NewMexicoMatters.com

links for 2007-08-28

• Bank Profits May Well Suffer, but Credit Crisis Hardly Leaves Them Defenseless - New York Times
  Trading groups within the banks could post significant losses from mortgage-related investments, and the increases in lucrative advisory and underwriting fees from big buyout deals have slowed.
  (tags: Banking Credit Debt)
• Californians May Decide If Winner Still Takes All - washingtonpost.com
  LOS ANGELES -- California Republicans are floating a ballot initiative that would change how the state awards its 55 electoral votes, a whopping prize that Democrats have come over the past four presidential elections to regard as theirs.
  (tags: California Electionlaw Elections)

BBC NEWS | Business | Surge in US home repossessions

BBC NEWS | Business | Surge in US home repossessions:
There was a 93% jump in filings for repossessions on the same month a year ago, and a 9% rise on June's figure, property firm RealtyTrac said.

The figures will make worrying reading for many analysts as problems in the US mortgage market have triggered a global credit crunch and drop in share prices.

Other data showed higher job losses in the construction and property sectors.

Technorati Tags: Banking, economy, housing

The Richardson Letdown | The New York Observer

The Richardson Letdown | The New York Observer:
There are 18 candidates for president between the two parties, and Bill Richardson might just be the biggest disappointment of all of them.

The New Mexico governor stepped into the Democratic race with low poll numbers but enormous expectations. In his quarter-century in politics and government, he’d assembled a powerful résumé including service as a congressman, cabinet secretary, ambassador to the United Nations and, since 2003, chief executive of a state. He had a formidable diplomatic track record, the ideal credential for an election that will turn, to an unusual degree, on international issues. And his history-making potential as the first major Hispanic candidate for the presidency infused his campaign with an exciting sense of promise.

If anyone had the makings of a dark horse who could threaten the serious-candidate-tier monopoly of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards, it would be Mr. Richardson. Or so the thinking went...

Technorati Tags: 2008elections, BillRichardson

Recommended Reading For Making Sense Of It All: Fed Bending Key Banking Rules For Citigroup and Bank of America

Federal Reserve allows Citigroup to elude key banking rule - Aug. 24, 2007:
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- In a clear sign that the credit crunch is still affecting the nation's largest financial institutions, the Federal Reserve agreed this week to bend key banking regulations to help out Citigroup (Charts, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (Charts, Fortune 500), according to documents posted Friday on the Fed's web site.

The Aug. 20 letters from the Fed to Citigroup and Bank of America state that the Fed, which regulates large parts of the U.S. financial system, has agreed to exempt both banks from rules that effectively limit the amount of lending that their federally-insured banks can do with their brokerage affiliates. The exemption, which is temporary, means, for example, that Citigroup's Citibank entity can substantially increase funding to Citigroup Global Markets, its brokerage subsidiary. Citigroup and Bank of America requested the exemptions, according to the letters, to provide liquidity to those holding mortgage loans, mortgage-backed securities, and other securities.

Continue Reading

Technorati Tags: Banking, economy, Federal_Reserve, housing , mortgage , news, Washington, D.C.

Wachovia sues Thornburg Mortgage: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Wachovia sues Thornburg Mortgage: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance:
Friday August 24, 1:41 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wachovia Bank, a unit of Wachovia Corp (NYSE:WB - News), has sued Thornburg Mortgage Inc (NYSE:TMA - News) for breach of contract over the mortgage lender's failure to pay it $5.1 million.

Wachovia said in a complaint filed at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Thursday that it had an agreement with Thornburg, under which they entered into derivatives contracts, including a series of interest rate swaps.

Thornburg said it was "surprised by Wachovia's complaint."

"As previously agreed to by both parties, Thornburg Mortgage will fulfill its obligation to Wachovia on Monday," a company spokeswoman said.

Technorati Tags: economy, housing

WaPo: U.S. Ponders a New Deal for FHA

U.S. Ponders a New Deal for FHA:
The combination of loose credit and rising prices during the recent housing boom brought the Federal Housing Administration to the brink of irrelevance. The agency has helped generations of Americans buy homes, but few needed its assistance when private loans were so easy to obtain.

Technorati Tags: Congress, economy, housing , reform, Subprime-Mortgage, Washington, D.C.

NYT: Analysts Cut Expectations for Economic Growth

Analysts Cut Expectations for Economic Growth:
Policy makers and Wall Street analysts are being forced to scale back their expectations for growth in the overall economy.

Recommended Reading for making sense of it all: Ground Zero of the Real Estate Bust - TIME

Ground Zero of the Real Estate Bust - TIME:
First come the billboards. As you head north, away from downtown Denver, they flip by like flash cards, advertising houses by Lennar, KB Home and Richmond American, from the $100s, the $170s, the low $300s. What they don't tell you is that should you wander into one of the new subdivisions popping up from the prairie, you're likely to be offered tens of thousands of dollars in incentives to buy, and to buy now. At a recent conference of Colorado builders and real estate agents, one speaker counseled salespeople to stop acting so desperate. "It sends the signal that the market is bad," he said, "and to wait for the bottom."

Technorati Tags: Battleground, economy, housing , mortgage , news, Subprime-Mortgage

1,000 Displaced by Midwest Floods - TIME

1,000 Displaced by Midwest Floods - TIME:
(FINDLAY, Ohio) — More than 1,000 people were flooded out of their homes Thursday after the heavy rain that swamped communities across the Midwest sent Ohio's rivers spilling over their banks, the governor said. The storm's death toll also rose when three people were electrocuted by lightning at a Wisconsin bus stop.

Presidential Candidates Respond to Debt Crisis in Housing

Proposals From the Stump - washingtonpost.com:
The race for president has a hot new issue: what to do about the economy's credit crunch. And the candidates, as usual, do not agree.

Former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) wants to allow homeowners to shed "excessive mortgage debt in bankruptcy" and create a large Home Rescue Fund to help prevent foreclosures.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), on the other hand, is eager to avoid a broad and potentially expensive bailout and to target for assistance only the borrowers who have been taken advantage of by lenders.

In recent weeks, the markets for home mortgages and other types of debt have frozen, and millions of homeowners have begun to worry that they will not be able to make their monthly payments. Securities markets have swung wildly as a result, and financial regulators have scrambled to calm both homeowners and investors.

Technorati Tags: 2008elections, Battleground, Bernalillo, economy, Elections, housing , news, Politics, reform, Subprime-Mortgage