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 | 1664.4 | 13.8 | 0.84% |
| Eurostoxx Index | 2832.8 | 37.8 | 1.35% |
| Oil (WTI) | 95.11 | 1.0 | 1.02% |
| LIBOR | 0.273 | 0.000 | 0.00% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 83.75 | 0.045 | 0.05% |
| 10 Year Govt Bond Yield | 2.05% | 0.04% | |
| Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA | 102.8 | -0.3 | |
| Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA | 101.4 | -0.3 | |
| RPX Composite Real Estate Index | 200.2 | 0.3 | |
| BankRate 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage | 3.75 |
Markets are higher after equity markets rally worldwide. Bonds and MBS are down again.
The S&P Case-Schiller House Price Index rose 1.12% MOM and 10.87% YOY in March. This is the biggest gain since April 2006. Gains were widely distributed, with Phoenix rising 22.5% and New York rising 2.6%.
Chart: S&P / Case-Schiller Home Price Index:
Jon Hilsenrath of WSJ discusses the Fed’s expectations management issue. The latest FOMC statement inserted language stating that the Fed was ready to increase or decrease purchases as conditions change. During Bernake’s testimony, he refused to rule out tapering QE by Labor Day. It feels as if the market expectations and the Fed are not in sync at the moment, which leads to interest rate volatility.
Investors are rotating out of bonds and into balanced funds. Balanced funds will allocate between stocks and bonds and can trade tactically. This could explain some of the “risk on / risk off” behavior we have been seeing. The net result of this could be greater interest rate volatility going forward. After Ben Bernake’s comments last week about ending QE this fall, we saw massive selling in the Treasury futures market (something like 250 contracts being sold in a couple minutes) as stocks rallied. If interest rate volatility is the theme of the market going forward, it makes sense to lock and not float.
Title Insurer Fidelity National Financial (FNF) is buying outsourcing / data firm Lender Processing Services (LPS) in a $2.9 billion cash and stock deal.
Filed under: Morning Report |
All Things in Moderation 
Good piece on the various student loan proposals floating around:
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2013/05/10-federal-student-loans-interest-rate-chingos-akers
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Shorter Holder:
“Baby, I love you! It’s just that sometimes you make me so angry!”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/28/holder-s-regrets-and-repairs.html
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As with the President, it’s all about his self image, not the policies.
And of course shifting the blame elsewhere:
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“This is not a case of Nixonian indifference to the Constitution, the law, and the president’s oath of office. But it does look like a reprise of Cartersque incompetence, increasingly so as we learn more about how the White House staff handled—or mishandled—a crisis they knew was coming.”
I tell, Instapundit is a psychic. He always says that the Carter years will be the Best Case scenario.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/28/the-white-house-and-the-irs-a-carteresque-fiasco.html
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This actually struck me as kind of cute and funny……………….poor guy, he doesn’t know what hit him.
A Republican state senator in Nebraska says that his “biggest mystery” is women because they “don’t even understand themselves.”
In responses to a questionnaire published by the Journal Star on Tuesday state Sen. Bill Kintner (R) explained that he applies the “moral absolutes of Christianity” to everything he does.
He said that his adopted parents gave him “the belief system that I used” to be pro-life.
But one thing that the Bible wasn’t able to resolve for Kintner was women, which he called his “biggest mystery.”
“No one understands them,” he opined. “They don’t even understand themselves. Books and books and books have been written about it, and no one understands it.”
“Men are very easy to understand. Very basic, very simple,” he added.
Even though Kintner’s mind remains boggled by women, he decided to marry one a few years ago anyway.
“I was state chairman of Young Republicans in Ohio and she was state chairman of Young Republicans in Nebraska,” he recalled. “When I got married, that was a turning point. Holy cow.”
“In our household, we have a separation of powers. The legislative is downstairs and the executive is upstairs. We don’t talk about what she does on her side and what I do on my side. There’s no sharing of inside information.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/28/nebraska-lawmakers-biggest-mystery-is-women-they-dont-even-understand-themselves/
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And speaking of women………………..I actually kind of hate facebook. My kids talked me into joining, or whatever they call it, last year and I can hardly stand it. The only reason I’m there is because I get to see photos of the kids and their trips or whatever. I only have 23 friends because I hate the clutter and have declined all sorts of invites, and then, leave it to me, I’ve offended all sorts of people by un-friending them because of the political and religious crap they post……………sheesh. I’m thinking of dropping out, photos or not.
Facing a growing boycott from advertisers, Facebook on Tuesday said efforts to remove content that trivialized or incited violence against women would be increased.
“In recent days, it has become clear that our systems to identify and remove hate speech have failed to work as effectively as we would like, particularly around issues of gender-based hate,” the social networking site said in a statement. “We have been working over the past several months to improve our systems to respond to reports of violations, but the guidelines used by these systems have failed to capture all the content that violates our standards. We need to do better – and we will.”
A large coalition of groups organized a boycott of Facebook on May 21 to force the popular social networking website to ban gender-based hate speech. The coalition was led by Laura Bates of The Everyday Sexism Project, Jaclyn Friedman of Women, Action & the Media (WAM!), and activist Soraya Chemaly.
The coalition noted that Facebook pages such as “Rapist Community,” “Punching Rihanna,” and “Violently Raping Your Friend Just for Laughs” were not removed despite being reported. Similarly, gruesome images joking about domestic violence and raping women were categorized as “humor” and not removed. Yet, Facebook regularly removed images of breastfeeding.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/28/facebook-agrees-to-work-on-removing-gender-based-hate/
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lmsinca – you can categorize your friends on Facebook into groups and control what is shared with them if that’s the issue but it sounds like the real problem is what they are posting not what you are posting.
I have similar feeds as well coming from people I knew back in high school. You have the arch conservatives posting every link from breitbart.com & Glenn Beck’s site and the liberals who basically repost every Paul Krugman piece and NYT editorial in their feeds.
I really don’t need Facebook as a news aggregator and the only things I typically post myself are where I am and what I’m doing.
And then of course there are the people who link cute cat pictures with various captions. They are in their own special category.
Also, this was at the Washington Post and reminds me of your post.
“Everyone hates Facebook, but we can’t leave
By Alexandra Petri, Published: May 28, 2013 at 2:07 pm”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2013/05/28/everyone-hates-facebook-but-we-cant-leave/
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jnc
it sounds like the real problem is what they are posting not what you are posting
That’s it exactly, it’s either silly or insulting to others. I can barely scroll through sometimes. I’m thinking of unfriending everyone except for my own kids and one friend.
cute cat pictures with various captions
Hahaha, that and old pictures from the 50’s asking if I “recognize this”………sheesh
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