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 | 1371.5 | 4.7 | 0.34% |
| Eurostoxx Index | 2541.2 | 26.2 | 1.04% |
| Oil (WTI) | 106.48 | 0.1 | 0.13% |
| LIBOR | 0.4737 | 0.000 | 0.02% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 80.276 | 0.386 | 0.48% |
| 10 Year Govt Bond Yield | 2.06% | 0.03% |
Markets are a little stronger this morning on stronger German economic reports. US bond futures are down, while MBS are flat. Feb retail sales were in line with expectations, up 1.1%.
The National Mortgage Settlement will offer relief to underwater homeowners and those who were improperly foreclosed upon. Read the details about who will qualify here. The banks will get varying credit against the settlement based on the sort of principal forgiveness they do. They get full credit if they own the loan, and 45 cents if they service the loan. So the banks get credit against their settlement by passing losses to someone else? Why wouldn’t they pass off all of the settlement to investors in paper they service? Investors in MBS have to be seething right now.
CNBC has some data on the rental market and the purchase market, noting that prices are going in opposite directions in some localities. They note FHFA’s pilot program to turn REO properties into rentals. It will be interesting to see if the program works. My initial take on it was that FHFA was trying very hard to make the program uninteresting to pure financial investors.
The Fed will be releasing the latest stress-test results this week. Bloomberg notes that the Street is leaning negative, with the skew between puts and calls on the XLF the highest they have been since 2007. In plain English, that means that puts (or bets that the index will fall) are in more demand than calls (bets that the index will rise).
Filed under: Morning Report |
All Things in Moderation 
Worth a read on the ACA and how it’s deficit reduction promise is playing out. The embedded article from Joseph A. Califano Jr. on Johnson and the enactment of Medicare is definitely worth saving. Great quote:
“To pry Medicare and Medicaid out of the Senate Finance Committee, Johnson had to agree to pay hospitals on a cost-plus basis, and doctors’ fees that were “reasonable,” “customary” and “prevailing”in their communities, thereby giving physicians the power to raise their own fees.
When LBJ asked what that compromise would cost, he was told, “Half a billion dollars.””Only $ 500 million,” Johnson snapped, “Get the bill out!” His single-minded focus on access for the poor and elderly led him to grossly underestimate the price of giving hospitals and doctors the keys to the federal Treasury”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/is-the-health-care-law-already-running-a-deficit/2012/03/12/gIQArxEF8R_blog.html?hpid=z3
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“access for the poor and elderly led him to grossly underestimate the price of giving hospitals”
I wish I could find it again, but when I was doing some filing in the bowels of CMS I came across some testimony re: the early days of Medicaid. They basically went door-to-door and browbeat people into signing up. The phrasing was the “number of ‘too prouds’ is dropping”
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OT: Jurassic Park here we come:
“Woolly Mammoth Cloned: Russian And South Korean Scientists Sign Deal To Bring Extinct Beast Back To Life
Huffington Post UK
Sara C Nelson First Posted: 13/03/2012 14:02 Updated: 13/03/2012 16:03 ”
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/13/woolly-mammoth-cloned-russian-and-south-korean-scientists-sign-deal-to-bring-extinct-beast-back-to-life_n_1341430.html
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May be of interest here:
“Social networking sites and politics – Pew Poll”
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Social-networking-and-politics.aspx
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I don’t recall the source, but I saw a headline recently about how political disagreements are causing ‘defriending’ on social networking sites.
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I have some Facebook friends who constantl post obnoxious (and liberal) material.
It’s a little grating.
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Great. How is Hwang going to fake cloning a woolly mammoth? Can anyone say “Piltdown Man”?
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Glue & mops?
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Snuffalupagus?
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Wow, someone is putting through a big asset re-allocation. spus rallying, bonds getting crushed.
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bsimon:
Glue & mops?
Snuffalupagus?
Nice. I was thinking a wig on an elephant since they’re going to have to use an elephant for gestation anyways.
What a waste of time and money.
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Brent:
What are “spus”?
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“What a waste of time and money.”
If they are successful, this will easily pay for itself.
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jnc:
If they are successful, this will easily pay for itself.
How do you market a woolly mammoth? A zoo?
I think you’re underestimating how much it will cost to create a living woolly mammoth, if it can be done at all. Especially when a known perpetrator of scientific fraud is involved.
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” How do you market a woolly mammoth? ”
Have you heard of the paleo diet?
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