Morgan Offer for Wachovia Makes Sense - Todd Sullivan - Value Plays - refers to stocks: BSC / JPM / STI / WB - seeking alpha

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Baby Boomers Face Massive Loss of Retirement Wealth Due to Housing Market Meltdown -  Plummeting house prices will leave millions of homeowners dependent on Social Security in their retirement -  … projects that if house prices were to stay the same through 2009, the median household would have 24.7 percent less wealth than the median household in this age group in 2004. If real house prices fall 10 percent, the median household would see a 34.6 percent loss in wealth compared with the median in 2004 and a 45.6 percent falloff if prices fall by 20 percent. … - Dean Baker - cepr.net

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Fasthold Capital Latest to Join Distressed Mortgages Fray - PAUL JACKSON - housingwire

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Chicago Merc Customers Citadel, JPMorgan Rebel for Cheap Trades - Matthew Leising and John Lippert - Bloomberg 
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Washington Mutual (WM) Target Slashed to $10 on Loan Loss Reserve (WM) - Jonathan Kennedy - .. on the expectation that the thrift will front-end load its loan loss provision. Given the the stock is at $6, this still calls for a Hail Mary recovery. So if Lehman really believed the stock were headed to $10, it would probably upgrade it to Buy.  … - ClusterStock

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Wachovia hires Goldman to help sort loan portfolio - Riley McDermid - … another sign that the bank is bracing for further mortgage-related trouble when it reports earnings next month … -   MarketWatch

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Banks more leveraged now than before credit crisis, says JP Morgan - Marine Cole -   Loss of $400 billion in equity capital has offset moves to reduce debt  - FinancialWeek

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US Treasury’s Paulson does not see evidence speculators driving oil price - Thomson Financial News - Forbes
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What will B of A do? - Illinois Sues Countrywide - GRETCHEN MORGENSON - The lawsuit cited Countrywide documents indicating that almost 60 percent of its borrowers in subprime adjustable rate mortgages requiring minimal payments … - New York Times

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New demographic group -  Who are the ‘Lucky Few’? - … But a book out Monday, The Lucky Few: Between the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boom, takes a close look at a lesser-known group, born between 1929 and 1945.  … - USA Today
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Banks’ and Guarantors’ Plan To Tear Up Their CDS Agreements: Good Idea  -  The Banks get their cash sooner, and the guarantors free up capital -  Tom Brown - bankstocks.com

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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac portfolios jump, for now - Al Yoon - … Despite overall portfolio growth, contracts to buy and retain mortgages at Fannie Mae were nearly offset by sales, resulting in a smaller-than-expected rise for the month, said Jim Vogel, a strategist at FTN Financial Capital Markets in Memphis, Tennessee. … - Reuters

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has cool chart - News analysis: Why prices are slippery on the way down - Foreclosures in ‘exurbs’ weigh on Case-Shiller indices - By Matt Carter - Inman News

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Chapman University forecasters say U.S. is in recession - The economists say California is suffering too as the housing crisis trickles down to the job market. - Conor L. Sanchez -  Los Angeles Times

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IRA ARTMAN SECTION - thanks Ira:

about risk management and home prices - What Happens if We’re Wrong? -  PETER L. BERNSTEIN -  NY Times

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Mortgage crisis: Other shoe is poised to drop - Homeowners may soon face a new kind of trouble as adjustable rate mortgage resets play havoc. -  Jeff St. John - The Fresno Bee

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has charts city by city - Plotting the April Case/Shiller Housing Numbers - Bespoke Investment Group

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Poughkeepsie copes with housing fallout - N.Y. town’s woes signal rising foreclosures spreading to more U.S. regions - MSNBC

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Exurbs: Rethinking the Country Life as Energy Costs Rise - PETER S. GOODMAN - NY Times

posted by Bill Coppedge