posted by Bill Coppedge

The Muddle Through Fed – John Mauldin’s Weekly E-Letter

————
from MIAC’s blog – Subprime Crisis – Round II? – many worthwhile articles 

-  Dynamic Execution: A Breakthrough in Pipeline Risk Management
-  Valuation of Mortgage Servicing Rights (MSR) in your Loan Commitment Pipeline.
-  Nonprime Market in Distress
-  MSR Valuation Commentary
-  MSR Market Perspectives
————
D.R. Horton Holds a Real Estate ‘Unauction’ – Steve Christ – seeking alpha

————
Banks Boost Private-Party MBS Holdings By $48 Billion During Fourth Quarter -  Jody Shenn at Bloomberg uncovers an interesting trend: banks with the largest portfolios of mortgage-backed securities are bulking up their portfolio of non-agency holdings, even as the market for such securities has all but disappeared — to the tune of an estimated $48 billion in new additions during the fourth quarter, according to a Barclays report released yesterday. – housingwire

————

New Home Price Data for Metros – Fourth-quarter data show that price erosion intensified across metros. -  thanks Ira Artman -  GlobalInsight

————
PIMCO’s Gross: Fed cuts no help for housing -  Reuters

————
Russian fund can invest in Fannie Mae bonds – Moscow: Russia can invest in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds through its sovereign wealth funds as part of a plan to diversify its holdings, the finance ministry said. -  GulfNews – Dubai
————
Buffett Sees Value, Upgrades Stakes In Wells Fargo, US Bancorp -  CNNMoney.com

————
A ‘Moral Hazard’ for a Housing Bailout: Sorting the Victims From Those Who Volunteered -  NY Times

————
Knowledge@Wharton – 2 articles found by Ira Artman – thanks
1.  Victimizing the Borrowers: Predatory Lending’s Role in the Subprime Mortgage Crisis -   Wharton finance professors David Musto, Philip Bond and Bilge Yilmaz analyze predatory lending in a new paper titled, “Predatory Lending in a Rational World.”

2.  Economic Stimulus Package: Will It Work, and for Whom? -  … experts agree that no economic boom is in the near-term forecast. …  

————

Evidence of “Walking Away” In WaMu Mortgage Pool -  A friend of mine who goes by name “CS” sent me this screen shot of a particular Washington Mutual (WM) Alt-A mortgage pool known as WMALT 2007-0C1. …  globaleconomicanalysis 

————
Counterparty Risk in CDS Auctions -  As I understand it, CDSs are bilateral contracts which can only be assigned with the consent of the other counterparty. If the other counterparty doesn’t know who the winning bidder is, how can they give their consent? -  has replies – Felix Salmon – portfolio.com

————
House-Price Momentum: The Good News -  Felix Salmon – portfolio.com 

————
Dresdner in $19 bn bail-out of SIV -  Chris Hughes / London -  Business Standard

————
The AMBAC Bailout Plan is Really About Banks Saving Their Own AAAsses -  Richard Shinnick -  seeking alpha

————
Market Features A Farewell to ARMs? – Last year, 88% of borrowers with a one-year conforming adjustable-rate mortgage refinanced with a conforming fixed-rate mortgage, according to Freddie Mac’s …  TheStreet.com – USA