Free Republic

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The bullhorn message from the government to mortgage lenders has been: Bend. Do what you can to help struggling homeowners. The message to troubled homeowners has been: Call your lender. You may be able to work something out. Despite the persistent blare, there is not a whole lotta "loan modifying" going on yet. A survey by Moody's found that most loan servicers this year had modified only about 1 percent of their adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) that had reset to higher rates by the end of July. At the Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) of San Francisco,...

I knew it. This headline draws attention these days. As the world wakes up to the fact that all currencies are created out of thin air by a simple entry into the electronic ledgers of the world's central banks investors begin to look for investments whose safety does not depend on an agency rating. This chart from the World Gold Council may help your investment decisions. GRAPH: This chart is a very graphic description what happens once nations abolish the gold standard in favor of unbacked fiat currencies. Remember: No fiat currency has existed longer than a human's lifespan and...

One of the world's leading experts on credit derivatives (financial instruments that transfer credit risk from one party to another), Das is the author of a 4,200-page reference work on the subject, among a half-dozen tomes... Das is pretty droll for a math whiz, but his message is dead serious. He thinks we're on the verge of a bear market of epic proportions... The cause: Massive levels of debt underlying the world economic system are about to unwind in a profound and persistent way. He's not sure if it will play out like the 13-year decline of 90% in Japan...

More Americans Say Value Of Their Home Has Fallen Topics:Housing | Real Estate | Consumers | Economy (U.S.)By Reuters | 21 Sep 2007 | 10:48 AM ET Font size: A record 26% of U.S. homeowners say the value of their homes has fallen during the past year, above the previous peak of 24% seen in 1992, a survey released Friday showed. Reflecting the extent of the prolonged housing slump, 21% of homeowners polled in September expect the value of their home to decline in the year ahead, up from 18% in August, according to the data from Reuters/University of Michigan...

Unlike all the Wall Street strategists who compare the current credit crisis to the credit crisis of 1998 (Long Term Capital Management), I believe that the ongoing credit problems will be far worse and of a longer-term nature. This will make it difficult for the market to reach new highs in the near future. Moreover, even if the 1998 comparison were to hold, we would still be looking at a much deeper stock market correction than the 22% sell-off we saw in 1998. The stock market peaked out in July 1998, after having been in an uptrend since the 1991...

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- HSBC Holdings (HBC:HSBC Hldgs Plc News, chart, profile, more Last: 92.55+0.90+0.98% 11:08am 09/21/2007 Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: HBC92.55, +0.90, +1.0%) (UK:HSBA:hsbc hldgs ord usd0.50(uk reg) News, chart, profile, more Last: 911.50+2.50+0.28% 4:13pm 09/21/2007 Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: UK:HSBA911.50, +2.50, +0.3%) said Friday it plans to close its non-prime wholesale mortgage lending arm, Decision One Mortgage, which will result in 750 job losses. HSBC said it will focus on originating and servicing loans through its consumer lending branch network under the HFC...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government is casting a wide net in its scrutiny of Wall Street banks, investors, credit-rating agencies and others in the role they played in the subprime mortgage crisis. "We look at all the players" to determine whether there were missteps in accounting and possible insider trading, says Walter Ricciardi, deputy enforcement director at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Video More video CNN's Gerri Willis offers tips on refinancing, good news for those with a HELOC and more. Play video In a telephone interview Wednesday, Ricciardi said the SEC is asking mutual fund managers, lawyers, company executives...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An economist who has long predicted this decade's housing market bubble would deflate said the residential real estate downturn could spiral into "the most severe since the Great Depression" and could lead to a recession. Yale University economist Robert Shiller's written comments to lawmakers came a day after the Federal Reserve responded to credit market turmoil by slashing the target federal funds rate by a half point to 4.75 percent. Shiller, in testimony prepared for a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee said the loss of a boom mentality among the public may bring on a drop...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the biggest sources of U.S. housing finance, can buy $20 billion more in subprime mortgages under rules unveiled Wednesday to help revive a market hindered by tighter lending standards. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the regulator for Fannie and Freddie, agreed to relax restrictions on the mortgage finance companies' investment holdings although it did not eliminate existing caps on those loan portfolios. RELATED LINKS Mortgage Applications Up as Refinancing Picks UpCountrywide CEO Bullish, Asks Government to Do MoreVideo Survey: After the Surprise Rate Cut, Are CEOs Happy Now? The moves are meant to...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Over the next few years, more than three-quarters of the nation's housing markets will suffer a decline in home prices. Many will experience double-digit hits in a forecast that has worsened considerably in recent months. According to an analysis conducted by Moody's Economy.com, price declines will exceed 10 percent in 86 of the 379 largest housing markets. And 290 of the cities will experience price drops of 1 percent or more. All are median prices for single-family houses. Nationally, Moody's is projecting an average price decline of 7.7 percent. That's a jump from the 6.6 percent...

Stocks Soar After Fed's Bigger-Than-Expected Half-Point Cut in Interest Rates NEW YORK (AP) -- A jubilant Wall Street barreled higher Tuesday after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a larger-than-expected half percentage point. The Dow Jones industrial average reacted by surging 335 points -- its biggest one-day point jump in nearly five years.

NEW YORK: As more U.S. states and cities struggle to find the money to bail out homeowners caught up in the housing downturn, some Americans are wondering why government should be rewarding people for their greed or irresponsibility. Some, like Thomas Roach of Sarasota, Florida, are even actively campaigning against a bailout for people who, using easy credit and exotic mortgages, bought more home than they could afford on a bet to make easy profits from rising real estate prices. Even before President George W. Bush put forth his proposals to help troubled homeowners last month, Roach, a 30-year-old information...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Late summer brought no relief from soaring foreclosures. The number of homes in some stage of default jumped 36 percent month-over-month in August, according to a regular monthly survey. Delinquencies and defaults more than doubled year over year to 243,947, according to August figures released Tuesday by RealtyTrac, a marketer of foreclosed properties. RealtyTrac's forecast is for total foreclosure filings to exceed 2 million this year. "The jump in foreclosure filings this month might be the beginning of the next wave of increased foreclosure activity, as a large number of subprime adjustable rate loans are beginning...

Investment banks 'to lose $30bn' Investment banks will have limited profits to count, analysts predict. World investment banks are set to reveal they have lost about $30bn (£15bn) from bad debts linked to the global credit crunch, a report says.Analysts are predicting the firms - many of which report quarterly results this week - will have to write-off 10% of the $300bn loans they have agreed. In some cases profits will be almost wiped out, the Sunday Times said. The report comes ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting which is expected to see a cut US interest rates. The...

The new numbers on consumer confidence are out. They show American consumers very confident that the economy is going down the tubes. Over in Asia and Europe, stocks plunged on fears that Americans may no longer be able to find the second jobs and recklessly borrow the money needed to buy imported stuff. Economists now freely use the "recession" word following the report that American payrolls fell in August, the first monthly decline in four years. American consumers, in other words, are all dried up. And the discussion has begun on what kind of baloney economy kept them lubricated for...

What if NBC’s “TO CATCH A PREDATOR” program really did turn its sensationalistic gaze on predatory lenders? It would be consistent, wouldn’t it, with all the true crime shows that dominate the airwaves? And they wouldn’t have to commission new graphics or a a title either. You would think they would want to get ahead of the Courts and the State Attorney Generals who will, one day, be prosecuting what I call the “Subcrime scandal.” After all, it’s a story with billions of dollars missing, millions of victims, and perhaps the whole global economy at stake. It may never happen...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Problems in housing, the financial markets and the first job decline in four years have made a Federal Reserve rate cut next week all but certain. But it has also raised talk about a recession -- and whether the Fed is able to prevent one. While most economists still don't believe the nation will fall into a recession, there is general agreement that the economy now faces a greater risk than there was only a month or two ago. It's not clear how much Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be able to do if the...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Nearly 700 homes in the Detroit area will be auctioned on Sept. 21 through the Sept. 23, one of the biggest home auctions ever. Rising default rates in the economically hard-hit, auto-industry town have riddled the Detroit housing market. There's an abundance of bank-owned properties available for sale. "Because many of these properties have been on the market for a year or more, banks are very anxious to find buyers . . . it's not unusual for the properties to sell at auction below their price list," said Dave Webb, one of the owners of Hudson...

September 8, 2007 -- Sharply shrinking payrolls - with a surprise 12,000 jobs slashed at ailing home lender Countrywide - are raising new fears about Wall Street's dangerous roller-coaster ride. Stocks tumbled from the opening bell yesterday after the Labor Department unexpectedly reported the work force shrank in August. Instead of a gain of 110,000 jobs, as the experts expected, the report said there was a loss of 4,000 jobs.

LAST WEEK I made the bold, if not downright crazy, prediction that that the Federal Reserve would not cut interest rates at the upcoming FOMC meeting on Sept. 18, despite widespread panic in credit markets. But then again, it probably seemed crazy when I said to buy stocks three weeks ago when it looked like they were going to zero. At this point stocks have recovered half their losses in this correction, and stand less than 5% below all-time highs. I still love stocks here. But as we get closer and closer to the FOMC meeting day, I'm getting more...