Mood shift on Wall Street: Investors are taking risks again – Tom Petruno -   Sometimes, rising interest rates can be good news. That’s the case with the sudden reversal in yields on U.S. Treasury securities in recent weeks. …   Yields on mortgage-backed bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sank to record lows Tuesday, which should put more downward pressure on home loan rates. … The drop in mortgage bond yields is “extremely important, obviously, and if continued will contribute to an end to the financial and economic crisis,” said Tony Crescenzi, bond strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York.  -  LA Times Blogs

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Reverse Mortgage market commentary - Reverse Mortgage Rates – January 6, 2009  The 10-year Constant Maturity Treasury rose quite a bit on Friday and Monday today it is at 2.49%. But we’re still in territory where the Principal Limit is maxed out, and the SFSA and tenure conversion factors are the only things moving with rates. Lower rates mean less money since lower rates give higher SFSA’s. … – Reverse Mortgage Daily 

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GMAC still looking at HQ move to Charlotte – Lender making conversion to a bank holding company – By Rick Rothacker – THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER – Winston-Salem Journal 

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Bleak Outlook for US Banks Through 2009 -  Although government financial support has buoyed U.S. banks, the industry will likely experience overall credit quality deterioration through at least 2009, according to Standard & Poor’s U.S. Banking Industry Outlook 2009. – Research Recap

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Doubts About The Stimulus - Thomas F. Cooley  – What would Ricardo say? -  Forbes

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Hat-tip to John Hill! – PennyMac Announces Purchase of Residential Mortgage Loan Portfolio From FDIC as Receiver for First National Bank of Nevada – … (PennyMac) announced today that investment funds managed by its affiliate, PNMAC Capital Management, LLC, have completed the purchase of $558 million in residential mortgage loans from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as Receiver for First National Bank of Nevada. – PRNewswire – Yahoo
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links to 2 white papers – MBA Turns Attention Towards Secondary Mortgage Market – By PAUL JACKSON – A task force at the Mortgage Bankers Association this week issued a white paper that represents the Washington-based industry lobbying group’s first swing at pushing forward a vision for the future of the nation’s secondary mortgage markets.  housingwire

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The Long Road to Recovery – by Diane Swonk, Chief Economist, Mesirow Financial – Diane Swonk’s Themes on the Economy – January, 2009 

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good piece lots of housing stuff – Comstock Partners Special Report -  Substituting Debt for Savings and Productive Investment – It is a Recipe for Financial Disaster 
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SEC: Fair Value’s Savior -  In a report to Congress, the commission defends mark-to-market accounting but expects standard-setters to better explain how to implement the rules. -  Sarah Johnson – CFO.com 

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long and worth reading, has great comments – The Law of Unintended Consequences: 20th Century and Beyond – James Quinn – Seeking Alpha

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Protiviti’s Carol M. Beaumier On Moratoria, Mods and TARP – By John Clapp -  What will this brand-new year bring to the mortgage servicing industry? Well, if the tail end of 2008 was any indication, the answer likely includes two components: pressure from the government to modify loans and pressure from investors to abide by servicing agreements.  – Mortgage Orb

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   IRA ARTMAN SECTION - thanks Ira: 

Whitney: TARP funds go down the downgrade drain – Sam Jones – Forget the short-lived buzz of $300bn in TARP stimulus, pain for the banks is far from over. Real deleveraging is only just beginning to gather speed; the world economy has yet to enter its worst months, and there are certainly more writedowns to come.  Oppenheimer’s Meredith Whitney is – when it comes to banks’ capital positions – the analyst to turn to. And fortunately, she has a note out today – has much more at  FT.com 

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video & transcript – David Swensen: We Haven’t Even Begun To Fix Financial Problems -  Henry Blodget – FOX’s Liz Claman interviewed Yale’s investment god, David Swensen, this afternoon. Swensen is one of the smartest investors around, and, as usual, he has good advice for individuals (stay diversified, buy index funds).  – clusterstock.com