SEVERELY Bearish Treasury Development – From Marketwatch: NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Dresdner Kleinwort Securities has withdrawn from the Federal Reserve’s primary U.S. government security dealers, the U.S. central bank said Friday.  The change is net neutral in terms of numbers as a new dealer just came online, but in general this is a major net negative for the Treasury market. – The Market Ticker

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How to: I Hedged my Gas Prices Today - … I took the simple income approach, which was to sell puts against the gas ETF UGA. I sold two puts with an October expiry for .95 each = $190, or ~$180 after commission. With UGA trading over $32 per share, gas prices will need to drop 15% in order for the UGA shares to even approach breakeven.  … – Everyday Finance

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The Collapse Of The Non-Backstopped Agency Market – Posted by Tyler Durden – … And just in case you are curious who it is that purchases all those low, low coupon MBS out there: the Federal Reserve has bought almost half a trillion at a coupon less than 4.5%. Does Ben Bernanke honestly believe that taxpayers generating a 4.5% return is enough to continue to finance the homeownership mania? … – Zero Hedge

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Foreclosure Auction Bidding Wars – by CalculatedRisk – First from Matt Padilla: Frenzied bidding on discounted foreclosures … also has a video

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Six Reasons Housing Will Still Go Down    – Written by Christian DeHaeme – Taipan Publishing Group
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good and bad – Florida Home Sales Increase for 9th Straight Month – Mark Perry -  Carpe Diem Blog
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Bond Dealers Say Worst Over as Demand Soars at Sales – By Daniel Kruger – Wall Street’s largest bond-trading firms say the worst may be over for investors in Treasuries after government securities posted their biggest first-half losses in at least three decades. … “We have seen an incredible amount of demand,” said Richard Tang, head of fixed-income sales at primary dealer RBS Securities Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut. “A lot of it is asset reallocation, out of risk assets and commodities. It’s been significant. … – Bloomberg

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Financial Services M&A to Continue Despite Credit Meltdown, Says Tiburon Study – By Donna Mitchell – … Despite the credit-market meltdown, Roame predicts that as many as 200 mergers and acquisitions among financial services firms, valued at about $1 trillion per year, will take place by 2013.  … – Financial Planning