COVERED BONDS 3 more links - (check out my previous posts  Part 1  and Part 2 - BC)

Are Covered Bonds a Safe Way to Finance Mortgages? Not Likely - Promoted by Paulson as a safer way to fund mortgages, the bonds just transfer risk from buyers to the FDIC - Peter Coy - BusinessWeek

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2 Part Series from Bob Eisenbeis at Cumberland Advisors:

1.  Are Covered Bonds the Answer? - has 5 key issues   

2.  Sliced Bread or Double Dipping? More on Covered Bonds

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Monolines Are Feeling Safer from FAS 163 - Moody’s says that the embattled bond insurers are unlikely to face dowgrades due to the new accounting rule - Alan Rappeport - …  credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service is telling them that a recently-issued accounting rule requiring more disclosure will not damage their financial strength or their ratings … - CFO.com 

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1.  LEHMAN SHOPPING MORTGAGE SECURITIES - MARK DeCAMBRE - In a move similar to what Merrill Lynch has done, Lehman Brothers’ CEO Dick Fuld is trying to shop tens of billions of dollars in mortgage securities on its balance sheet in order to reduce leverage at the embattled investment bank, The Post has learned.  … - NY Post

2.  Lehman Brothers Should Come Clean on R3 Capital: Jonathan Weil - … They go to a critical issue: Are R3 and Lehman related parties?  … - Bloomberg 

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House Members Urge Foreclosure Forbearance Until New Law Takes Effect - House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) and Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-California) have called on the mortgage industry to delay or cancel foreclosures until Congress’ foreclosure rescue plan, the Hope for Homeowners Act (part of the larger Economic Recovery Act of 2008) goes into effect on October 1. - DSNews.com

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HUD Eliminates Reverse Mortgage HECM Advisor Program - Reverse Mortgage Daily

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Demand Surges on Foreclosure Sites - The housing bust is driving loads of traffic to related Web sites, from one that searches for foreclosure lawyers to others that give timely tips - BusinessWeek 

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great headline collage: GDP Grows at 1.9%: Good or Bad? - Those that don’t really follow the financial markets every day might have very different takes on the economy based on where they get their news.  Just look at the varying headlines across a number of news sources on today’s Q2 GDP growth numbers  … -   Bespoke Investment Group

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Insurance Regulator to Monoline Bears: Put A Sock In It  - Eric Dinallo understands the shorts aren’t doing policyholders or taxpayers any favors  - Thomas Brown - New York State’s chief insurance regualtor doesn’ seem to think the financial guarantors are insolvent, and issues a reminder that it’s illegal to say they are.  - bankstocks.com 

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Report: Distressed RE Nears 20 Percent of Nationwide Sales - PAUL JACKSON - … motivated sales made up 18.9 percent of all home sales transactions in 25 key metropolitan statistical areas during May, according to data released Friday by Radar Logic Inc.; that total compares to 5.1 percent of transactions just one year ago. … - housingwire

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has details - Fannie Follows Freddie’s Lead on Workouts, Sort of  - PAUL JACKSON - housingwire

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READ THIS - another look at the Merrill - Lone Star Deal - Merrill Gives Up Gains, Is `On Hook’ for CDO Losses - By John Glover - … Lone Star effectively “purchased a call option on the value of the subprime assets backing the CDO” for the $1.68 billion it paid from its own funds, or about 5 cents on the dollar, the Bank of America analysts wrote … - Bloomberg