PIMCO - U.S. Credit Perspectives By Mark Kiesel, May 2008 - A forced, low-calorie financial diet has significant implications for credit markets and investment strategy - PIMCO

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San Diego: Resales of homes a house divided - San Diego County’s unprecedented housing downturn has created a sharp split in the resale market, with foreclosed properties selling at steep discounts while other homes take a much smaller hit.  - San Diego UT

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RBS May Cut 7,000 Investment Banking Jobs, People Say - Bloomberg 

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Bernanke May Have to Follow Volcker to Avoid Being Tagged Burns - Rich Miller -  Bloomberg
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Can’t … keep … home … prices … from … falling -  Standard and Poor’s released the February data for the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showing a 12.7 percent year-over-year decline for the 20-City Composite Index, the steepest decline on record. Indices for individual cities are shown below:  themessthatgreenspanmade 

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Homeowner vacancies hit record high - Joanne Morrison -  … The percentage of owner-occupied homes now sitting empty rose to 2.9 percent in the January-to-March period, the third quarter in a row in which the vacancy rate increased, - Reuters
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NY: History Hints a Recession Would Hit City Hard -  Patrick McGeehan - NY Times 

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UBS: Wealth mismanagement - The Swiss bank gives a candid account of where it all went wrong - The Economist print edition 
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‘BK’ Doesn’t Stand for Burger King - ForeclosurePulse

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Fitch Weighs in on Fair Value Accounting - Fitch Ratings today defended fair value accounting methods, but argued that greater judgment is needed in arriving at a true fair value. - Research Recap

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Where is the RE Bottom: Zell says Commercial WIll be Fine - Sam Zell started by saying we need to separate commercial from residential. Commercial will be fine in his view (not my view). Also Zell thinks losses are overstated for investment banks and CDOs. - Calculated Risk

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Food Price Inflation, Monetary Policy & Financial Markets - David Kotok  - Cumberland Advisors

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More Borrowers’ Down Payments Coming From Retirement Accounts - A new survey concludes that one-quarter of adults who are actively planning for their retirement have prematurely withdrawn from their retirement investment products. The most common reasons for premature withdrawals from retirement investment products include a family member losing a job and the cost of a down payment on a home. - Originator Times

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Bank of America to refinance, modifiy $40 bln in mortgages: LA Times - MarketWatch 

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The bloody knife used to gut Bear Stearns??? - Reggie Middleton  boombustblog

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While You Weren’t Looking: FHA-Insured Jumbos on the Move - PAUL JACKSON - housingwire

posted by Bill Coppedge