By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor Just one day after Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. (MER) wrote off billions in bad mortgage loans and reported its biggest quarterly loss in 93 years, Wall Street analysts yesterday (Thursday) predicted there was still more bad news to come. Although it wrote off $8.4 billion of subprime mortgages and […]
Category
Debt
Housing Market Down For the Count, According to Industry Experts
By Jason Simpkins Staff Writer Housing prices will continue to decline and the downward spiral may not end until sometime in 2010, industry executives said this week. Speaking at the Mortgage Banker's Association's annual convention Monday, executives from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the CEOs of two other major mortgage banks, said […]
Soaring Oil Prices, Debt Concerns Send Stocks Skidding Yesterday; Oil Spikes in Asia Today
By Jason Simpkins Staff Writer Stocks tumbled yesterday (Monday) as oil prices soared and three major U.S. banks announced a plan to revive the asset-backed commercial paper market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 108.20 points, or 0.77%, to close at 13,984.80. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed at 1,548.71, down 13.09 points, […]
Banks Create Fund to Help to Fight Woeful Credit Market
From staff reports Three of the United States' biggest banks – Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM)- announced yesterday (Monday) that they agreed to start a fund to enhance the liquidity of asset backed commercial paper (ABCP) and medium-term notes by structured investment vehicles (SIVs). The […]
Avoid the 'Resurgent' Homebuilding Sector and Go Global for Profits
By William Patalon III Managing Editor Money Morning/The Money Map Report Invest in the homebuilding sector at your own risk. U.S. homebuilders such as D.R. Horton Inc. (DRI), KB Homes (KB) and Pulte Homes Inc. (PHM) capped the sector's biggest two-day advance since August yesterday (Tuesday), thanks to a growing investor belief that the worst […]
Citigroup and UBS Brace For Losses, but Dow Jones Sets Record Above 14,000
By Jason Simpkins Staff Writer On a day that two huge banks took major profit hits because of the subprime market crisis, stocks soared to record highs yesterday (Monday) on the belief that the worst of the ensuing credit crisis had passed. Citigroup (C) and UBS AG (UBS), the largest banks in the United States […]
High Debt Levels Leave Aussie Households 'Exposed,' Australian Reserve Bank Says
From Staff Reports Australia's ongoing economic boom – fueled by the continued growth in the Asia-Pacific Region – has left Aussie families less leery of debt, and more vulnerable to an economic shock or recession, Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Ric Battellino stated at a convention in Melbourne yesterday. At a convention organized by the 'Melbourne […]
Will Fed Rate Cuts Have an Inflationary Impact?
When Federal Reserve policymakers announced the half-a-point cut in interest rates last Tuesday, I was almost at a loss for words. As all of you know, I had projected reduction of 25 basis points, and by the time Tuesday’s meeting of the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) rolled around, the market supported my […]
How to Play Today's FOMC Meeting
By Martin Hutchinson Director of Global Investing Research Wall Street has firmly got it into its tiny overpaid noggin that the Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee will slash interest rates today. I'm not so sure. Whatever Bernanke & Co. does will indicate the medium-term future of Federal […]
Euro Debt Market Faces 'Pivotal' Test With $140 Billion Maturing
From Staff Reports Companies in Europe face a situation in which they need to refinance nearly $140 billion worth of commercial by the end of next week, according to Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's biggest bank. This will increase corporate borrowing costs. According to Bloomberg News, Deutsche Bank Credit Strategist Jim Reid wrote in a research […]