Carry Trade Crisis Looming? - The following was taken from the transcript of this week’s TFN Smart Trading Action Alert video featuring Jack Crooks. - Laura Cadden - seeking alpha

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About Those Auction Rate Securities Lawsuits… - Add E*Trade and SunTrust Bank to the growing list of companies that have been sued in purported class action lawsuits on behalf of auction rate securities investors against companies that sold them the instruments. … -  The D & O Diary

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NETWORKING EVENT AT BOSTON MBA - For those of you heading to Boston during the MBA Secondary conference, note that there will be a networking event open to everyone on Sunday, May 4th hosted by the Women’s Mortgage Industry Network and Career Transition Network.  Chase and Fannie Mae are current sponsors of the event and there will be some HR representatives mingling in the crowd, hoping for a chance to meet folks for positions as they become available.  If you would like to receive an invitation to the event, please send an e-mail to:  [email protected] - thanks Shirley Clark
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Overdue Consumer Debts Highest Since 1992, ABA Says - Bloomberg 

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Bank stocks expected to take a hit this quarter - Wells Fargo “has a fairly sizable home-equity portfolio, and that portfolio, I think, is going to have sizable losses,” said Richard Bove, a bank analyst at … - Minneapolis Star Tribune 

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House prices to fall 30%, says professor - Nouriel Roubini, a professor of economics, foresaw the current mess in U.S. housing and financial markets (see this article, for example). He recently gave an interview and had this to say: “Two years ago, I predicted home prices would fall cumulatively 20%, but now I believe it will be at least 30%. - Larry Macdonald - Canadian Business

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Bear Stearns Customers Were Not at Risk - John P. Hussman, Ph.D. - Hussman Funds

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3 Reasons Why the U.S. Will Avoid a Recession -  Eben Esterhuizen - The Panelist

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Fannie, Freddie and FHLB Now Provide 90% of Home Loans - Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks provided 90% of the financing for new mortgages at the end of 2007, according to the Office of Federal Housing… - Kimberly Amadeo - About.com

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Article has all sectors - Sector Relative Strength - We have updated our charts of sector relative strength.  In each chart, rising lines indicate periods where the sector is outperforming the S&P 500.  Charts with red shading indicate that the sector has underperformed over the last year.  Finally, in each chart we have also included red dots that highlight each of the Fed rate cuts since August. - Bespoke Investment Group 

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From CMPS Institute -  The Federal Reserve Board proposed rules to amend regulation Z, which implements the Truth in Lending Act and the Home Ownership and Protection Act. Some of these proposed rules will affect only subprime loans, but some of these rules will affect all loan transactions – including Prime loans.
Here is a link to the Fed’s proposed rules for TIL   Here is a link to the CMPS Institute comments and addendums regarding the Fed’s proposals

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Graphical Look at Real House Price Declines - Paul Kedrosky - Infectuous Greed

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UBS - Bad Bank - Liz Moyer - Taking a cue from the last big U.S. real estate lending crisis, UBS is forming a “bad bank” to deal with its glut of weakened assets tied to the mortgage markets. - Forbes 

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A Global House of Cards: Interview with Josh Rosner - And we suggest, yet again, that the greatest sin of former Fed  Chairman Alan Greenspan was to allow Wall Street to migrate more and more of the investment business “over-the-counter.” - Institutional Risk Analyst

posted by Bill Coppedge