Bits & Pieces (Monday Night Open Mic)

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Kevin S. Willis

Is abundance our future? I tend to think so. Let’s see what you think.

—KW

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Morning Report

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Brent Nyitray

Vital Statistics:

Last Change Percent
S&P Futures 1365.7 -3.1 -0.23%
Eurostoxx Index 2536.7 -9.5 -0.37%
Oil (WTI) 106.62 -0.1 -0.07%
LIBOR 0.4746 -0.001 -0.25%
US Dollar Index (DXY) 79.32 -0.083 -0.10%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield 1.99% 0.02%

Markets are weaker this morning after China lowered its economic growth target from 8% to 7.5%, which was basically an acknowledgement of the economic weakness in Europe. Surprisingly, bonds and mortgages are off a few ticks as well. At 10:00 we have ISM and Factory Orders reports.

Private creditors will either accept or reject the Greek restructuring this week. The Greek government has set a minimum participation level of 75% in order to proceed with the transaction. If that number comes in less, the government could compel bondholders to go along, which would undoubtedly trigger a credit event which means all the credit default swaps linked to Greek debt will pay out.

HUD has released its February Housing Scorecard.There is nothing really earth-shattering in the document. The document claims it would take 6.1 months to turn over the supply of existing homes on the market, which obviously ignores the looming shadow inventory. It discusses HAMP, but doesn’t discuss REO-to-Rentals, which is surprising.

 

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Monday Funnies

Posted on March 5, 2012 by yellojkt

A few more political-tinged cartoons that struck my fancy over the past week.

The first one seem particularly apropos for this week.

It seems Santorum isn’t the only one with a Google problem.

Finally, with the deadlines inherent in the comics business, I am amazed at how prescient this one is. It’s as if he knew Rush was going to keep fanning the flames of this issue.

Hope you enjoy.

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