Bits & Pieces (Monday Night Open Mic)

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Kevin S. Willis

6 Real People with Mind-Blowing Mutant Superpowers.

Pin Up Calendar Ladies Survive the Sex Apocalypses.

The Sexy Side to Being Buried in Garbage

Man Dies Gaming at Internet Cafe and goes Unnoticed forNine Hours. Gamers are very intense.

A class M Planet discovered practically next door to us. Let’s move!

I just have to add these:

First, the best Super Bowl ad you didn’t see–

Second, a poet who is also a public school teacher–

And we were talking about body painting the other day, and this song caught my eye–

—Michigoose

Filed under: Bits and Pieces | Tagged: , , , | 11 Comments »

Morning Report

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Brent Nyitray

Vital Statistics:

Last Change Percent
S&P Futures 1334.9 -4.2 -0.31%
Eurostoxx Index 2498.6 -16.6 -0.66%
Oil (WTI) 96.93 -0.9 -0.93%
LIBOR 0.5233 -0.004 -0.71%
US Dollar Index (DXY) 79.432 0.490 0.62%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield 1.92% 0.00%

Slow news day today.  Stock futures are lower in spite of the fact that the Giants won last night.  No, I don’t buy that theory.  Or this one.  Or, for that matter this one.  The last one will cause anyone who believes in weak-form market efficiency to tear their hair out.

It looks like a foreclosure deal is getting closer.  25 billion will be the price tag.  Of course Ally is owned by the government, so in some sense, this is an informal mortgage relief plan from the federal government using taxpayer funds.  I have to imagine that this will be earnings-neutral as the banks will simply apply the principal reductions to loans they have already written down.  Who knows where banks are actually marking these things, but a home equity loan on an underwater house is basically worthless.

Can we officially say that Super Bowl halftime shows have jumped the shark?

Lost in the European issue is the fact that Denmark is having a credit crunch after their real estate bubble burst in 2007.  This will be interesting to watch because a lot of policy wonks and academics respect the Danish system of mortgage banking and some have suggested the Danish system as a model for a post Fan and Fred world.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 16 Comments »