The markets received a lift yesterday on Warren Buffett’s proposal to buy out some of the bond insurers’ (monolines) liabilities. While this improved sentiment in the market place, I think it’s a case of Buffett trying to pick somebody’s pockets clean. The man is obviously smart, and his offer will be beneficial for him but not for the mononlines. In …
Counter Party Risk
With the unwinding of the credit bubble, new terminology has been thrown at the public at an amazing pace. One of the terms you hear more frequently as banks are writing down bad investments, is “counter party risk.” Rob Roy’s article “Default Swaps Intensify Credit Crunch,” explores some of the details how leverage combined with abnormal events can have devastating …
Housing Bubble Trouble
With all of the serious front page news about the housing bubble, let’s today look at the lighter side of what happened from they eyes of a few musicians who put to together this music video called “Housing Bubble Trouble:”[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ivp4YqGCI-s]
Sunday Musings: Looking For Guilt
It was just a matter of time. With losses from the Subprime/credit/housing fallout continuing to grow with no end in sight, lawsuits had to happen eventually. Surely, if you look long and hard, and get the right lawyers involved, you will find that lies were told, not all facts disclosed and investment risks downplayed. MarketWatch reports in “U.S. widens probe, …
Muni Debt: Bridges To Nowhere?
Jon Markman wrote an excellent article about “The big threat of muni debt.” In a previous post, I mentioned that the credit crisis can very easily spread to the muni market by various means, but most likely through a downgrade of some of the large bond insurers. What could be the effect on municipal bonds? Here are some highlights from …
No Load Fund/ETF Tracker updated through 2/7/2008
My latest No Load Fund/ETF Tracker has been posted at:http://www.successful-investment.com/newsletter-archive.phpA poor non-manufacturing index report along with continued worries about the financial health of bond insurers had the bears chomping at the bit. The major indexes dropped sharply. Our Trend Tracking Index (TTI) for domestic funds/ETFs moved to -0.84% below its long-term trend line (red), back into bearish territory. The international …