Finding the exit

How you think we might get out of our current economic problems has something to do with how you think we got into them in the first place ... ratio of household mortgage debt to GDP. Home mortgage debt outstanding as a percentage of GP ... the phenomenal debt accumulation of 2005. Personal saving as a percentage of disposable [more...]

Date: 2008-12-16 01:26:45

Blog posts (131) | Videos (11)
 

Weighted Average Cost of Capital Doesn't Include Everything

Or: Figures don't lie, but Liars Sure do Figure! We've got a lot of people with loans in the low fives, interest rate wise, ... : $350,000 first at 5.25% $100,000 second at 8.5% $50,000 consumer debt at 12% This person then used ... that there's enough equity in the property to absorb the full amount of excess debt without PMI. Robert [more...]

Date: 2009-01-11 17:50:23

Open Thread 1-10-2009

Open Thread 1-10-2009 Jan 10th, 2009 by IrvineRenter Band on the Run—Paul McCartney & Wings Stuck inside these four walls, ... financial affairs. I don’t know if I am even now. One thing I am proud of is the fact that I have no debt. I have been recently reminded about how difficult a discipline staying out of debt really [more...]

Date: 2009-01-10 20:30:56

FHA Mortgage Insurance Fund Down 40%

Mortgage Law Central reports today on FHA’s Oversight Capability.  The House Committee on Financial Services held a hearing to look into the recent Business Week story alleging that predatory lenders are alive and well originating FHA loans. The committee listened to testimony from HUD on the approval process for FHA lenders, [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 22:30:06

Lennar sues ex-con who questions O.C. exec’s mortgage

Jaffe (Register photo) Lennar Corp. said today it added an ex-con who became a fraud detective to an existing federal lawsuit, ... since it comes on top of about $5 million in existing debt on the property. He intimates that the loan could be a “disguised kick-back” by mortgage broker Robert Venneri, possibly because Lennar [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 01:56:17

Obama's Cabinet - Love Fest and Patsies!

A baggy eyed Sen. Clinton was given a pass yesterday in her Sec.of State Nominee hearings.Every president is entitled to the Cabinet he has slected and the opposition party should play the role of asking penetrating and probing questions and unless they find something very disturbing Cabinet Nominees should be allowed to serve [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 14:35:00

2008: Annus Horribilis, RIP

I meant to take yet another Friday away from my writing, but as I am researching for next week’s annual prediction issue, there is so much material that begs to be covered that I thought I would put out a short letter with 3 or 4 points as a preface to my prognostications of next week [more...]

Date: 2009-01-03 12:42:15

"How to Design a Bank Bailout that Works"

Johm Hempton disagrees with me and others that the problem in financial markets is fundamentally one of solvency, i.e. lack of adequate bank capital ... guarantee of all sorts of bank debt" is needed to get bank credit flowing again from financial wholesalers ... debt payments: The Brad DeLong question - and how to design a bailout that works, Bronte [more...]

Date: 2008-11-24 22:27:17

My Predictions for 2009… and What I Got Wrong in 2008

Hi Guys, Happy New Year! It’s been a while since we last caught up. I hope you are well and that you had a wonderful holiday and a very happy New Year. I was on vacation for the holidays. We had a terrific break. We took our three boys to Disney World. What a treat! We go once a year usually around President’s Day weekend [more...]

Date: 2009-01-06 21:43:37

Travelling Through Latvia In Good Company (Ultra-Wonkish)

Well, it seems I’m not the only one who thinks that the IMF have made a bad decision over Latvia, ... devaluation and a real depreciation achieved through deflation should have exactly the same effect on debt service (unless some of the debt is in lats rather than euros, in which case devaluation would do less [more...]

Date: 2008-12-24 10:51:43

Stumble or fall?

Emerging marketsStumble or fall?Will the global financial crisis halt the rise of emerging economies?NOBODY talks about “decoupling” any more. Instead, emerging economies are sinking alongside developed ones. In 2008 emerging stockmarkets fell by more than those in the rich world, and financial woes forced countries such as Hungary, [more...]

Date: 2009-01-13 16:20:00

DrumBeat: December 31, 2008

The Peak Oil Crisis: Civil Unrest Before grappling with 2009, it might be useful to remind ourselves that there is a dark side to what lies ahead. There was a little flurry in the news last week when it was discovered that the Army War College had released a report talking about preparing for civil unrest in the U.S [more...]

Date: 2008-12-31 13:58:02

The layman's finance crisis glossary

The layman's finance crisis glossary via BBC Here is a guide to many of the business terms currently cropping up regularly, ... trade Chapter 11 Capitulation Chapter 11 Collateralised debt obligation Commercial paper Commodities ... Dividends Equity FTSE-100 Fundamentals Futures Futures GDP Hedge fund Hedging Inflation Investment bank [more...]

Date: 2009-01-11 12:55:51

The Prince Unconstrained: A Response to Michael Taft

Here’s a piece I wrote in the Irish Left Review responding to Michael Taft’s article in the ILR a few weeks ago. Full text is below, but check out the discussion on the site itself also. The late, great monetary economist Hyman Minsky (1986:110), quoting Nobellist James Tobin, once wrote of economics theory that: [more...]

Date: 2009-01-12 20:38:55

Results of Capitalizing Leases

The process of adjusting operating leases as if the firm had applied capital lease accounting was conducted for 2001 and 2000 for American Airlines, ... number. Debt-to-equity ratios generally display increases, but some values are not meaningful ... , the debt-to-total capital (or total assets) ratio goes up. Southwest has the lowest debt/total assets [more...]

Date: 2009-01-09 00:06:53

20 Comments on the Current Economic Scene

1) There are firsts for everything. Americans paid down debt for the first time, according to a Federal Reserve Study that started in 1952. America has always been a pro-debt and pro-debtor nation. It goes all the way back ... year period. But, the Pilgrims did extinguish the debt. Us, well, I’m amazed at the decrease [more...]

Date: 2008-12-18 21:00:40

Cuervo’s Indicator Updates Jan 14, 2009

As mentioned last night, yesterday the Agosto indicator (for using the UUP to signal long/short signals on DOG) sparked off and today DOG was up 3% due to a bunch of reasons that are too lengthy to list. The Qsinator version 3 (aka wakisashi) is still riding the buy signal from Jan 8 and looks to post it’s first loss of the year as the average [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 04:58:44

GTCB GTC Biotherapeutics Inc Biotechnology

GTCB had some intersting news out after hours on Friday. Its soewhat overbought but still could take off. I will get the L2 up and watch the volume and sales to see if I can determine if its trigger time. GTC Biotherapeutics Enters Into $257 Million Agreement with Ovation Pharmaceuticals to Develop and Market ATryn in the U.S [more...]

Date: 2009-01-08 15:58:50

BP: Hedged Value in the Oil Patch

London based BP plc (BP) (45.13) operates in two segments, Exploration & Production, and Refining & Marketing worldwide ... to equity ratio appears comfortable at .268. The book value is $33.87, making the current market price ... the average dividend rate of 3.3% for the last five-years. Since their payout ratio is just 35%, they should [more...]

Date: 2008-12-22 11:37:53

Second home mortgage Loan: FAQ

Second home mortgage Loans are a potentially money-saving option for homeowners who want to consolidate debt and/or turn some of their bad credit into good credit. The possible tax deductions on home equity loans make them potentially useful for debt consolidation, since other personal and consumer loans typically have no tax deductions [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 08:02:01

Sustainable Sales Growth (4)

Bear in mind that this sustainable-growth formula is operating on a basis of accrual profit ... in all the relevant areas—net margins retained, debt-toequity ratio and sales-to-assets efficiency. Actual ... , you can increase your sustainable growth rate if you: put proportionally more debt on your balance [more...]

Date: 2009-01-08 08:32:00

Focus On Clean Power Income Trusts

Last week, Tom brought you a piece on the Algonquin Power Income Fund (AGQNF.PK), in which he opined that shift in investor attention away from capital gains toward yield might eventually provide a catalyst for the prices of yield-focused securities such as income trusts to rise [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 03:04:41

Who Could Have Known?

The Very Important People continue to say that no one could have seen this economic crisis coming - and that’s why they’re such Very Important People! I posted this in July 2003 from Paul Craig Roberts, assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury under Reagan: I think that the jobless recovery is an illusion and that the U.S [more...]

Date: 2008-12-02 15:05:12

Yahoo stock: Still not worth it

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang is stepping down and Carol Bartz has taken the reins as the company's new CEO. Most hope that she can fix Yahoo and return it to the place of dominance it once enjoyed. Or failing that, at least move it back into favor with shareholders. This will be difficult [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 12:00:00

Spectrum Control Reports Third Quarter Profit

Spectrum Control Reports Third Quarter Profit Strong Operating Cash Flow; Year-to-date EPS Up 6% from a Year Ago FAIRVIEW, Pa., Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Spectrum Control, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPEC), a leading designer and manufacturer of custom electronic products and systems, today reported results for the third quarter and nine month period ended August 31, 2009. [more...]

Date: 2009-09-24 20:23:15

Credit - Loan Approval, Part 1

When it comes to loan approval, lenders will use different criteria for different situations. Unsecured debt is riskier than secured debt in general since there’s no collateral involved in unsecured debt. You see, it’s all about “what happens if you default?” A house or auto is collateral [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 06:21:33

January 10 2009: Hornswoggled Absquatulation

Russell Lee Tobaccy Candy 1940 Pool hall, Shasta County, California Ilargi: The revolving doors between Washington and Wall Street are swinging like never before. Lawrence Summers and Robert Rubin are the finance powerhouses in the upcoming Obama administration. They were in the exact same place 10 years ago [more...]

Date: 2009-01-10 16:28:00

Refinancing When You Owe More Than The Home Is Worth

I've been looking around for an answer to this but my searches haven't returned anything useful ... now, that's 50% equity even if you didn't have a down payment. So people who bought for $180,000 were refinancing ... $225,000, that's one loan at 6.25%, with a payment of $1089.82. This cuts $86.49 off the monthly [more...]

Date: 2009-01-08 09:54:12

Gold Reaches One Month Low

Good news everyone. Gold has reached a one-month low. In fact, February gold futures on Comex fell the most in six weeks. They tumbled four percent on the day, down US$34. This is very good news. It means you will have a chance to buy gold at lower prices before it goes up higher later this year [more...]

Date: 2009-01-08 01:38:08

Mortgage Rates, Scary Jobs Details, Investing in 2009, Russian Gas Dispute, and More!

by Addison Wiggin & Ian Mathias Mortgage rates plunge to record lows… but are they at the bottom? Overlooked details from Friday’s jobs news… troubling signs from retail and energy sectors Rob Parenteau charts a different way to view the S&P… could the worst be over? [more...]

Date: 2009-01-08 01:36:29

Jumbo Prime ‘Walk Away’ Loans - More Downgrades Coming

Mr Mortgage is a 20-year mortgage banking veteran, specializing in wholesale and correspondent sales and sales/operations management and bringing financial institutions into new lending markets. His primary focus was upon Agency, Jumbo, Alt-A and FHA insured residential mortgages [more...]

Date: 2008-12-10 16:51:11

Huntsman: Breakups Aren’t Fun, But $1 Billion Is Handy Right Now

Which would you rather have: a complicated merger with a rival, or $1 billion in your pocket? ... , with $3.9 billion of net debt, which makes for a whopping 68% net debt-to-capital ratio, according ... back to $9.8 billion. Falling sales and heavy debt isn’t a good recipe, particularly in recessionary [more...]

Date: 2008-12-16 15:56:11

Is a Home Equity Second Mortgage Right for You?

Second mortgage Home equity loans are an extremely popular source of credit. Lenders offer dozens of varieties of loans making it very easy to tap the equity in your home ... equity lines that come with fixed interest rates. Many lenders charge upfront fees and large amounts [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 08:44:29

Refinancing Your Property with Less Income Then You Had When You Bought

Hello, When my husband and I bought our home 2.5 years ago (two bedroom condo) we qualified for the loan ($250,000) based on both our incomes. Then I had a baby and stopped working. We've never missed a payment or even been late, and we're getting by just fine by being frugal [more...]

Date: 2009-01-12 14:37:32

Live-Blogging the Morgan Stanley Earnings Call

It was a rough quarter for Morgan Stanley, which lost $2 ... exceeded expectations. The firm’s leverage ratio declined sharply as it converts to a bank holding ... repricing” of credit assets. Leverage was reduced to 11.4 times gross equity, down from 32.6 times [more...]

Date: 2008-12-17 16:32:42

Live-Blogging the Morgan Stanley Earnings Call

It was a rough quarter for Morgan Stanley, which lost $2 ... exceeded expectations. The firm’s leverage ratio declined sharply as it converts to a bank holding ... repricing” of credit assets. Leverage was reduced to 11.4 times gross equity, down from 32.6 times [more...]

Date: 2008-12-17 19:08:00

Cato and the Financial Crisis

A libertarian friend recommended as “great” this missive from Cato President Ed Crane making the case that if only we’d listened to the libertarians ... , there is a market perception that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities and debt carry [more...]

Date: 2008-11-29 17:36:19

How to Design a Bailout That Works

http://brontecapital.blogspot.com/2008/11/brad-delong-question-and-how-to-design_24.html Brad DeLong asks a question which seems obvious enough to me – but seems to elude him. Le Citi Toujours Dormer… Why oh why can’t we have a better press corps? Eric Dash and Julie Creswell write that: • Citigroup had poor risk controls [more...]

Date: 2008-12-01 13:00:12

Cash to Close - A Basic Primer

Cash to close has always been an underwriting standard, but more people are running into it as a reason why they cannot buy that property, ... and debt to income ratio. Not only do you have to have the money for the down payment, you've got [more...]

Date: 2008-12-01 14:46:23

Ecuador Defaults & Currency Devaluation

Jump to CommentsOn December 12th, Bloomberg.com reported:“Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) ... of existing paper debt instrument will be repudiated in the near future.)“By defaulting, Correa, a close ally ... campaign that ended in a landslide victory. ‘I couldn’t allow the continued payment of a debt [more...]

Date: 2009-01-13 07:28:40

2008: The Year the Chickens Came Home to Roost

“If you wanna dance, you gotta pay the band. If you wanna borrow, you gotta pay the man ... accordingly. “We need to get back to a more normal debt-to-spending ratio,” says Harry Rady, CEO ... -quality borrowers, processed and sold to another group of borrowers, who sold their own debt backed [more...]

Date: 2008-12-31 12:00:00

Will the Federal Government Provide Bankruptcy Financing?

One topic we've mentioned from time to time is the near disappearance of the debtor in possession financing market and why that is a more serious ... to other debt, to pay all those bills during the Chapter 11 process. No DIP, no Chapter 11 for a lot [more...]

Date: 2008-11-25 06:35:10

Credit Crisis Watch (December 8, 2008)

Credit Crisis Watch (December 8, 2008) > In order to gauge the progress being made to unclog credit markets and restore confidence in the world’s financial system, I monitor a range of financial spreads and other measures. By perusing these, as summarised in this “Credit Crisis Watch” review, [more...]

Date: 2008-12-08 17:13:13

Research Oracle roundup for 15 January 2009

Earning Release Shaw Communications Inc.’s (NYSE:SJR) 1Q 09 revenues, EBITDA and operating income were in line with our expectations, while adjusted1 net income was below our estimate. As the overall results were broadly in line with our expectations, we maintain our BUY rating for the common stock [more...]

Date: 2009-01-15 17:34:17

“We can put light where there’s darkness, and hope where there’s despondency in this country. And part of it is working together as a nation to encourage folks to own their own home.” — President Bush, Oct. 15, 2002 THE BLUEPRINTS In June 2002, [more...]

Date: 2008-12-21 16:01:46

Residential Second Mortgage And Home Equity Second Mortgage Loan

A home equity second mortgage loan is a registered lien on your property. This lien is in second place, behind the first mortgage ... - Pay off existing debt - Emergency expenses - Business expenses in challenging times - Investments Home equity is the difference between the current appraised value of your home [more...]

Date: 2009-01-14 08:19:11

Tobin's Q Ratio Says Equity Bottom Much, Much Lower

A story on Bloomberg, "Q Ratio Signals ‘Horrific’ Market Bottom, CLSA Says," ... pushed equity prices below replacement cost, history suggests the ratio must sink further as deflation ... argues that the global equity market bottom will be well below the recent lows, but also thinks [more...]

Date: 2008-12-10 18:19:53

The Shadow Gold Price

“The Shadow Gold Price” Paul Brodsky & Lee Quaintance run QB Partners, a private macro-oriented investment fund based in New York ... into a leveraged game of chicken – collecting a positive interest spread (interest paid to gold [more...]

Date: 2008-12-10 13:00:25

Words from the (investment) wise 12.28.08

Investors spent the holiday-shortened Christmas week in an un-merry mood, digesting more gloomy economic data and taking stock of a tumultuous 2008 ... s exuberance), but also still be battling with the implications of the credit crisis for the global economy [more...]

Date: 2008-12-28 12:31:33

Can China Avoid a Post-Olympic Economic Downturn?

By Adam Kritzer Economic analysis indicates that countries that host the Olympic Games typically suffer from economic decline and currency ... toys, medicines, and most recently, dairy products. Then came the credit crisis, which exploded [more...]

Date: 2009-01-12 14:39:56

51 - 100 of 131 Posts
Page: First | < Preceding | Next >
0 | 1 | 2