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No Savior for Mortgage Biz
http://www.thestreet.com/s/no-savior-for-mortgage-biz/newsanalysis/banking/10376597.html ^ | 8-28-07 | Laurie Kulikowski

Posted on 08/28/2007 6:45:15 AM PDT by Hydroshock

Edited on 08/28/2007 6:51:07 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

1. Countrywide Crushed Again 2. The Top Rocket Stocks for This Week 3. Dell Stumbles at Wal-Mart 4. Microsoft Still Cleaning Up With Windows 5. Weekend Reading

Options House TD AMERITRADE

E*TRADE FINANCIAL Fidelity Investments

Fisher Investments Global Forex

Waiting to see big banks piling into the mortgage business a la Bank of America (BAC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating)? Don't hold your breath.

BofA surprised Wall Street last week by making a $2 billion bet on struggling Countrywide (CFC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating). The news, announced after the close last Wednesday, gave Countrywide's sinking stock a one-day reprieve.

The linkup also boosted smaller stand-alone lenders such as Thornburg Mortgage (TMA - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) and IndyMac (IMB - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating), as investors wagered that commercial banks such as Wells Fargo (WFC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) and Wachovia (WB - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) might make copycat moves.

But since last Thursday's mortgage industry relief rally, the shares of the big lending companies have resumed their swoon. The reason? The U.S. housing industry keeps getting sicker -- and observers are starting to appreciate what favorable terms BofA chief Ken Lewis wrung out of struggling Countrywide.

"It was a layup, basically," Mark Batty, a financial services analyst at PNC Wealth Management in Pittsburgh, says of the terms BofA got in its deal with Countrywide. "A lot of investors would have an interest in that type of investment opportunity."


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: allislost; applesonly5cents; beatingadeadhorse; beggars; blacktuesday; breadlines; chickenlittle; crywolf; depression; despair; despondent; dustbowls; fallingapart; gloomy; glum; grapesofwrath; hellinahandbasket; highdivefromawindow; hoovervilles; hopeless; lovebadnews; nogoodnewsisgoodnews; nohope; nojobs; sameoldsonganddance; skyisfalling; soupkitchens; tomjoad; vulturegram; willpostjunkforfood; woeisme
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1 posted on 08/28/2007 6:45:15 AM PDT by Hydroshock
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To: Hydroshock

I love the keyword list.


2 posted on 08/28/2007 6:56:23 AM PDT by Greg F (Duncan Hunter is a good man.)
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To: Greg F

That is someone else’s doing. Same with the picture. Key word spam


3 posted on 08/28/2007 7:00:23 AM PDT by Hydroshock ("The Constitution should be taken like mountain whiskey -- undiluted and untaxed." - Sam Ervin)
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To: Hydroshock
LOL!

Between the keywords and the added images of doom that are so appropriate for your posts, I have to admit that I look forward to your articles just so I can start my day with a good laugh.

With so much destruction coming to our economy someday, if we'll just be patient, I wonder how it is you manage to get out of bed in the morning.

4 posted on 08/28/2007 7:00:52 AM PDT by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: Hydroshock

That pic looks like a ‘fizer-upper’—that would be perfect for a quick ‘flip’. I bet you could low-ball them for about 700K in California for that one.


5 posted on 08/28/2007 7:03:15 AM PDT by stockstrader (We need a conservative candidate who will UNITE the Party, not a liberal one who will DIVIDE it!)
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To: Hydroshock
Same with the picture.

Only management can add a picture to your thread. Don't you get it? Management.

6 posted on 08/28/2007 7:04:40 AM PDT by Petronski (Why would Romney lie about Ronald Reagan's record?)
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To: stockstrader

15 years ago I saw a house like that off of Highway 101 in California — someone had painted on it “For Sale, $300,000”.


7 posted on 08/28/2007 7:05:25 AM PDT by Dems_R_Losers (Thanks anyway, Nancy, but we already have a Commander-in-Chief!)
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To: Hydroshock

LOL. I still don’t get why the Moderators are in the “pump up the market” school in our little pool here at Free Republic.


8 posted on 08/28/2007 7:17:18 AM PDT by Greg F (Duncan Hunter is a good man.)
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To: Hydroshock; M. Espinola; Calpernia; stephenjohnbanker; Pelham
From Time this morning:

Your House Is Worth Less? Good . . .

Excerpt:

The last time we had this feeling of financial vertigo was when the Internet bubble popped seven years ago. But this is much worse: the value of our homes is collapsing. For generations, rising home prices have been central to our general sense of well-being.

9 posted on 08/28/2007 7:20:08 AM PDT by ex-Texan (Matthew 7: 1 - 6)
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To: All

Home ownership is over rated.


10 posted on 08/28/2007 7:31:39 AM PDT by Maximus of Texas (On my signal, pull my finger.)
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To: Hydroshock

If I knew who was adding the keyword “vulturegram” I would thank them. I have that keyword search bookmarked and check it for economic news once or twice a day.


11 posted on 08/28/2007 7:33:02 AM PDT by Notary Sojac ("If it ain't broken, fix it 'till it is" - Congress)
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To: Greg F

Laughing at clowns is not the same as wanting to “pump up the market”.


12 posted on 08/28/2007 7:34:46 AM PDT by Toddsterpatriot (Ignorance of the laws of economics is no excuse.)
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To: Greg F

Maybe they’re former subprime loan brokers with a lot of time on their hands.


13 posted on 08/28/2007 7:35:56 AM PDT by Pelham (End Anchor Babies now)
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To: Hydroshock
Home Prices: Steepest Drop in 20 Years

This slow motion train wreck is just starting. And the MSM is still being run by the financial sector: Wall Street, garbage bond traders, banks, mortgage lenders, credit card companies. Profiteers killed the goose.

14 posted on 08/28/2007 7:40:30 AM PDT by ex-Texan (Matthew 7: 1 - 6)
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To: Hydroshock; Petronski; Mase; Toddsterpatriot

Is there something in the nature of conservatism that we are all supposed to be bulls? We are rocking! We are pumped! This is going to be a good freaking day to make some money!

It would be like a brokerage sales floor meeting without the bears.


15 posted on 08/28/2007 7:54:14 AM PDT by Greg F (Duncan Hunter is a good man.)
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To: Greg F
Is there something in the nature of conservatism that we are all supposed to be bulls?

I have noticed it is in the nature of liberals (and certain Freepers) to constantly whine. Maybe their lives are miserable and they want everyone else to be miserable too? I know that if I felt the way these guys do, it would be a constant struggle not to sit in a hot tub and open an artery.

16 posted on 08/28/2007 8:02:43 AM PDT by Toddsterpatriot (Ignorance of the laws of economics is no excuse.)
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To: Toddsterpatriot

:P

Oh, my. People heavily invested in short term bonds must be miserable!


17 posted on 08/28/2007 8:09:48 AM PDT by Greg F (Duncan Hunter is a good man.)
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To: Greg F

Why? Short term bond prices are rising.


18 posted on 08/28/2007 8:11:55 AM PDT by Toddsterpatriot (Ignorance of the laws of economics is no excuse.)
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To: Greg F

It’s just some people heavily invested in the mortgage market. A return to traditional lending standards will put an end to their gravy train, and crater bubble markets like California. They feel better if they pretend the business cycle won’t apply to them.


19 posted on 08/28/2007 8:18:47 AM PDT by Pelham (End Anchor Babies now)
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To: Toddsterpatriot

Dow

Change: -140.65 (-1.05%)

I think a nice, small, guaranteed profit in this environment is a pretty good bet.

Oh, wait, I’m supposed to be miserable. Boo hoo.


20 posted on 08/28/2007 8:28:30 AM PDT by Greg F (Duncan Hunter is a good man.)
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