Filed under: Forecasts, Housing, Financial Crisis

Just call it a case of a need to strengthen a hospital patient with IVs to make him strong enough for a much-needed operation. The Treasury and FDIC need to do more to stem the tide of home foreclosures — foreclosures that are a major source of the currently afflicting credit markets — so states an economist.

“Stress and fear, even though at lower levels, remain a pervasive feature of credit markets, with above-normal, short-term interest rates, and bank-to-bank suspicion,” economist Richard Felson stated Monday. “This stressed condition in credit markets is just going to linger until we shut off a major portion of the source of toxic assets — home foreclosures.”

Felson said the U.S. Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury, in conjunction with their companion major central banks and governments abroad, have done “a decent job” addressing two, key dimensions of the financial crisis: maintaining market liquidity and lowering interest rates to assist the recovery.

Progress in two other areas — buying toxic assets and ending the pattern of home foreclosures — has been less impressive, he stated.

Continue reading Stemming rise in home foreclosures — large factor in ending financial crisis

Stemming rise in home foreclosures — huge factor in ending financial crisis originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 12:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Say denies Weis’ aid request for downtown housing project - Post-Bulletin
State aid sought by a Rochester developer for a housing project downtown has been denied. Joe Weis, who proposed a high-rise apartment building to be named Riverwalk Village at the former C.O. Brown site, 300 S. Broadway, will not receive any of the

Texas officials say FEMA ‘insensitive’ after Ike - FOX News
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas officials accused the Federal Emergency Management Bureau of slow response and insensitivity on Monday, saying the agency has failed to provide timely help to town officials and Hurricane Ike victims who need temporary housing

FEMA ‘insensitive’ toward Ike victims, Texas officials state - Houston Chronicle
State Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, says the lack of transitional housing in Orange County and other parts of the Golden Triangle threatens $15 billion worth of refinery and chemical plant expansion. AUSTIN — Say leaders today accused

Stocks turn higher after housing, bank news - MSNBC
NEW YORK - Wall Street turned higher in choppy trading Monday as a surprisingly strong home sales report sent housing sector stocks higher and the implementation of the government’s financial bailout plan gave regional bank shares a boost. The Dow

Utah housing subsidies have long waiting lists - ABC 4
MAGNA, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Teresa Whittington never thought she’d be sleeping in a garage. But it’s home sweet home for her and her three kids. The single mother recently lost her job and was homeless. “I called the shelters and the one thing

Texas officials accuse FEMA of delaying housing help, funding to - Minneapolis Star Tribune
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas officials accused the Federal Emergency Management Bureau of slow response and insensitivity on Monday, saying the agency has failed to provide timely help to town officials and Hurricane Ike victims who need temporary housing

Texas officials state FEMA ‘insensitive’ after Ike - Salon
Oct 27th, 2008 | AUSTIN, Texas — Texas officials accused the Federal Emergency Management Bureau of slow response and insensitivity on Monday, saying the bureau has failed to provide timely help to town officials and Hurricane Ike victims who need

Trendy neighborhoods can’t escape New York City’s housing slump as - New York Daily News
Bedford Stuyvesant has been one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in New York during the housing slump. The rise and fall of Bedford-Stuyvesant as a hot real estate trend came fast and furious. In 2005, when New York magazine first dubbed Bed-Stuy

Oil prices fall as investors eye weak demand - San Francisco Gate
Oil prices waffled Monday, touching their lowest levels in nearly a year and a half but also showing some strength after a surprisingly upbeat home sales report gave investors a glimmer of hope that the housing market might rebound and help ease the

September new home sales rise by 2.7 percent - Houston Chronicle
Sales of new homes unexpectedly rose last month, as many homebuyers seized on builder discounts and rushed to take advantage of expiring down payment assistance programs and other incentives. Economists had expected sales of new, single-family homes

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jedibfa writes “Las Cruces International Airport came alive with applause and cheers yesterday afternoon as John Carmack’s Armadillo Aerospace took the first place prize for the Level 1 challenge of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, winning $350,000 and bragging rights. Adding to the excitement of the day, shortly before completing their second qualifying flight, Armadillo Aerospace and The Rocket Racing League announced a joint program to develop a sub-orbital tourist automobile that will fly out of the New Mexico-based Spaceport America and cost less than $100,000 per ticket. On Sunday, the team will have three opportunities to go for the Level 2 challenge that more closely approximates the required performance for a real lunar landing. Good luck, Armadillo Aerospace, both on Sunday and in your new endeavor!” We discussed preparations for the challenge last week. Several other readers have contributed additional coverage, including the Space Fellowship’s live blog of the event, the website for Truezer0, another team participating in the challenge, and a VentureBeat article discussing the economic downturn in space exploration, and how the X-prize competitions figure in. Today’s Level 2 challenge will be covered live via webcast.

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An anonymous reader writes “Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early ballots last week. This is the second West Virginia county where voters have reported this problem. Last week, three voters in Jackson County told The Charleston Gazette their electronic vote for ‘Barack Obama’ kept flipping to ‘John McCain.’”

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Filed under: Before the bell, International markets, Earnings reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Deals, PepsiCo (PEP), General Motors (GM), Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Verizon Communications (VZ), Nortel Networks (NT), U.S. Steel (X), Economic data, Housing, Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis

Once again world markets sank on recession fears, and once again U.S. stock futures plunged, indicating the session might begin on a considerable down note. But if Friday futures reached limit-down to cease trading and many feared the worse, that didn’t materialized and the Dow fell “only” 3.6%. Today, oil dropped below $62 a barrel as the G7 expressed concern over the yen and the IMF announced rescue plans for Hungary and Ukraine.

A little after the market opens, investors will look at data on September’s new home sales. On Tuesday, a two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve begins, and many anticipate another coordinated rate cut from the world’s major central banks. The Fed is expected to lower its fed funds rate by a half-point to 1 percent on Wednesday.

Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) reported 66 cents earnings per share this morning, inline with estimates on strong sales.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) — the Financial Times reported Goldman’s CEO Blankfein called Citigroup (NYSE: C)’s CEO Pandit last month to discuss a merger. While Pandit immediately turned down the recommendation and any further discussion on the matter, the news is making investors realize the severity of the financial crisis that Goldman was willing to lose its independence.

Continue reading Before the bell: Another slump expected; VZ, GS, GM, MS, PEP, X …

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Filed under: Bad news, Products and services, Competitive strategy, McDonald’s (MCD)

When McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) went into coffee, the fast-food giant went whole-hog (or bean?). The chain planned to add separate coffee bars to each one of its about 14,000 U.S. stores, and got to about 3,000 when the credit crunch hit and Bank of America pulled back on the availability of funds for its franchisees. This would be a relatively minor setback if it weren’t for a problem:

McDonald’s customers don’t really like coffee.

In a Wall Street Journal article today, which examines whether the coffee rollout came at a bad time, I was struck by a couple of “tweaks” McDonald’s has made to its coffee strategy. One, changing the title of the employee who prepares the coffee drinks to “beverage specialist” from “barista” betrays a generality that would indicate a widening of the strategy (if not baldly changing the strategy away from coffee to other drinks). The other is that McDonald’s is testing drinks made without coffee (think mixed cream beverages at Starbucks). “The strategy is to appeal to customers who like the idea of coffee drinks but not the actual taste. Chocolate “gives people permission to introduce themselves to these drinks,” states Darci Forrest, a McDonald’s senior director of marketing.”

Continue reading McDonald’s coffee drinks not getting customers buzzed?

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Volatility of yen raises worries among G-7 - CNN Money
WASHINGTON (AP) — The world’s leading industrial countries are worried about the recent sharp rise in the value of the Japanese currency. The financial ministers and central bank presidents of the Group of Seven major industrial countries issued a

Yen, Dollar Climb Despite Possible G-7 Action - Wall Street Journal
LONDON — The yen continued to push ahead and the dollar rose in Europe Monday, despite a statement from the Group of Seven leading industrial nations finance ministers earlier in the day threatening intervention. Some analysts reckon that the G7

Yen climbs despite G-7 warning - Houston Chronicle
TOKYO — A warning by top industrialized nations about the recently surging yen fell flat Monday, unable to overcome the deluge of investors buying back the Japanese currency by reversing so-called carry trades that has sent the yen to a 13-year

Creating an all-inclusive economy through access to finance - Businessday Online
With the class disparity which Nigeria has had to contend with over the years, better access to finance for entrepreneurial development has been advocated as key to realising an all-inclusive economy. This is besides its potential to address the high

Austria extends AUA sale mandate to Dec. 31 -finmin - Reuters
VIENNA, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The government is extending a mandate to sell a stake in Austrian Airlines (AUAV.VI: Quote , Profile , Research , Stock Buzz ) until the end of this year, provided an offer by Germany’s Lufthansa (LHAG.DE: Quote , Profile

Finance slump fails to cease housing plans - Weston Mercury
DESPITE economic crisis, plans to build inexpensive housing are still going ahead in Cheddar. High house prices in the village, combined with a lack of mortgage finance means residents are finding it hard to buy a home of their own. Now Sedgemoor

Market Chatter — Corporate finance press digest - Reuters
LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The following corporate finance-related stories involving U.S. and European companies were reported by media on Monday: ** GMAC Commercial Finance and Burdale Financial, lenders to Woolworths (WLW.L: Quote , Profile

FOREX-Yen gains despite G7, dlr firm, more RBA buying seen - CNBC
LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The yen rallied on Monday despite the Group of Seven singling out excessive volatility in the Japanese currency, while the dollar hit a two-year high against the euro as investors scrambled to shed riskier investments. The

Hong Kong Stocks Plunge the Most Since 1989 Tiananmen Crackdown - Bloomberg
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) — Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index plunged as much as 15 percent, the most since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, on mounting concern the global credit crisis will ravage the city’s exports and financial services. Industrial

Asian Shares Decline in Volatile Session - Wall Street Journal
Asian markets swooned for the second straight trading day as fearful investors pulled out of the region’s equity and currency markets, leading to a 12.7% drop in Hong Kong and a 6.4% drop in Tokyo. In Japan, investors reacted with disappointment to

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Iddo Genuth writes “Scientists at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and North Carolina State University (NC State) have developed cooperatively a new ‘green’ technology which could lead to clean production of hydrogen from nitrogen-fixing bacteria.”

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