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An Economic Pillar on the Verge of Collapse By Steven Pearlstein Wednesday, December 6, 2006; D01 It's been more than a year since we've heard from those who denied there was a housing bubble. Since then, the industry boosters, along with the "soft-landing" crowd over at the Federal Reserve, have coalesced around the idea that maybe the market got a bit frothy after all, but now the correction is almost complete, the unsold inventory's been worked off and the worst is behind us. But just when you're feeling hopeful again, you get reports like yesterday's Wall Street Journal piece reporting...

Toll Brothers hit by housing slowdown By Daniel Pimlott in New York Financial Times Dec 5, 2006 Toll Brothers said fourth-quarter net income plunged 44 per cent as the the largest builder of luxury homes in the US felt the full force of the downturn in the housing market....

Plunging dollar will set world markets reeling Heather Stewart, economics correspondent Sunday December 3, 2006 The Observer The slowdown in the US economy, which has sent the dollar into freefall over the past fortnight, will have devastating knock-on effects in markets around the world, analysts warn. As the US slows, and consumers in the world's biggest economy feel the buying power of the dollar in their pocket declining, global growth will be hit hard, economists say. The greenback took yet another turn for the worse on Friday, after a survey of the US manufacturing sector showed output declining for the...

Prices remain the story in home sales, with Sarasota-Bradenton prices falling 18 percent in October, the second biggest drop in the state. The median sales price in the Sarasota-Bradenton market was $277,900 last month, compared with $340,700 during the same month in booming 2005. The Charlotte County-North Port market was not far behind, with a drop of 17 percent, from $243,900 to $202,800. Only Fort Myers-Cape Coral took a bigger fall, posting a 44 percent decline in median sales price, from $445,100 to $249,200, the Florida Association of Realtors reported on Tuesday. The median is the point where half the...

Dollar woes poised to carry over into next year Greenback is down about 50% vs. euro in past five years; down 6% vs. yen By Wanfeng Zhou, MarketWatch Nov 28, 2006 NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- After a precipitous slide in the last week that caught many traders off guard, the dollar is vulnerable to further losses and may continue to weaken against major rivals heading into 2007, analysts said Tuesday. "Sentiment for the dollar has been deteriorating steadily over recent weeks," said Mitul Kotecha, head of global foreign-exchange strategy at French investment bank Calyon. The decline was not prompted by...

China Raises Red Flag On Dollar Parmy Olson 11.24.06 Americans may be spending their dollars with merry abandon as the Christmas shopping season begins this Black Friday, and that might be a good short-term strategy: the greenback slid on the foreign exchange markets after a Chinese central banker expressed fears about depreciation of the U.S. currency. “The exchange rate of the U.S. dollar, which is the major reserve currency, is going lower, increasing the depreciation risk for East Asian reserve assets," wrote Wu Xiaoling, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, in an academic paper. Wu is ranked by...

While Americans were busy digesting their Thanksgiving feasts, the rest of the world was barfing up dollars. As a result of our massive trade deficits, foreigners certainly have their bellies full of them. This week’s action in the Forex markets indicates that they may have finally eaten their fill. Unfortunately, the bad taste will likely linger as the dollar’s rout has only just begun. As American consumers hit the stores this black Friday, few will have noticed that the most significant mark-down occurred in the value of their currency. If anything can be said to have been blackened this Friday...

AP Home Sales Plummet in 38 States in 3Q Monday November 20 By Lauren Villagran, AP Business Writer Third-Quarter Home Sales Plummet in 38 States During the Summer; Home Prices Also Tumble NEW YORK (AP) -- The feeble U.S. housing market showed more frailty when third-quarter home sales plummeted in 38 states, hitting Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California particularly hard, government data showed on Monday. The once-booming real estate market's persistent weakness over the past year has reined in expectations for economic growth but hasn't been severe enough to offset a rising stock market, lower gas prices and improved consumer...

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. announced a restructuring of its product operations on Tuesday that will include plant closings and could ultimately result in a 10 percent reduction of its worldwide work force. About 6,700 jobs will be cut in the next year and a further 6,400 jobs will be moved into a joint venture with Norway's Orkla ASA with the intent eventually to spin it off, the Pittsburgh-based company said. Video More video Learn how to assess what health care plan is perfect for your family. (Part 2 of 2) Play video The restructuring program is...

This week it was announced that both producer and consumer prices dropped by 1.3% and .5% respectively, while housing starts unexpectedly increased by 5.9%. Not surprisingly, Wall Street celebrated the apparent good news, sending the Dow Industrials into uncharted territory. As has been its recent tendency, the market is unconcerned with recent bad news, instead championing it as confirming the highly touted “soft-landing.” September’s much weaker than expected non-farm payroll data and the Philadelphia Fed survey that showed an unexpected deterioration in manufacturing, are two recent examples. However, a closer look at the supposed good news reveals just how unwarranted...

In July, our trade deficit hit yet another all-time record, $68 billion, an annual rate of $816 billion. Imports surged to $188 billion for the month, as our dependency on foreigners for the vital necessities of our national life ever deepens. China's trade surplus with us was $19.6 billion for July alone, moving toward an all-time record of $235 billion for 2006 -- the largest trade deficit one country has ever run with another. Our deficit with Mexico is running at an annual rate of $60 billion. With Canada, it is $70 billion. So much for NAFTA. With the European...

One of the many benefits of the now-cooling housing boom — both to consumers and the U.S. economy — was the huge pile of cash extracted in the form of home equity loans and “cash-out” mortgage refinancings. But with home prices flattening, and that multibillion-dollar piggy bank drying up, can consumers continue the shopping spree that accounts for more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy? There was fresh evidence of the housing slump this week, as separate government reports showed prices of both new and existing homes fell year-over year in August. For existing homes, it was the first year-over-year...

Gerard Herard was able to finally purchase a home in 2003 through a $225,070 mortgage from Security Atlantic Mortgage. His payments on the quaint Totowa Avenue house in Paterson were a reasonable $1,300 a month. But Herard's payments have since increased to $2,200 a month and the mortgage has grown, not shrunk, to roughly $300,000. Herard is not entirely sure why his situation changed so dramatically and is struggling to deal with the increase. "I'm trying to climb a steep ladder," said Herard, 53. In recent years, lenders have lured scores of homeowners to untraditional mortgages with changing terms. Many...

FALMOUTH, Ky. - Used boots fetch $3 and old salt-and-pepper shakers bring in a buck at a makeshift flea market along Highway 27, presumably not what President Bush and Republicans have in mind when they herald a vibrant economy. ADVERTISEMENT Times are "very good for the rich and very, very bad for the poor" who "can't afford to live," laments Larry Mitchell, 43, a now-and-then merchant peddling his wares recently in a submarine sandwich shop parking lot. He says the middle class is "having a hard time." In the Ohio River Valley, where people decry high gas prices, stagnant wages,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers will question some leading government and industry economists about the perils of a possible 'housing bubble' in a Wednesday hearing. Lawmakers wanted the session "because we've heard a great deal about the possibility of a housing bubble for several years now," said Sen. Wayne Allard, a Republican from Colorado. The hearing, "The Housing Bubble and its Implications for the Economy," will be held in an open session of the Senate Banking Committee at 10 a.m.. Next week, the same committee will hold a hearing on the growth of innovative mortgage products that have mushroomed along...

Get used to it ¡ª the seller's market is closing up shop. The days of fat, fast home value increases are gone. Pack away those flipping fantasies. "The boom is definitely over, there's no debate about that," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of West Chester, Pa.-based research firm Moody's Economy.com. "Now the question is more how hard is it going to land, if it lands at all." The answer? Depends who you ask ¡ª and what location you're talking about. How to feel about it? Depends which side of the market you're on ¡ª and what location you're talking about....

He, of all people, should have known better. The president of the National Association of Realtors, Thomas M. Stevens of Vienna, admits he didn't follow his agents' advice when the real estate market started to cool. That, he says, is why his old house in Great Falls has now been on the market for a year at the price of $1.45 million. "What I should have done," confessed the senior vice president of NRT Inc., parent of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, "was listened to my agent and cut the price by $50,000 to $100,000 early on, and the property would...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investment bank HSBC has revised downward its forecast for 2007 economic growth and cautioned that the risk of an outright recession is growing as a retreat in housing threatens household balance sheets. ADVERTISEMENT The company argues that while corporate profits have remained sky-high, the incomes of most Americans have effectively fallen over the last 18 months. That, say economists Stephen King and Ian Morris, could be a recipe for hard times in an economy that relies on consumers for over two-thirds of its strength. "Never before have households been so hard hit at a time companies...

Falling prices have created a new twist in the suburban Boston real estate market: More homes are selling for less than their assessed values. Massachusetts house prices slumped 3.5 percent in July, the biggest monthly drop since 1993, as a slowdown in sales brought about by rising interest rates created a glut of homes on the market. which are the estimated values communities place on homes to determine property taxes, their primary source of revenue. State law requires communities to assess properties at ``full and fair cash value." * * * But for the past five years, most homes sold...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. home sales will be a good deal weaker this year than earlier thought as potential buyers remain on the sidelines waiting for better deals, a national real estate group said on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes were likely to drop 7.6 percent this year to 6.54 million. A month ago, the group thought existing homes sales would fall only 6.5 percent to 6.61 million. The association, which said housing prices were likely to dip temporarily below year-ago levels, also revised lower its forecasts for new homes sales and housing...