http://wealth.net The Journal of True Capitalism, Honest Markets and Rational Economics Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:12:42 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en RealtyTrac has reported February foreclosure activity, which at 308,524 units, was a 2% decline from January, and a 6% increase year over year. This equates to one in 418 housing units. And not surprisingly, the snow was once again implicated, this time in painting a falsely positive picture of the ... http://wealth.net/2010/03/realtytrac-reports-308524-foreclosure-filings-in-february-2-decline-from-january-snow-slows-down-foreclosure-activity/ The Washington Post reports that the next "Lehman-sized" event may be just around the corner, as the European Commission is now supporting a ban on trading sovereign CDS. While we are in process of tracking down whether this is actual news or just some exaggeration based on semantics, we will ... http://wealth.net/2010/03/european-commission-to-back-cds-trading-ban-as-second-round-of-strikes-cripples-greece-greek-gdp-now-expected-to-miss-worst-case-scenario/ Submitted by Credit TraderStocks Up BUT Risk Aversion UpS&P Futures managed to test the Jan 11th highs but risk aversion in credit remains significantly shifted since then which we find intriguing. VIX is slightly higher than at 1/11, 10Y TSY 10bps lower in yield with a notable duration extension into ... http://wealth.net/2010/03/guest-post-stocks-up-so-is-risk-aversion/ We have now reached a point when a Senator has to write a well-intentioned letter to the very administration he serves, (whose sworn duty is to preserve the wealth of all of its constituents, not just Goldman Sachs), with a cautionary tale that continued lying to the general population combined ... http://wealth.net/2010/03/pimcos-el-erian-on-the-inability-to-grasp-the-seismic-changes-currently-occurring-in-the-developed-world/ It’s 2010: What Should Investors, Traders and More Importantly What Should We as Americans Do Now? Submitted by John Bougearel of The Commodity Trading Advisor  AttachmentSize Its 2010 So What Should Investors and Americans Do Now.pdf367.83 KB by Tyler Durden via zero hedge http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-it%E2%80%99s-2010-what-should-investors-traders-and-more-importantly-what-should-we-ameri http://wealth.net/2010/03/guest-post-it%e2%80%99s-2010-what-should-investors-traders-and-more-importantly-what-should-we-as-americans-do-now/ In a letter to Larry Summers and Tim Geithner, Senator Sherrod Brown warns the administration to not simply place more Wall Street cronies in filling the three vacancies at the Federal Reserve, which will open up once Fed vice chairman Donald Kohn leaves this coming June. Instead of mere" maximum ... http://wealth.net/2010/03/senator-brown-warns-summers-and-geithner-not-to-fill-fed-vacancies-with-yet-more-administration-puppets-andor-idiots/ Over the past few months, Arianna Huffington has initiated a grass roots campaign called "Move your money" whose purpose is to forcefully shift an allocation of the deposit base from the TBTFs which have captured the government via the Wall Street-D.C. lobby complex. While we hope this campaign succeeds, we ... http://wealth.net/2010/03/a-modest-amendment-proposal-to-the-move-your-money-campaign-increase-your-withholding-exemptions/ The 10 Year Treasury To Mortgage spread just broke the 60 bps barrier, and is now trading at a record tight 59.61 bps, after dropping as low as 58 bps earlier. Is the Fed now launching a short squeeze in MBS as well? Pretty soon Mortgages will be trading at ... http://wealth.net/2010/03/another-record-treasury-mortgage-spread-just-took-out-60-bps-support/ What is wrong with this picture: the MTS just announced that the February budget deficit was $220.9 billion, after receipts of just $107.5 billion with vastly surpassed by outlays of $328.4 billion. This is a record. Yet the interest on the public debt was a mere $16.9 billion (page 13 ... http://wealth.net/2010/03/as-budget-deficit-hits-record-high-interest-on-us-public-debt-hits-record-low/ Submitted by Nic Lenoir of ICAPThe recovery has been uneven around the globe. The US with heavy stimulus has returned rapidly to positive growth (whether we can sustain it is a completely different debate), Swiss real estate was never really affected by the quasi worldwide slide and GDP in Switzerland ... http://wealth.net/2010/03/fed-boe-ecb-boj-snb-boc-who-will-blink-first/