” and “Core” numbers were lower than
Federal Home Loan Bank of SF Sues Dealers The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco sued nine securities dealers alleging they misled it about the credit quality and risks of loans behind $19.1 billion in private-label residential mortgage-backed securities. Among several dealers, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America were named
The Fed just made it’s announcement following today’s FOMC meeting. All FOMC members except for Thomas Hoenig voted to leave the overnight bank-to-bank Fed Funds Rate the same at 0.25%. There was no reference to the Fed-to-bank Discount Rate, which is currently at 0.75% following a surprise 0.25% hike last month. As usual, the press
Financial Reform Fact Sheet, And The Bill’s ‘Hotel California’ Provision Defined (Gipsy Kings Style)
Following yesterday’s announcement of sweeping financial reform from Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, here’s a good fact sheet summarizing key provisions of the full bill. Worthwhile read for anyone who’s tired of trying to decode healthcare bills. This financial bill isn’t as grey as healthcare bills, but passing it will be an equally tough
GMAC Hires Goldman To Sell Mortgage Unit In a story from the New York Post, GMAC has hired Goldman Sachs to start the process of selling Res Cap. Between GMAC being mostly owned by the government ($17 billion for 56%), and Res Cap losing billions of dollars, and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owning a sizeable
We love the new Scottrade ads featuring a self-centered limo and yacht dwelling stock broker. They’re hilarious because they capture the broker stereotype flawlessly. But this is a big change from how we felt about their long-running previous campaign where their CEO Rodger Riney was espousing discounts, service, and frugality from a helicopter. While these
Today is the release date for Michael Lewis’ new book The Big Short. It’s born out of a November 2008 article called The End that he wrote as a conclusion to Liar’s Poker. Here’s what we said about The End when it was released. Can’t wait to read his new book. When it comes to
4 More Banks Fail, 30 Have Failed In 2010 New York regulators on Friday closed the Park Avenue Bank with total assets of $520 million and total deposits of $494 million. The FDIC has arranged for Valley National Bank (NJ) to run it. (Valley National is also taking over LibertyPointe Bank, which was shuttered Thursday.)
Last week BusinessInsider editor in chief Henry Blodget wrote a Twitter Manifesto, or Tweetifesto as he called it, about his position on investigative journalism that can best be summarized like this: Blodget likes hard journalism but it’s not profitable enough. It’s been 9 days so most have missed or forgotten the 30 tweets (below) comprising
Rates rose about .125% this week on better than expected retail sales figures for February and mixed market reception of 3yr, 10yr, and 30yr Treasury auctions. The longer-dated auctions compete directly with mortgage bonds for attention, and the paltry reception of these new issues caused mortgage bonds to trade lower—when bond prices drop, rates rise.
Daylight Savings Time Reminder Don’t forget to “Spring ahead” this Sunday morning. We lose an hour of sleep. Another Bank Closure The FDIC made a rare Thursday move and shut down LibertyPointe Bank This bank catered to the Orthodox Jewish community in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and will be taken over by Valley National. BofA’s Mistaken
Water (or Beer?) Consumption By Sports Fans Who says that numbers aren’t fun? A top muni bond analyst at Wells Fargo sent this chart to me. California’s 2009 Home Buying Stats In California (state motto: “By age 30, our women have more plastic than your Honda”) last year 47% of all homebuyers were first-time homebuyers,
Nouriel Roubini thinks the US economy is dangerously close to a double dip recession, and covers the topic in detail on his website. Below are his introductory notes on the topic of what kind of recovery we’re experiencing, and these topics are covered in detail on his site (which is subscriber based). A slew of
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