Housing Bubble Bursting?

[Terrel L. Shields]

Greenspan's remarks were obtuse weren't they? I wonder what they are up to.

 

[Evincere]

Greenspan's remarks were obtuse weren't they? I wonder what they are up to.

He can't quite figure out how not to publically choke on the word recession?

 

[Brad Ellis]

Denis,

Moh said there was a stock crash and that it will continue.

Just for the record, every newletter I subsribe to, both my brokers, and all of my friends I talked to on the Chciago Board of Trade yesterday tell me this is an aberration and will quickly correct.

ALL see it as a buying opportunity. Interesting.

The start of this was a Chinese directive to banks to stop lending to borrowers who were going to use the funds to speculate in the stock market. They then increased the capital reserve requirement for the banks there by 1/2 percent.

But, I think Austin is correct in saying this is now a global marketplace and what happens overseas does impact our own markets- and often dramatically.

Brad

 

[JSmith43]

I just got a cold call from a seasoned NY stock broker. Strange.....I recognize the trainee pups. Maybe he was doing it as an example call for a pup in the background.........a leading indicator???

 

[hastalavista]

Denis,

Just for the record, every newletter I subsribe to, both my brokers, and all of my friends I talked to on the Chciago Board of Trade yesterday tell me this is an aberration and will quickly correct.

Brad-

I hear you.
My story was anecdotal. I'm a long-term investor, not a short-term speculator.:new_smile-l: You know the old saw, "Bulls make money, Bears make money, Pigs get slaughtered!"

However, if the acquaintance I referenced tells me he's decided to sell all his positions, then I may take that as a time to "go long"!:icon_wink:

 

[MARK JOLLIFF]

I've never been long!!!

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Sure, the medium turn is to bounce back. Bargain hunting. But those with highly leveraged positions cannot do that. They have to sell to cover their margin and thats what hedges are doing. They cannot go long. And when the hedges fall...domino

 

[hastalavista]

I've never been long!!!

Let's see how long it takes Janet to make a comment!

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Sub-prime credit tightening continues- FICO increased

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/business/28mortgage.html?th&emc=th

I am reading the article in the NY Times about Freddie tightening its credit standards on sub-prime loans.

The easy money is making a quick exit out of risky mortgages.

During the housing boom that ended in 2005, money was poured with abandon into exotic home loans that let people buy homes with little down or without verifying their incomes. Now, lenders, financiers and buyers of mortgages are pulling back.

The move comes as default rates are rising, smaller lenders are starting to fail and investors are shunning bonds backed by mortgages.

“Lenders and originators are being significantly penalized for the loose standards that we saw last year,” said Brian J. Carlin, head of fixed-income trading at JPMorgan Private Bank. “And they are going to take that out on current borrowers.”

First Franklin, one of the nation’s largest sub-prime lenders and a subsidiary of Merrill Lynch & Company, recently told mortgage brokers it does business with that it was raising the minimum credit scores for borrowers who wanted to finance 100 percent of a home’s purchase price.

All first-time home buyers will be required to put down at least 5 percent of the purchase price, or verify their income with tax documents.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Liquidation of assets - a run for cash

Gold futures for April delivery dropped as much as $23.20 to $664 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange earlier today as investors sold their positions. There was a massive equity market liquidation yesterday. Liquidation of assets across the board are signs that funds of all sort were forced to raise capital.

Is this a temporary liquidation from these funds which require capital to cover losses and redemptions? Or will the cash raised be surplus in the coming days so as to be ready for investment again?