Hey, I'm supposed to be first on the red-eye shift. Your time zone is disqualified.

On topic:
“

This leveling of the foreclosure trend is not necessarily evidence that fewer homeowners are in distress and at risk for foreclosure, but rather that foreclosure prevention programs, legislation and other processing delays are in effect capping monthly foreclosure activity — albeit at a historically high level that will likely continue for an extended period." [said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.]

Is there a way to put a number on the impact of the prevention programs (at least according to statistics released)?

OK, I admit I had to look up Lis Pendens, I'm not a lawyer and no one has been able to catch up with me to serve me so I never heard that before.

Even here in Hawaii I have noticed fewer delinquencies being reported, but the number of pending foreclosures continue to increase much larger than the delinquencies but at a little slower rate.

The outstanding question is when there are 50 scheduled auctions, but only one or two go through. There is still a large number of limbo defaults out there not making it through the system yet.

In a way it's strange because we are only back to 2005 prices, and a lot of the pending foreclosures "may" still have equity pending second liens. Yet there are more pending foreclosures and defaults than there are properties listed for sale. I'm sure this will all end well though.

“You need to get the U.S. on board, otherwise the effect will be minimal because trading will simply move elsewhere,” said Jan Hagen, head of the financial services group at the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin. “A ban would allow European politicians to tell voters at least they’re doing something.”

The European Union’s top regulatory official, European Commission President Jose Barroso, said March 9 that the 27- nation bloc will consider banning “purely speculative naked” credit-default swaps after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a crackdown on derivatives trading to prevent a rerun of the Greek crisis.

Naked Swaps Crackdown in Europe Rings Hollow Without Washington - Bloomberg.com

Timmy said today that without Europe's participation reforms would fail. It's a cute finesse. But when the sperm whales get organized they can easily trap the giant squid.

“My own sense is that banning naked swaps is not necessary and wouldn’t help fundamentally,” Geithner told lawmakers on March 26, 2009. “It’s too hard to distinguish what is a legitimate hedge that has some economic value from what people might just feel is a speculative bet on some future outcome.”
...
The world’s five biggest CDS dealers are JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Barclays Plc, according to a report by Deutsche Bank Research, citing the European Central Bank and filings by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.

No shit. No one suggests a ban on gambling your own hard-earned money.
Public corporations don't gamble their own money, only humans can do that.

Grayson/Paul 2012

Grayson is the more powerful speaker.

Counterpointer - "In fact I was having this exact conversation with Chairman Bernanke earlier today" Mr Geithner continued.

I don't think there has been a better fear monger statement made this week.

YouTube - Dadan the Pitbull
YouTube - Black cat white cat-Dadan-pitbul

Grayson/Paul 2012

if it could only snow all year long... the excuse could last forever!

btw, do any of you guys use rss readers? ive been using google reader, but heard there are better ones. do you know of any that are better than googles?

thnx.

Counterpointer wrote:

Great attack dog

Good role for a veep.

get lost, you are not welcome here.

I must be getting old. I have no idea what this means

nike jordans six ring,yeezy$%5!!

Yeezy!

Sure it has

Silverstein May Default on Debt for 575 Lexington (Update1) - Bloomberg.com 

Mass school closures approved in Kansas City, Mo. - Yahoo! News

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Facing potential bankruptcy, the board that governs the once flush-with-cash Kansas City school district is taking the unusual and contentious step of shuttering almost half its schools.

.....

Emotional board member Duane Kelly told the crowd of more than 200 people Wednesday night, "This is the most painful vote I have ever cast" in 10 years on the board. Some chanted for the removal of the superintendent, while one woman asked the crowd, "Is anyone else ready to homeschool their children?"

Kansas City Councilwoman Sharon Sanders Brooks said
the closure plan had prompted some housing developers to consider backing out of projects.

....

Under the approved plan, buildings will be shuttered before the next school year. Teachers at six other low-performing schools will be required to reapply for their jobs, and the district will try to sell its downtown central office. It also is expected to cut about 700 of the district's 3,000 jobs, including about 285 teachers.

District officials face dozens of issues as they begin the massive job of downsizing the district — reworking school bus routes, figuring out what to do with vacant buildings and slashing its payroll.

......

Virginia Hands Out 6996 Traffic Tickets In One Weekend In An Effort To Raise Revenue For The State Government

All cheer for the second derivative!

Sales tax revenue down 8.8 percent in February | AP Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said Wednesday that the state collected $1.6 billion in sales tax revenue in February. And even though that's down 8.8 percent compared to February 2009, she said sales tax losses have begun to moderate.

Before February there were eight straight months of double-digit declines.

Rob, isn't there some question about the constitutionality of that deal? I've also wondered about GE Capital-did they get funds too?

Treasury Yield Curve Near Record Before $13 Billion Bond Sale - Bloomberg.com

.......

Treasuries Versus Bunds

Ten-year Treasuries yielded 58 basis points more than similar-maturity bunds today, up from 38 basis points on Jan. 21. Treasuries have made investors 1.4 percent this year, trailing a 2.1 percent return on German securities, according to indexes compiled by Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lunch unit.

The 30-year bonds scheduled for sale today yielded 4.70 percent in pre-auction trading. At the most recent auction of the securities on Feb. 11, investors bid for 2.36 times the amount offered, versus an average of 2.48 for the past 10 sales. Indirect bidders, the group that includes foreign central banks, bought 29 percent, versus an average of 42 percent at the previous 10 sales.

The 10-year yield, a benchmark for everything from mortgage rates to student loans, has climbed 82 basis points in the past 12 months to 3.73 percent as evidence accumulates that the global economy is recovering from the recession.

Treasuries fell yesterday, led by shorter-maturity debt, as gains in global stocks lessened the appeal of U.S. government securities as a refuge. Investors sought higher-yielding assets after former European Commission President Romano Prodi said the financial crisis hurting Greece, which is seeking to cut its budget deficit, is over.

The U.S. economy is growing fast enough for the Fed to drop its promise to keep borrowing costs at a record low next month, said Joseph LaVorgna and Carl Riccadonna, economists at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York, another primary dealer.

Policy makers have pledged to keep their target rate for overnight bank loans near zero for an “extended period.” They will drop that language from the statement following their April 28 meeting, the economists wrote in a report yesterday. The Fed has one meeting before then, on March 16.

Ten-year yields will rise to 4.5 percent by year-end, according to Deutsche Bank.

eyes-cross :confused: :needs enlightenment:

Bond Spreads at Narrowest This Year Lure GMAC: Credit Markets - Bloomberg.com

Corporate bond yields fell to the lowest this year relative to benchmark government securities, luring GMAC Inc. to sell its longest-maturity notes since 2004.

GMAC, the Detroit-based auto and home lender bailed out by the U.S. after credit markets froze in 2007, sold $1.5 billion of 10-year, 8 percent notes, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Its second offering in a month was priced to yield 4.532 percentage points more than similar-maturity Treasuries.

......

Citi, Fannie

Elsewhere in credit markets, Citigroup Inc. sold $2 billion of 30-year trust preferred securities with an 8.5 percent yield, according to a person familiar with the offering who declined to be identified. The New York-based bank had initially marketed the notes at 8.875 percent.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sold $1.38 billion of guaranteed notes, according to a person familiar with the offering. An $850 million portion, the largest in the issue, priced to yield 21 basis points more than interest-rate swaps. Fannie Mae, the mortgage-finance company under U.S. control, plans to sell three-year benchmark notes today, according to an e-mailed statement.

......

Bad Loans

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup and Wells Fargo & Co. may record more losses on bad loans in the next two years than they have in the past two, Moody’s Investors Service said. The four largest U.S. banks could post charge-offs of $196 billion in 2010 and 2011 on residential mortgages and other consumer loans, the credit rating company said in a report. That’s more than the $166 billion of loan losses in 2008 and 2009, the report said.

The cost to protect against defaults on U.S. corporate bonds declined to the lowest in almost eight weeks on the surge in company bond sales.

Credit-default swaps on the Markit iTraxx Crossover Index, which is linked to the debt of 50 high-yield European companies and used to speculate on creditworthiness or to hedge against losses, rose 6 basis points to 414 as of 11:40 a.m. in London, up from near the lowest in two months.

....

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

eyes-cross :confused: :needs enlightenment:

I used to say; "No amount of liquidity can cure insolvency." I was wrong. "No amount of liquidity can conceal insolvency for long." Peter Schiff call Citi a $0. While I agree with him at the same time LEH & AIG with no assets or income are trading many times their lows of last year.

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

eyes-cross :confused: :needs enlightenment:

It's easy to forget that spreads are like other financial instruments and don't reflect reality much of the time (market can stay irrational longer than...etc.). Hence CR was careful to state that spreads will eventually reflect the end of MBS buying. Spread prices are "pushed around" by big traders much of the time looking for orders, trying to "stop out" other traders (like me, sometimes).

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

Thanks Rob. shareholder over taxpayers...got it.

It used to be that common shareholders took the first loss then preferred then bond then collateralized then in rare special cases the pensioners and finally taxpayers after all those were exhausted. In Calvinball economics the taxpayer has been vaulted to first loss position with none of the benefits.

1 currency now -yogi wrote:

in nominal dollars

That's what I'm afraid of.

YouTube - Congressman Paul discusses NationalID with Megyn Kelly

I know it's OT, but the USDA raised its forecast of the orange crop in Florida yesterday. Media hype seems to have overplayed the crop damage a little like it always does.

Walt, did you get the crop report from Beeks?

I know where there is job growth Eric!! Mercenaries for protection. Ha-you made me laugh...thanks.

Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:

Mercenaries for Vampire Squid from Hell protection. Ha-you made me laugh...thanks.

Why not create a special protection group under the federal govt so that taxpayers can foot the bill?

I read somewhere that Orange output during a recession is always high because more help can be found to pick the fruit.

Jan trade gap with China $18.3 bln vs $20.6 yr-ago

Dec trade gap rev $39.9 bln vs $40.2 bln prev est

U.S. Jan. trade gap below consensus of $41.0 bln

U.S. Jan. trade gap narrows 6.6% to $37.3 bln

Four-week moving average of claims rises by 5,000

First-time jobless claims drops 6,000 to 462,000

Jobless Claims Fall More than Expected.

NEW EXPECTORS, PLEASE!!!

Jobless Claims unexpectedly fall more than expected.

dum luk wrote:

Jobless Claims unexpectedly fall more than expected.

Initial jobless claims for the week ended Mar. 6 totaled 462,000, which is on par with the 460,000 initial claims that had been expected, but down slightly from the 468,000 initial claims total that had been logged for the prior week. Continuing claims totaled 4.56 million, which is greater than the 4.50 million continuing claims that had been expected. It also marks an increase from the 4.52 million continuing claims that were registered for the previous week.
Separately, the trade balance for January came in with a $37.3 billion deficit, which is not quite as deep as the $41.0 billion deficit that had been expected, less steep than the $40.2 billion deficit recorded for December.

Briefing.com: Stock Market Update