Happy New Year, Everyone!
Dec 312009
MBS- FNMA 4.5 price: 99-27
10-yr Treasury Yield: 3.87%
I’m completely convinced this is THE FINANCIAL STORY OF THE DECADE (from McClatchyDC.com):
NEW YORK — When financial titan Goldman Sachs joined some of its Wall Street rivals in late 2005 in secretly packaging a new breed of offshore securities, it gave prospective investors little hint that many of the deals were so risky that they could end up losing hundreds of millions of dollars on them.
McClatchy has obtained previously undisclosed documents that provide a closer look at the shadowy $1.3 trillion market since 2002 for complex offshore deals, which Chicago financial consultant and frequent Goldman critic Janet Tavakoli said at times met “every definition of a Ponzi scheme.”
The documents include the offering circulars for 40 of Goldman’s estimated 148 deals in the Cayman Islands over a seven-year period, including a dozen of its more exotic transactions tied to mortgages and consumer loans that it marketed in 2006 and 2007, at the crest of the booming market for subprime mortgages to marginally qualified borrowers.
In some of these transactions, investors not only bought shaky securities backed by residential mortgages, but also took on the role of insurers by agreeing to pay Goldman and others massive sums if risky home loans nose-dived in value — as Goldman was effectively betting they would.
Some of the investors, including foreign banks and even Wall Street giant Merrill Lynch, may have been comforted by the high grades Wall Street ratings agencies had assigned to many of the securities. However, some of the buyers apparently agreed to insure Goldman well after the performance of many offshore deals weakened significantly beginning in June 2006. Link to full article…
This one ought to be noticed. Hoping for everyone’s sake this trend goes the right way in 2010. It’s got to be the prime indicator of real improvement for Main Street.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance fell sharply last week to the lowest level in 17 months, the government said Thursday. Analysts had expected an increase. Link to article…
Gotta say, I find this one interesting too (from FireDogLake.com):
When House leadership was handing out committee assignments to the freshmen class of 2008, in the midst of one of the biggest financial crises to ever rock the country, it was decided that the best thing to do was put new members who needed campaign cash for tough 2010 battles on the Financial Services Committee.
And so 11 freshmen members from conservative leaning districts were assigned to the committee, basically setting them up to be “bribed” by Wall Street. Link to article…
Dec 302009
MBS- FNMA 4.5 price: 99-30
10-yr Treasury Yield: 3.80%
Dec 292009
Week 5, December 2009
I’m publishing the events list early this week so that some of these recommendations can be seen in time for you all to actually get to them. Since this will be the last Weekend Wanderings commentary for 2009 I want to express my thanks to those of you who read the comments and check out the events list and of course also those of you who comment upon the Pic of the Week. It was the year 2009 that I changed the format of Weekend Wanderings from a weekly email to a daily blog and I appreciate those of you who have taken time to check out the site on days other than the usual Thursday publication. It’s an interesting experience to manage the content through this medium and I hope to continue to make improvements to it in 2010. Pointing out the stories I see in the finance news and adding a few remarks has become a broader experience for me today than it once was. I see stories unfold told by some writers I admire and by some whose appeal I find quite dubious, and I try to piece it together now almost every day so that you can see some of what fuels finance in America. I’ll admit it’s sometimes a painful exercise— one that will get your cockles up, so to speak. But ultimately it’s we citizens who consciously choose a system where it’s up to us to keep an eye on what’s going on, and it’s we citizens who must speak up when we see lending run amuck such as we have clearly seen. My promise for 2010 is that I will keep my eyes pealed and I will keep on pointing out what I see so that we can all reinforce a system that relies upon rules made BY the people and FOR the people. My best wishes to you all in 2010!
See here for a reminder of what congressional lobbyists accomplish for Main Street.
To contact me about financing your dream-home click here.
Weekend Wanderer’s Events
…finding the treasures in your town and beyond.
Two for This Weekend:
Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!: Permanent exhibitions at the Charles M. Shulz Museum in Santa Rosa include the original wall from their Colorado Springs home upon which Mr. Shulz drew the Peanuts characters in his daughter’s bedroom, Mr. Schulz’s studio permanently installed and reproduced as it was, an outdoor labyrinth where you can walk through Snoopy’s head, and more. This New Year’s Eve day they are having a root beer toast at noon for the kids.
New Year’s Eve: Quintessential Chaplin: At Grace Cathedral atop of Nob Hill in San Francisco… “Start the New Year funny with 90 minutes of classic Charlie Chaplin short films: The Cure, The Immigrant, and The Adventurer. Famed New York organist Dorothy Papadakos will accompany the films on the cathedral’s renowned Aeolian-Skinner organ.” Two showings, one at 7:00 pm and the other at 10:00 pm. I highly recommend the experience as I attended a showing of Phantom of the Opera there on New Year’s Eve two years ago. Great place for this sort of film experience; amazing to just listen to the organ in that incredible sanctuary.
Help Your Fellow Living Beings:
A Place at the Table: Saturday the 2nd of the year and Sunday the 3rd day of the year you can join Hands On Bay Area in assisting St. Anthony’s with their Emergency Food Assistance Program passing out bags of groceries on Saturday and with helping Glide Memorial Church with making sandwiches and bagged lunches to pass out in the Tenderloin on Sunday. Both are great ways to start off a new year of compassionate awareness. Check ‘em out if you’re looking for something meaningful on this level for the new year.
Two Weekends from Now:
A Prairie Home Companion Live Broadcast from San Francisco: If you’re a fan of the fantastically dry wit of Garrison Keilor and the Prairie Home Companion public radio show that’s been bringing down home laughs and entertainment for 30 years, you can attend live broadcast performances on both Saturday the 9th and on Saturday the 16th of January at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. If you’re unfamiliar, check out the film made just a few years ago called Prairie Home Companion. It’s really an American treasure.
Pic of the Week… from my phone camera:
That’s me… wishing you a Happy New Year! 
Dec 292009
MBS- FNMA 4.5 price: 99-18
10-yr Treasury Yield: 3.82%
Considering the big changes in the usual indicators for mortgage rates that would generally portend a big spike in rates, it appears the change we’re seeing, at least for conforming 30 yr fixed rates, has brought rates up a little bit but not outrageously. I mean, I remember in 1999 when conforming rates were in the 8% range. So, seeing rates in the low 5’s is definitely still excellent.
Here is an article I found interesting this morning in MarketWatch.com:
Beyond the mortgage payment. Before buying your first home, brace yourself for these extra costs. Link to article…
Dec 282009
Dec 282009
MBS- FNMA 4.5 price: 99-14
10-yr Treasury Yield: 3.83%
The measures above have indicated a pretty significant drop in demand for these two securities in the last week or so. It generally indicates an increase in mortgage rates is here. I’ll be traveling today, so it will be several hours before the next update, but I will be looking into what is driving this trend. Although this article below from Bloomberg does spell out some of the story:
Morgan Stanley Sees 5.5% Note as U.S. Faces Deficits. Link to article…
Of course, this one is worth taking a look at too. Even with unlimited backing from the Treasury this stock remains basically a penny stock. Amazing.
Fannie, Freddie shares rocket on Treasury pledge. Link to article…
Hope everyone had a nice Christmas holiday!
Dec 232009
MBS- FNMA 4.5 price: 100-02
10-yr Treasury Yield: 3.72%
Heading out to the ranch in Loma Rica today for the Christmas holiday. So, no more updates today. Here is a sunset shot from Littlefield Road in Loma Rica. Hope you all have a fantastic holiday!
Dec 222009
MBS- FNMA 4.5 price: 100-03
10-yr Treasury Yield: 3.69%
This one from Market Watch seems worth reading:
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Meeting with 12 executives representing small banks, President Barack Obama vowed Tuesday to press federal agencies to “cut some of the regulatory red tape” that may be limiting the ability of community bankers to lend more as the economy recovers.
“Some small bankers still have some regulatory constraints,” Obama explained in remarks made in conjunction with the meeting. “In some ways, the pendulum may have swung too much in the direction of not lending after decades of too much of a focus on getting money out the door.” Link to article…
Dec 212009
Christmas Meditation from Sister Anne on Vimeo.
Dec 212009
MBS- FNMA 4.5 price: 100-20
10-yr Treasury Yield: 3.69%
Not a very promising day for the usual indicators for mortgage rates today. For me personally, I have been away from reading the financial news because I have been engaged in building a website for a friend who was seriously injured in a car accident last Thursday. I built the site so his friends and family members have a central resource for news and information. Here is the link if you are interested:
Dec 212009