Deutsche Bank writedowns swell beyond $11 billion - … Deutsche listed its latest injuries from the global crisis, saying it made 1 billion euros of writedowns in residential mortgage-backed securities and a further 500 million euros linked to monoline insurers which insure against bond defaults. … - Reuters
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Hedge funds are buying up delinquent mortgages - ALAN ZIBEL - thanks Carolyn Coppedge - AP BusineessWeek

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READ THIS: Viewpoint: The Battle for Mortgage Banking - The battle over servicers (politicians and concumer groups vs. investors) has a huge implication for mortgage lending over the coming years. - Paul Jackson - housingwire

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Paper:  Biofuels Responsible For Most of Rise in Food Crop Prices - … according to a Working Paper published by the World Bank.  The paper, A Note on Rising Food Prices, which does not represent the official view of the World Bank, estimates that “the combination of higher energy prices and related increases in fertilizer prices and transport costs, and dollar weakness caused food prices to rise by about 35-40 percentage points from January 2002 until June 2008.”  - Research Recap

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Paper: Loan Technology Causes “Bad Banks” To Take on More Risk -  Sophisticated technology-based banking techniques cause financial institutions to lend more, often beyond their profit-maximizing capability, according to a new Working Paper published by the International Monetary Fund. What’s more, it is the “bad banks” that extend the most credit and take on more risk than they would otherwise. - Research Recap

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Real Talk on Housing - … The first thing to recognize is that the housing market is merely correcting itself after a period where it was inflated into a bubble by a combination of poor lending standards/practices, over-speculation, over-leveraged and/or under qualified buyers, etc. Now that these “bad actors” have been removed from the market, prices are declining back to where they would be if the housing bubble hadn’t occurred. … At the moment (per Marketwatch) it appears that we’ve only turned back the clock to 2004 … The other factor to consider is inventory … - Analytical Wealth

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Potentially Disruptive Lender Rule Is Delayed - David S. Hilzenrath - The board that sets accounting rules for U.S. corporations yesterday postponed by a year a plan that could require banks and other financial services companies to raise mountains of new capital to protect themselves against financial exposures not currently reflected on their balance sheets. -  Washington Post 

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From Freddie Mac: Special Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide(Guide) Bulletin, we are providing you with guidance regarding the use of the 2008 area median income (AMI) estimates to originate mortgages sold to Freddie Mac. 

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Reg Z summary from Atlanta Fed - New Mortgage Rule Intended to Protect Consumers
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Loan servicers rewarded with double pay - Freddie Mac offers carrots for short sales, loan workoutsFreddie Mac is doubling the amounts paid to loan servicers who are able to engage in workouts with borrowers that help them avoid foreclosures - more details at Inman News  

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The Train Wreck Called WaMu  - A flawed business model, badly executed - Vernon Hill -  bankstocks.com 
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California’s Discount Foreclosure Sales Point to Housing Bottom - Dan Levy and Daniel Taub - … “Half off in a decent neighborhood is close to the bottom,” said Bill Gross, co-chief investment officer of Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co., manager of the world’s biggest bond fund. Property markdowns of 30 percent to 40 percent give the market “price illumination if not sunshine,” he said. … more quotes -  Bloomberg

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Has 12 recommendations for rating agency reforms - SIFMA Credit Rating Agency Task Force Issues Global Recommendations for Credit Rating Agency Reform - The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Credit Rating Agency Task Force today issued its recommendations  for credit rating agency reform. The recommendations are being shared with regulators, lawmakers, and credit rating agencies globally, and reflect the efforts of the senior-level investor-led industry group. -
Press Release SIFMA
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Q Rule Delayed; Did Banks Win Again? - FASB will delay the accounting rule that would force banks to consolidate QSPE assets — but board members are not happy about it. - Marie Leone - CFO.com

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IRA ARTMAN SECTION - thanks Ira:

The puzzle of home price indexes - Marcie Geffner - U.S. home prices declined 15.3 percent, 8 percent or 4.6 percent from April 2007 to April 2008, according to Standard & Poor’s, the National Association of Realtors and the U.S. government, respectively. -  Bankrate.com

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What the new housing law means for you - Holden Lewis - Bankrate.com

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Subprime, Auction-Rate Securities Cases Driving Shareholder Class Action Filings Toward Highest Level since 2002, while Settlement Values Remain Steady - riskcenter.com

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I thought this was true - FDIC 99-year payment rule is urban myth - By Don Taylor, Ph.D., CFA, CFP - Bankrate.com