Mar - 6th
Disaster: Unemployment rate reaches 8.1%
Posted at 11:39 am | Filed Under Uncategorized
The US Economy continues to contract. Employers slashed 651,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate reached 8.1%. This is how the media reported the news:
USA Today:
Jobless rate jumps to 8.1% as 651,000 jobs slashed
While the February numbers were in line with analysts’ projections, the Labor Department said job losses in previous months were sharply […]
Feb - 25th
Map showing the percentage of home buyers with dangerous loans
Posted at 11:37 am | Filed Under Uncategorized
Take a look at this map published by USA Today showing the percentage of home buyers across the country who took on dangerous mortgages (those borrowing more than 4 times their yearly income) and the difference between 2000 and 2007.
It will help you understand how bad the problem is and why we are not even […]
Nov - 28th
Mortgage rates are not going down even as bond rates collapse
Posted at 12:46 pm | Filed Under Uncategorized
They conforming loan rates (less than 417K) have come down a little bit over the last few weeks but Jumbo loan rates have not come down.
The short answer is “nobody wants to lend money”. Banks are having a hard time selling their mortgage backed securities to investors and therefore, they must charge higher rates to […]
Nov - 21st
More layoffs in the mortgage industry
Posted at 11:14 am | Filed Under Uncategorized
Orange County, California was the epicenter of the subprime mortgages in the days of the housing boom. Now, those same mortgage companies are laying off thousands of employees and the Southern California economy is feeling the pain.
The Orange County Register has an excellent article telling the stories of several mortgage workers who are now looking […]
Nov - 20th
Is Countrywide collapsing?
Posted at 5:39 pm | Filed Under Uncategorized
It certainly looks that way. According to AP
Shares of Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation’s largest mortgage lender, sank more than 14 percent Tuesday amid concerns that troubles at government-backed mortgage banks could squeeze mortgage lenders’ access to funding.
The company’s shares fell $1.50, or 14.2 percent, to $9.07 in afternoon trading. At one point, the stock […]
Nov - 20th
More losses in the mortgage industry: Freddie Mac
Posted at 1:33 pm | Filed Under Uncategorized
We keep seeing more and more financial companies coming out with mortgage related losses due to the subprime problem but it is not just subprime, the problems are spreading to Alt-A and even conforming loans. Now it is Freddie Mac’s turn.
The USA Today reports the following:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Freddie Mac (FRE), the nation’s second-largest buyer […]
Nov - 15th
Europe gets hit by the U.S. subprime mess
Posted at 11:05 am | Filed Under Uncategorized
England, Germany, and other countries in Europe get impacted by the losses in the U.S. subprime market. In another example of irrational exuberance, Europeans wanted a piece of the American booming market. Of course, they failed to look at the potential risks and they are not looking a big losses. They got greedy and they […]
Nov - 8th
Another bubble brewing: Gold hits new high
Posted at 5:01 pm | Filed Under Uncategorized
Marketwatch reports
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Gold futures surged to finish at a record closing high of $837.50 an ounce on Thursday, topping the previous session’s record by $4.
The yellow metal was boosted by the dollar’s fall against major rivals after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the weaker dollar is a key inflation risk.
Gold […]
Nov - 6th
New all-time high for oil: $97 a barrel
Posted at 12:53 pm | Filed Under Uncategorized
AP is reporting that “oil futures jumped to a record $97 a barrel Tuesday after bombings in Afghanistan and an attack on a Yemeni oil pipeline compounded supply concerns that have driven crude prices higher in recent weeks.”
Other energy futures also rose Tuesday. December gasoline futures jumped 6.79 cents to $2.449 a gallon on the […]
Nov - 1st
Gold breaks the $800 mark
Posted at 3:14 pm | Filed Under Uncategorized
Gold futures broke the $800 before retreating to the close.
Reuters reports
“As long as the crude is trading up here, and as long as
the euro stays over where it is, you are not going to see much
of a pullback in gold,” said George Gero, vice president at RBC
Capital Market Global Futures in New York. Most-active December […]
