TOTALLY COOL & SAD INTERACTIVE MAP - Denver Neighborhood Foreclosure Map -  check it out at USA Today 

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The Senate - The Home Builder Relief Act Of 2008 - The Senate takes on the housing crisis. Guess who’s cheering? - Joshua Zumbrun - Forbes

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Comparison: UBS Crackup: Citigroup Redux -  Yes, you’ve seen this movie before -  Vernon W. Hill - bankstocks.com

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As Defaults Surge, The Need for ‘High-Touch’ Servicing Emerges -  As hedge funds look to swoop into the mortgage market, more than a few new servicing shops are springing to life to handle the increased workload…. -  housingwire

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Asleep at the wheel, or, How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb - John Mauldin’s Outside the Box E-Letter

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What does this mean? - Agflation Hits Rice - Prices Up 50% in 2 Weeks - … rice has increased by 50% in the past 2 weeks, and 10% Friday alone. …  - fundmymutualfund 

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Market Gets Peek at Asset-Class Makeover -  During the first three months of 2008, $131 billion of new asset-backed securities, residential and commercial mortgage bonds and CDOs found their ways into the hands of investors worldwide - down 81% from $701 billion a year earlier, according to Asset-Backed Alert’s ABS Database. The composition of those transactions, meanwhile, has undergone a tremendous transformation. (has details)  - Asset Backed Alert 

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1.  Washington Mutual Out of Wholesale Mortgages? - By PAUL JACKSON Various sources claimed Monday evening that Washington Mutual had informed industry participants of its decision to exit wholesale mortgage … - Housing Wire    (Paul broke the story first)
2.  WaMu Ditches the Wholesale Mortgage Biz - BusinessWeek

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GMAC LLC: Moody’s Comments on $1.2BB Capital Injection to ResCap - Residential Capital LLC’s announcement that it has received a $1.2 billion capital injection from its parent GMAC LLC does not impact the ratings of either entity.  The $1.2 billion capital injection is equal to the face amount of ResCap debt purchased… -  Troubled Company Reporter

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Distressing Table of the Day - Here’s the basis for the $945 billion estimate of losses to the financial sector. From the IMF’s Global Financial Stability Report -  Econbrowser 

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The Plunging Schwab Bond Funds - As you might have heard, the largest bond fund at Charles Schwab, YieldPlus, is plunging in price. Suffering from massive redemptions, of the vast majority of its assets, it was forced to sell illiquid mortgage-backed securities at distressed fire-sale prices. As a result, the fund cratered from $8.79 at the end of February to $7.17 at the end of March - a fall of more than 18% in one month - Felix Salmon - Portfolio.com
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One Mortgage Network Makes Some Changes To Retail Sales Staff -  About a week ago I wrote about how the Quicken acquisition of One Mortgage Network has temporarily closed Reverse Mortgage Lender Network (their wholesale division).  Little did I know there was some other changes going on at One Mortgage Network too.  A few RMD readers decided to update me on what was happening so I thought I’d pass it along to everyone. - John Yedinak -   Reverse Mortgage Daily

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Late Payments on Loans the Highest in 16 Years: The Pooring of America Continues - … I actually believe credit cards will be the last to go - since people are using them as perpetual cash machine… i.e. charge $800 this month, only have to pay back $75 to keep the game going.  … - Trader Mark - seeking alpha

IRA Artman Section  thanks to Ira for pointing out these stories:

Citigroup, Wells Fargo May Loan Less After Downgrades - Bloomberg

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ECONOMIC REVIEW AND FORECAST: Game Over? - David Wyss, Ph.D., Chief Economist - Rydex Funds 

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about negative interest rates - The Dark Side of the Moon - William J. Bernstein -  Efficient Frontier

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Betting Against House Pays Off -  John Paulson’s and Phil Falcone’s bets that house prices would fall helped lift them to the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in Trader Monthly’s latest survey of the best-paid hedge fund managers… - Hedge Fund Daily  - emii.com

posted by Bill Coppedge