Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktVital Statistics:
| Last | Change | Percent | |
| S&P Futures | 1218.3 | -1.9 | -0.16% |
| Eurostoxx Index | 2240.9 | -20.040 | -0.89% |
| Oil (WTI) | 98.38 | -1.760 | -1.76% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 80.477 | 0.240 | 0.30% |
| 10 Year Govt Bond Yield | 1.96% | 0.00% |
Stock indices are flattish as the market digests the Fed’s statement and people watch the declining Euro. Supposedly 1.30 is some sort of magic level (the press loves big figures), but people forget that a decade earlier it was around 90 cents. Euro sovereign levels are slightly firmer and commodities are getting hit. Volumes have been light lately and will only dry up further as we head into year end.
The NYT has a story on Comedy-Bank (Commerzbank) and its capital woes. The German state already owns 25% of the company, and the European Banking Authority has said it needs another 5.3 billion euros in capital, which is a tall order when your market cap is only 6.2 billion euros to begin with. Looks like the German Government is going to have to kick in some more equity. A German broker once told me that the men’s room on the Commerzbank equity trading floor has an eye-level window in front of the urinals with a view of Deutsche Bank’s headquarters across the park. Ja, und now we piss on Deutsche Bank! I can’t verify the veracity of this, but it would be funny if it is true.
Today is Mitt Money Day with the NYC finance sector. Big shindig at Steve Schwartzman’s pad tonight, with J Tom Hill, Paul Singer, Dan Loeb and others tonight. NYC Wall Street cash is all-in with Romney and the Republican primary. Obama will raise some cash from the dyed-in-the-wool Democrats, but the Republican nominee is going to raise a ton. Don’t read too much into the initial fund raising numbers on WS yet – Romney hasn’t even gone to bat yet.
Filed under: Uncategorized |
All Things in Moderation 
Brent:Do you think the downward revision of existing home sales for the past 5 years by the NAR is going to have a large effect on the markets? Or does the pre-announcement cushion that somewhat?
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@Mike: Didn't see anything from NAR. Did they change their methodology or something? Anyway, Europe is dominating the market movements.
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Brent:From CNN —NAR said it plans to downwardly revise sales of previously-owned homes going back to 2007 during the release of its next existing home sales report on Dec. 21.NAR's existing home sales numbers, released monthly, are a closely followed gauge of the health of the housing market.While NAR hasn't revealed exactly how big the revision to home sales will be, the agency's chief economist Lawrence Yun said the decrease will be "meaningful.""For the real estate business, this means the housing market's downturn was deeper than what was initially thought," Yun said.Yun said the database NAR uses to track existing home sales, the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), has led the real estate agency to over-count existing home sales for several reasons.The MLS database only includes home sales listed by realtors, and excludes homes listed by owners, providing a very narrow view of the market. And because more people are using realtors to list their homes instead of selling them independently, realtor-listed sales numbers have become artificially inflated, said Yun.In addition, some of the assumptions NAR used in calculating its data have become outdated, since they were based on 2000 Census data.Home sales to be revised downwardSounds like it is Merkel that is dominating the markets right now ….
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Typical Fed, doesn't know when to push the button or when not to.
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Hey, where did everybody go today? I'm trying to hold the markets together all by myself, and as you can see, doing a damn poor job of it!
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Yeah John, what gives? I've lost about $1500 just in the last week or so and I'm not heavily invested. Guess your name needs to be Angela Merkel to hold things together single handedly.
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john:Duct tape fixes everything! Well, maybe not the earnings reports from Best Buy, Amazon, and First Solar.
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I thought that sales by owner were rare, and that the majority were done through realtors.I am wrong? Serious, am I wrong?
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"I thought that sales by owner were rare, and that the majority were done through realtors."We bought our house direct from the owner. It was a nightmare. Our agent earned her commission and then some. Anecdotally, there were a lot of FSBO in my area when places were selling at 80k+ over list after being on the market for an hour. less so now.
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The Germans are either brilliant or stark raving mad. History says the latter!
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NoVA, I was in Alexandria for a lot of that, but didn't see too many of those signs. Which part are you in? I am still seeing lots of For Sale signs around Front Royal.Not that it matters anymore…unemployed, and under-employed when I am working, will never own my own place again. Life's rough.
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" I thought that sales by owner were rare, and that the majority were done through realtors."Anecdotally it seems like I'm seeing more fsbo signs these days, but its hard to know how many of those result in closed deals.
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"NoVA, I was in Alexandria for a lot of that"Me too. The Fairlington/Parkfairfax area in 2004. seemed like those condos were selling themselves. We would bid on a place and be outbid by 10-15 other offers.
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Back in the early 2000s for-sale-by-owner was fairly common in suburban Chicago. Less so now.
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Ah. I had bought my condo in 2003. Although I played pool at Shirlington, I came up 395, and didn't go the back road. My team captain lived there though, and it seemed much nicer than where I was, Duke Street.
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Greg wrote a piece about the Lowe's Muslim reality tv show sponsorhsip controversy. For those who don't go there, here is my reply.Let me preface by saying up front that I am agnostic, and not a practitioner of any organized religion.I found the Lowes column particularly ironic, in light of the fact that they, Home Depot, and all the big retailers have been conducted an unremarked and completely successful war on the Christian nature of Christmas for 40-50 years without a murmur or protest.Lowe’s is currently accused of caving in to Christian protest, yet you can walk into any Lowes’ (or Home Depot) in the country and you will never see a Merry Christmas sign, only Season’s Greetings or Happy Holidays. They sell no displays or decorations of a religious nature such as a nativity scene. They play no religious carols such as Silent Night, nor carry any traditional Christmas Cards. This is not an aberration. This has been a concerted effort in the business community to expand sales by de-emphasizing the religious nature of the season. (The alcohol industry has made a similar effort to change Halloween from a kids’ holiday to an adult party one too, but that is another piece) Remember A Charlie Brown Christmas? Who can doubt that if it were being made today, the beautiful reading of the passage from Luke 2:8-14 would not pass sponsor muster and would have to be replaced. Has anyone seen any current holiday special on TV where the traditional carols are even sung, or religion mentioned? The original “Home Alone” also had a beautiful juxtaposition between the profane and the sacred nature of the holiday in it’s church scenes and music. That had disappeared by the time Home Alone 2 came around. Those of a certain age can recall the Perry Como Christmas Special among others which always ended with his rendition of Ave Maria, a largely unknown song today.Many broadcasters will have a Season’s Greetings message of some sort that includes a menorah, but is almost certain not to include any representation of a manger. We need not go into the questions of government displays, because this is a commercial issue, not a civil one.I could go on and on, but I’m sure you can contribute your own thoughts as to the change over in our lifetimes. I only wanted to bring balance to the idea that somehow Lowe’s was knuckling under to Christians, when in reality retailers want nothing to do with them.
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john — I liked how the point of your post was completely missed.
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I get that a lot!
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john:Good comment. I'm almost tempted now to actually read Sargent's original. Almost.NoVA:I liked how the point of your post was completely missed. Missed, or intentionally ignored?
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Too funny.Anyway, I'm off to MedPAC all day tomorrow and the I'm out of town for a couple of days. Get your Medicare policy questions ready and I'll see you all next week.
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"Missed, or intentionally ignored?"hmm. I'd say missed. Bet he read "war on Christmas," stopped reading and inserted standard response.
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There is enough material in my piece for two separate ideas, first and obviously the over commercialization of Christmas as a deliberate business decision to strip it of all philosophical meaning. Secondly, if you are a relgious Christian, then in some sense you have lost "your" holiday, and seen it replaced by something different.
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really leaving this time. i'll add — if the commercialization of your holiday makes you "lose it" you probably never had it to begin with. as fairlington says:BB
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Good post John. I was trying to think of the last "Christmas" movie that even had a religious theme and the only one I could come up with was "The Preachers Wife". I do agree with NoVA though, for those of the Christian faith it's not that difficult to still find meaning. And I did hear "Oh Holy Night" on a Christmas special the other night, my favorite Christmas carol.
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lms:I guess Santa doesn't pack the punch for me that he once did!
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I don't know, I just never let anyone bring me down at Christmas. It's my favorite holiday in both religious and secular ways, although we do try not to let the commercialization get to our heads in a big way. It's more about tradition and family here, much the same way Thanksgiving is. I've had the same nativity scene for 40 years and last year when I put it away I told my husband to keep his eyes open for a new one, but it had to be authentically rustic like my old one. I couldn't believe it this summer when he came home from a garage sale with a little one from Italy made in the 70's. But I love Santa also.
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I agree with John's point about Christmas, but I will point out that they read from the Bible in the Glee Christmas episode last night. For those who aren't inclined to watch. The episode focused on a Christmas special the Glee club put on that was televised. The Christmas show was hosted by the gay couple who is in the glee club and ended with another character reading the Bible. Interesting juxtaposition there.
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Who can doubt that if it were being made today, the beautiful reading of the passage from Luke 2:8-14 would not pass sponsor muster and would have to be replacedJohn, it barely passed muster then. Everybody tried to talk Schulz out if it. The network at the time didn't want an extended Biblical recitation in an animated Christmas special. They all wanted Schulz to take it out. He refused, and basically held the show hostage, insisting that it had to go in there. He got his way. It was probably easier for Glee to get their Bible passage in.
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