Housing Bubble Bursting?

[Randolph Kinney]

Ripple - Bubble - Ripple

Basis Capital Yield Fund May Lose More Than 80 Percent on Subprime Rout

Basis Capital Fund Management Ltd. told investors losses at one of its hedge funds may exceed 80 percent as the U.S. subprime mortgage rout prompted creditors to force the Sydney-based company to sell assets.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Oh those subprime and mortgage backed bonds!

KKR Financial May Lose $290 Million on Sales of Mortgage-Backed Bonds

KKR Financial Holdings LLC shares fell 31 percent after the debt investor said it may lose as much as $290 million because of a decline in the value of mortgage- backed bonds it owns.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Well cut my throat and call me insolvent

Rams Homes Is Unable to Refinance Short-Term U.S. Debt on Credit Crunch

Rams Home Loans Group Ltd., an Australian lender that went public last month, failed to refinance short-term debt as buyers shun credit markets on concern that subprime losses will deepen.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Another bad day for the markets

Traders' screens glow red

Stocks open sharply lower as shell-shocked traders fear the next shoe to drop and sweat the latest on Countrywide.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

The end of Countrywide as we know it?

Countrywide taps entire credit facility

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial said Thursday it has drawn down all of an $11.5 billion credit facility to fund its operations as difficulty raising money in the credit markets threatened its business.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

FED: more cash on the way

Fed Has Already Introduced `Temporary' Easing of Rates: Chart of the Day

The U.S. Federal Reserve has already introduced a ``temporary'' reduction in interest rates by driving the four-week Treasury bill below the Fed funds target, says Charles Diebel, a strategist at Nomura International in London.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Loser - anything to do with real estate

Fidelity, Franklin Real-Estate Funds Plunge as Industry Loses $13 Billion

Fidelity Investments, Franklin Resources Inc. and Kensington Investment Group Inc. are the biggest losers in a decline by U.S. real estate funds that wiped out $13 billion in the past three months.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Contagion: buy U.S. Treasury bills

Run on Treasury Bills Spurred by Subprime's Contagion in Commercial Paper

Investors are scooping up U.S. Treasury bills like few times in history as an expanding credit crunch makes it hard for companies to roll over short-term debt.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Fear has spread - more contagion

Coventree Seeks $729 Million of Emergency Funding

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Coventree Inc., Canada's biggest non- bank issuer of asset-backed commercial paper, is seeking an additional C$790 million ($729 million) of emergency funds after failing to sell any notes yesterday.

The Toronto-based company sought the funds on behalf of units that issue commercial paper to refinance debt, bringing total requests for emergency liquidity to C$1.6 billion since Aug. 13, it said in a statement today. The company also extended maturities on C$410 million of commercial paper, for a total of C$720 million during the period.

Coventree's units, known as conduits, are struggling to refinance debt as the subprime crisis spills over into Canada's C$120 billion asset-backed commercial paper market. The company sold C$600 million of notes on Aug. 14 after trying earlier in the week to place about C$950 million. The deepening crisis in credit markets also ensnared Australia's Rams Home Loans Group Ltd., which couldn't refinance A$6.17 billion ($5 billion) of U.S. debt.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

And your point is?