<Click on chart for larger image> The New York Times – Obama to Outline Plans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac In another sign that the housing market has strengthened, President Obama on Tuesday will outline his long-awaited ideas for overhauling the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to significantly reduce the government’s… Continue reading How to Fix Fannie And Freddie
The Washington Post – Ezra Klein: Why hedge funds run by idiots can do well. For awhile Rich? Bored? Unable to find a job because of “Obama”? Then tap into your inheritance and start a hedge fund, bro! That, at least, is the plan of this charmer, whose recruiting e-mail to his frat brothers got… Continue reading If You’re Bored, Start A Hedge Fund
CNBC – Pandemic of pension woes plagues nation Detroit, you’re not alone. Across the nation, cities and states are watching Detroit’s largest-ever municipal bankruptcy filing with great trepidation. Years of underfunded retirement promises to public sector workers, which helped lay Detroit low, could plunge them into a similar and terrifying financial hole. A CNBC.com analysis… Continue reading Public Pension Problems
The Wall Street Journal – Many Can’t Pay Student Loans Some 8% of Borrowers in a New Federal Program Have Defaulted ust about four in 10 borrowers with direct federal student loans are paying them back, according to a report released Monday that offers the first comprehensive snapshot of the program since the government created… Continue reading Student Loans, The New Subprime?
Trulia Trends (blog) – Jed Kolko: Bubblephobes, Rejoice: Asking Home Prices Declined in July The Trulia Price Monitor and the Trulia Rent Monitor are the earliest leading indicators of how asking prices and rents are trending nationally and locally. They adjust for the changing mix of listed homes and therefore show what’s really happening to… Continue reading More Evidence That High Rates Are Hurting Housing
The Wall Street Journal – Private-Equity Payout Debt Surges Private-equity firms are adding debt to companies they own to fund payouts to themselves at a record pace, as fears mount that the window for these deals will close if interest rates rise. Private-equity firms are adding debt to companies they own to fund payouts to… Continue reading Private Equity
The American Prospect – Harold Myerson: Part-Time America About those jobs the economy is creating—are any of them full-time? Of the 963,000 jobs created in the past six months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Household Surveys, 936,000 of them are part-time. That doesn’t mean that just 27,000 of the people hired on… Continue reading Part-Time Jobs
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Meh Earnings? Who Cares! Investors don’t seem to be losing much sleep over the unfolding of yet another lackluster earnings season. Second-quarter profit growth is ringing in at 4.4%, while revenues are coming in slightly lower from a year ago, according to data from S&P Capital IQ. And yet, the stock… Continue reading An Earnings Update
Bloomberg.com – Gold Bulls Cut Wagers on Signs U.S. Growth Quickens Hedge funds lowered bullish gold bets for the first time in five weeks as signs of accelerating U.S. growth contributed to the longest retreat in prices in a month. Money managers cut their net-long position by 6.5 percent to 65,517 futures and options by… Continue reading Betting On Gold
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Home Buyers Need to Reset Expectations $197,361: The size mortgage that would result in a $1,000 monthly payment as of July. Home prices have been on a tear this year, but as mortgage rates move higher that breakneck pace is bound to slow. Most buyers shop for homes based… Continue reading How Much Are Rising Rates Hurting Housing?
The Financial Times – Quality could still be underpriced by markets There has long been an argument that some companies truly are better than others and will outperform through good times and bad…How exactly do you measure quality? And can good performance really be expected to persist, without reverting to the mean? New research by… Continue reading Quantifying Value Creation