Given that the index can't really go much lower than it is now, I'd have to say we're out of "headroom" for head fakes. But this is still probably just headfake #4.

I'm not right as much as I'd like, but I think the MTM suspension wasn't the real reason why the market rolled over and went into a high-volume slump this afternoon. Or at least, it wasn't the only reason, or even the largest reason. To the extent that it was a reason, it wasn't because it does much (it doesn't), but because it shows that the leadership still hasn't come to grips with the root causes of the economic problem.

National balance sheet accounts The Daily, Monday, March 16, 2009. National balance sheet accounts
Fourth quarter 2008 (Previous release)
Household net worth retreated for the second consecutive quarter, declining $252 billion, or 4.4%, in the fourth quarter as stock market prices continued to fall. On a per capita basis, household net worth fell from $179,300 in the second quarter of 2008 to $165,300 in the fourth quarter, a $14,000 decrease.

Looks like the HMI is the first derivative of the home sales numbers.

BREAKING NEWS: Mexico says it will increase tariffs on about 90 U.S. products in retaliation for decision to cancel program..about 3 hours ago from twitterfeed WSJ

We won't find a bottom in housing until PTI makes sense. Falling incomes will mean ever falling housing prices. Get used to it. This is a viscous downward spiral.

Jan '09 looks exactly like Jan '08, no? So my guess is a temporary rise in NHS and then downward again.

How many other rich assholes - crooks or otherwise - owe the IRS far more money than I'll earn in my lifetime? And what's taking the IRS so long to collect?

Accused billionaire swindler R. Allen Stanford and his wife owe the IRS $226.6 million in back taxes, according to a new court filing by the IRS. A lien filed in Stanford's divorce records indicated he owed $114 million, but the new IRS filing shows the total debt is nearly twice that figure.

-Atrios 16:39

Yeah, something else to watch "cliff dive". You think it can't get any lower....pop some popcorn and crack open a cold one....cuz this movie is a horror story and not some happy ending chick flick. >:o

I wrote more on my CR inspired story of life after the economy crashes.

excerpt:

I stopped cleaning to watch it. It was fascinating in a slow motion, car wreck, kind of way. It was a combination of failures that were driving these people across the border in what CNN was calling the biggest migration of people to America ever. It was epic. Epic as in the total failure of the Mexican state. Epic in the failure of the United States government’s inability to do much of anything for any of the people involved. Epic in the migration of countless people across hostile terrain, dodging hostile locals, and predators from both countries ripping at them from all sides.

Mexico had watched the flow of their oil fields diminish, while at the same time the price of oil dropped to levels unseen in years. This meant no money for government programs. This, combined with a worldwide depression, returning citizens from the USA, the rise of the gangs, and general incompetence on both sides of the border. The result was the citizens of Mexico voted with their feet. They had to. To stay meant to die. Either slowly from lack of food and water, or by the violence that was completely out of control. As the CNN anchor said “It is not a drug war now. It is a civil war.”

for more: 401 Authorization Required

i nominate YAHOO finance for most tarded of the 2000's

When Stock Prices Drop, Where's the Money?
When-Stock-Prices-Drop-Where's-the-Money: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

"so, if you purchase a stock for $10 and then sell it for only $5, you will (obviously) lose $5. It may feel like that money must go to someone else, but that isn't exactly true. It doesn't go to the person who buys the stock from you. The company that issued the stock doesn't get it either. The brokerage is also left empty-handed, as you only paid it to make the transaction on your behalf. So the question remains: where did the money go?"

hey morons, it went to who ever sold you the stock. they go on...

"The most straightforward answer to this question is that it actually disappeared into thin air, along with the decrease in demand for the stock, or, more specifically, the decrease in investors' favorable perception of it."

“Couple of day old interview with J. Rogers

Why does the tone of this interview make me think that people are listening to Jim Rogers more?

Some Investor Guy says:
Today, 4:40:25 PM
“I get the feeling senate staffers are now reading this blog.

hey staffers! end the corporate liability shield for the directors of financial corporations. that is all the reform you need because if the people we trust with our bank deposits fear for the loss of their savings they will be more careful of ours.

"end the corporate liability shield for the directors of financial corporations"

Hey Otis, how about just requiring that most of their bonuses be held in escrow for several years. If the company has an accounting scandal, or goes bankrupt, or end up in a Federal bailout, they don't get the rest of the money. That could lead to considerably more long-term thinking.

Getting rid of the liability shield would mean a lot of people just wouldn't serve on boards. You would be left with people with name recognition but few assets.

hey staffers!
Next month equities and energy will both fall in price and it's because you're dirty dirty sinners

Today went to an investment group meeting. Haven't been in a while. Participants are mostly middle class retired folks. Mood was very glum - more so than usual. Had a guest speaker who said basically that there is no safe place to put what cash you may have.
At the end. we decided that, if we are going to end up eating cat food in our golden years, we might as well live it up and eat caviar for the next couple of months.

Florence- "CR went to a blog party..."

It just makes me all weepy to hear that the likes of the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal don't consider blogs respectable.

NOTE TO WSJ- I stopped reading your rag in 1969.

Today went to an investment group meeting. Haven't been in a while.

My dad gets invitations to go to these things all the time. Even though he literally doesn't understand what they're saying, he goes for the free food

EHP,

I'd bet the house that ALL the AIG bonus guarantees were predicated on the employees NOT being terminated for cause.

If $160 billion in losses is NOT a proper CAUSE for termination I don't know what is.

This is a shakedown. A looting. I say put the AIG employees on Riker's Island for a night (general pop). See if that changes their attitudes.