Lack of confidence has played a big role in the markets lately. When banks don’t want to lend to each other then fear has to be stronger than greed. Tuesday’s 300 point drop in the Dow was based on disappointment that the Fed lowered rates only by ¼%. Wednesday, the markets (Dow) rallied some 272 points right out of the …
ETF Master List – Mid-Week Update As Of 12/11/2007
The Fed did the expected yesterday by lowering interest rates ¼%. For Wall Street, it turned out to be a disappointment since false hope of a ½% cut was not met. The reaction was fast and furious, and all major indexes retreated sharply with the Dow dropping some 300 points. It will be interesting to see if this pullback was …
The Ratings Game: All AAA Ratings Are Not The Same
The Washington Post featured an interesting article by Steve Perlstein called “It’s Not 1929, but It’s the Biggest Mess Since.” It’s another well written review of the Subprime/credit crises, which contained some nuggets of knowledge I was not aware of. It’s classic Wall Street and shows you how to squeeze more value out of an investment. It starts with mortgage-backed …
The Subprime Fraud Factor
Lax lending standards were one of the prime causes of the Subprime debacle. One of the terms you most likely have heard is that many real estate buyers qualified based on “stated income.” What that means is that you can write down your income based on what you need it to be to qualify and not what it actually is—without …
Sunday Musings: Green With Envy
The Southern California area I live in is a hotbed of overleveraged real estate, leased automobiles and high-end lifestyles that for many have been financed via the housing ATM over the last few years. Sure, there are truly wealthy people who can easily afford that $3 million dollar home, but the masses made the switch to the fast lane lifestyle …
An Insider View To The Subprime Debacle
Over the past few months, I have written my share of posts about the Subprime/credit/housing crisis and have cited many articles for clarification. All along, my goal was to find a posting from an insider who had actually worked in the industry and could add a better viewpoint to the discussion. I lucked out when I found Herb Greenberg’s MarketBlog, …