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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The bullhorn message from the government to mortgage lenders has been: Bend. Do what you can to help struggling homeowners. The message to troubled homeowners has been: Call your lender. You may be able to work something out. Despite the persistent blare, there is not a whole lotta "loan modifying" going on yet. A survey by Moody's found that most loan servicers this year had modified only about 1 percent of their adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) that had reset to higher rates by the end of July. At the Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) of San Francisco,...

I knew it. This headline draws attention these days. As the world wakes up to the fact that all currencies are created out of thin air by a simple entry into the electronic ledgers of the world's central banks investors begin to look for investments whose safety does not depend on an agency rating. This chart from the World Gold Council may help your investment decisions. GRAPH: This chart is a very graphic description what happens once nations abolish the gold standard in favor of unbacked fiat currencies. Remember: No fiat currency has existed longer than a human's lifespan and...

One of the world's leading experts on credit derivatives (financial instruments that transfer credit risk from one party to another), Das is the author of a 4,200-page reference work on the subject, among a half-dozen tomes... Das is pretty droll for a math whiz, but his message is dead serious. He thinks we're on the verge of a bear market of epic proportions... The cause: Massive levels of debt underlying the world economic system are about to unwind in a profound and persistent way. He's not sure if it will play out like the 13-year decline of 90% in Japan...

More Americans Say Value Of Their Home Has Fallen Topics:Housing | Real Estate | Consumers | Economy (U.S.)By Reuters | 21 Sep 2007 | 10:48 AM ET Font size: A record 26% of U.S. homeowners say the value of their homes has fallen during the past year, above the previous peak of 24% seen in 1992, a survey released Friday showed. Reflecting the extent of the prolonged housing slump, 21% of homeowners polled in September expect the value of their home to decline in the year ahead, up from 18% in August, according to the data from Reuters/University of Michigan...

Unlike all the Wall Street strategists who compare the current credit crisis to the credit crisis of 1998 (Long Term Capital Management), I believe that the ongoing credit problems will be far worse and of a longer-term nature. This will make it difficult for the market to reach new highs in the near future. Moreover, even if the 1998 comparison were to hold, we would still be looking at a much deeper stock market correction than the 22% sell-off we saw in 1998. The stock market peaked out in July 1998, after having been in an uptrend since the 1991...

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- HSBC Holdings (HBC:HSBC Hldgs Plc News, chart, profile, more Last: 92.55+0.90+0.98% 11:08am 09/21/2007 Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: HBC92.55, +0.90, +1.0%) (UK:HSBA:hsbc hldgs ord usd0.50(uk reg) News, chart, profile, more Last: 911.50+2.50+0.28% 4:13pm 09/21/2007 Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: UK:HSBA911.50, +2.50, +0.3%) said Friday it plans to close its non-prime wholesale mortgage lending arm, Decision One Mortgage, which will result in 750 job losses. HSBC said it will focus on originating and servicing loans through its consumer lending branch network under the HFC...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government is casting a wide net in its scrutiny of Wall Street banks, investors, credit-rating agencies and others in the role they played in the subprime mortgage crisis. "We look at all the players" to determine whether there were missteps in accounting and possible insider trading, says Walter Ricciardi, deputy enforcement director at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Video More video CNN's Gerri Willis offers tips on refinancing, good news for those with a HELOC and more. Play video In a telephone interview Wednesday, Ricciardi said the SEC is asking mutual fund managers, lawyers, company executives...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An economist who has long predicted this decade's housing market bubble would deflate said the residential real estate downturn could spiral into "the most severe since the Great Depression" and could lead to a recession. Yale University economist Robert Shiller's written comments to lawmakers came a day after the Federal Reserve responded to credit market turmoil by slashing the target federal funds rate by a half point to 4.75 percent. Shiller, in testimony prepared for a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee said the loss of a boom mentality among the public may bring on a drop...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the biggest sources of U.S. housing finance, can buy $20 billion more in subprime mortgages under rules unveiled Wednesday to help revive a market hindered by tighter lending standards. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the regulator for Fannie and Freddie, agreed to relax restrictions on the mortgage finance companies' investment holdings although it did not eliminate existing caps on those loan portfolios. RELATED LINKS Mortgage Applications Up as Refinancing Picks UpCountrywide CEO Bullish, Asks Government to Do MoreVideo Survey: After the Surprise Rate Cut, Are CEOs Happy Now? The moves are meant to...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Over the next few years, more than three-quarters of the nation's housing markets will suffer a decline in home prices. Many will experience double-digit hits in a forecast that has worsened considerably in recent months. According to an analysis conducted by Moody's Economy.com, price declines will exceed 10 percent in 86 of the 379 largest housing markets. And 290 of the cities will experience price drops of 1 percent or more. All are median prices for single-family houses. Nationally, Moody's is projecting an average price decline of 7.7 percent. That's a jump from the 6.6 percent...

Stocks Soar After Fed's Bigger-Than-Expected Half-Point Cut in Interest Rates NEW YORK (AP) -- A jubilant Wall Street barreled higher Tuesday after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a larger-than-expected half percentage point. The Dow Jones industrial average reacted by surging 335 points -- its biggest one-day point jump in nearly five years.

NEW YORK: As more U.S. states and cities struggle to find the money to bail out homeowners caught up in the housing downturn, some Americans are wondering why government should be rewarding people for their greed or irresponsibility. Some, like Thomas Roach of Sarasota, Florida, are even actively campaigning against a bailout for people who, using easy credit and exotic mortgages, bought more home than they could afford on a bet to make easy profits from rising real estate prices. Even before President George W. Bush put forth his proposals to help troubled homeowners last month, Roach, a 30-year-old information...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Late summer brought no relief from soaring foreclosures. The number of homes in some stage of default jumped 36 percent month-over-month in August, according to a regular monthly survey. Delinquencies and defaults more than doubled year over year to 243,947, according to August figures released Tuesday by RealtyTrac, a marketer of foreclosed properties. RealtyTrac's forecast is for total foreclosure filings to exceed 2 million this year. "The jump in foreclosure filings this month might be the beginning of the next wave of increased foreclosure activity, as a large number of subprime adjustable rate loans are beginning...

Investment banks 'to lose $30bn' Investment banks will have limited profits to count, analysts predict. World investment banks are set to reveal they have lost about $30bn (£15bn) from bad debts linked to the global credit crunch, a report says.Analysts are predicting the firms - many of which report quarterly results this week - will have to write-off 10% of the $300bn loans they have agreed. In some cases profits will be almost wiped out, the Sunday Times said. The report comes ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting which is expected to see a cut US interest rates. The...

The new numbers on consumer confidence are out. They show American consumers very confident that the economy is going down the tubes. Over in Asia and Europe, stocks plunged on fears that Americans may no longer be able to find the second jobs and recklessly borrow the money needed to buy imported stuff. Economists now freely use the "recession" word following the report that American payrolls fell in August, the first monthly decline in four years. American consumers, in other words, are all dried up. And the discussion has begun on what kind of baloney economy kept them lubricated for...

What if NBC’s “TO CATCH A PREDATOR” program really did turn its sensationalistic gaze on predatory lenders? It would be consistent, wouldn’t it, with all the true crime shows that dominate the airwaves? And they wouldn’t have to commission new graphics or a a title either. You would think they would want to get ahead of the Courts and the State Attorney Generals who will, one day, be prosecuting what I call the “Subcrime scandal.” After all, it’s a story with billions of dollars missing, millions of victims, and perhaps the whole global economy at stake. It may never happen...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Problems in housing, the financial markets and the first job decline in four years have made a Federal Reserve rate cut next week all but certain. But it has also raised talk about a recession -- and whether the Fed is able to prevent one. While most economists still don't believe the nation will fall into a recession, there is general agreement that the economy now faces a greater risk than there was only a month or two ago. It's not clear how much Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be able to do if the...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Nearly 700 homes in the Detroit area will be auctioned on Sept. 21 through the Sept. 23, one of the biggest home auctions ever. Rising default rates in the economically hard-hit, auto-industry town have riddled the Detroit housing market. There's an abundance of bank-owned properties available for sale. "Because many of these properties have been on the market for a year or more, banks are very anxious to find buyers . . . it's not unusual for the properties to sell at auction below their price list," said Dave Webb, one of the owners of Hudson...

September 8, 2007 -- Sharply shrinking payrolls - with a surprise 12,000 jobs slashed at ailing home lender Countrywide - are raising new fears about Wall Street's dangerous roller-coaster ride. Stocks tumbled from the opening bell yesterday after the Labor Department unexpectedly reported the work force shrank in August. Instead of a gain of 110,000 jobs, as the experts expected, the report said there was a loss of 4,000 jobs.

LAST WEEK I made the bold, if not downright crazy, prediction that that the Federal Reserve would not cut interest rates at the upcoming FOMC meeting on Sept. 18, despite widespread panic in credit markets. But then again, it probably seemed crazy when I said to buy stocks three weeks ago when it looked like they were going to zero. At this point stocks have recovered half their losses in this correction, and stand less than 5% below all-time highs. I still love stocks here. But as we get closer and closer to the FOMC meeting day, I'm getting more...

Stock market bulls got their weak jobs report -- and then some. Shares tanked Friday after the government reported that private payrolls contracted in August, marking the first monthly nonfarm job loss in four years. Bond prices rose as investors bet the unexpected decline in employment will finally force the Federal Reserve to cut its fed funds overnight lending target, which has been stuck at 5.25% for more than a year. The dollar dropped and gold prices surged. "If there was any doubt over whether the Fed would be cutting interest rates on Sept. 18, this report should remove it,"...

Subprime Mortgage Woes Push New Foreclosures to a Record High WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of homeowners receiving foreclosure notices hit a record high in the spring, driven up by problems with subprime mortgages. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported Thursday that mortgage-holders starting the foreclosure process in the April-June quarter reached 0.65 percent, marking the third consecutive quarter that this figure has set an all-time high. The delinquency rate, which tracks the number of people who are behind in their payments but have not yet entered the foreclosure process, was also up sharply during the spring, rising to 5.12 percent...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The delinquency rate for mortgage borrowers spiked higher in the second quarter and the number of homes entering the foreclosure process hit a record high, according to a report released Thursday. Deliquencies hit 5.12 percent of all outstanding mortgages, up from 4.39 percent a year ago, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said in a quarterly survey. Current Mortgage Rates Type Overall avgs 30 yr fixed mtg 6.10% 15 yr fixed mtg 5.78% 30 yr fixed jumbo mtg 7.08% 5/1 ARM 6.07% 5/1 jumbo ARM 6.51% Find personalized rates: Serious delinquencies, those 90 days or more late,...

Countrywide Financial (CFC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) cut another 900 jobs in a move to trim costs in the wake of falling lending volumes and defaults. 1. Top Rocket Stocks for This Week 2. Sirius, XM Predict Deal by Year-End 3. Apple Shares Juiced Again 4. iPhone Shift Scuffs AT&T, Apple Shares 5. Top 10 Warren Buffett Buyback Stocks Fidelity Investments Options House Zecco.com Global Forex TD AMERITRADE E*TRADE FINANCIAL The online edition of The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that the layoffs were primarily in Countrywide's mortgage-production division. Last month, Countrywide slashed 500 jobs in...

I'VE TAKEN A lot of heat from readers for staying bullish during the current credit crisis, but I stand on the evidence. It's been a rocky ride, but my calls in the column to buy on dips during this panic have paid off. Stocks are recovering. As of this writing the S&P 500 is less than 6% off all-time historic highs. For all the fear and loathing, the reality is that this whole episode has barely even been a correction. The bull market lives. It's hard to find any fellow bulls out there anymore. And oddly enough, those few that...

The subprime mortgage crisis is spreading to a somewhat unexpected place: homes costing more than $500,000. As lending has rapidly gotten more restrictive for borrowers taking out large loans, sales of expensive homes have fallen sharply around the country during what should be one of the busiest seasons for buyers and sellers, mortgage bankers and real estate agents say. To some degree the change is due to difficulty getting financing, as borrowers are finding fewer lenders willing or able to fund "jumbo" mortgages, loans for amounts greater than $417,000. Such loans are too big to be guaranteed by government-sponsored housing...

The current turmoil in the financial markets has all the characteristics of a classic banking crisis, but one that is taking place outside the traditional banking sector, Axel Weber, president of the Bundesbank, said at the weekend. “What we are seeing is basically what we see underlying all banking crises,” said Mr Weber, one of the most influential members of the governing council of the European Central Bank. The comments mark the first time that a top central banker has endorsed the notion that the non-bank financial system is seeing an old-style bank run. Some Federal Reserve policymakers also privately...

...Salomon and other institutions would take the mortgages sold by banks and stitch together bonds backed by the payments of many mortgagees, which they sold to investors...Once the mortgage originator became, in effect, a supplier to Wall Street, new, often unregulated nonbanking companies jumped into the game of brokering and also issuing mortgages. Over time, this weakened lending standards. As Robert Rodriguez, declared in a speech in June, “The distancing of the borrower from the lender has contributed to the development of lax underwriting standards...” Meanwhile, Wall Street, sensing the appetite of investors, devised exotic ways of repackaging mortgages. Investors...

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pledged Friday that the central bank will "act as needed" to keep the credit crisis that has unhinged Wall Street from hurting the national economy. In anxiously awaited remarks, Bernanke didn't specify what the Fed's next move will be but made clear policymakers are keeping close tabs on the problem, which has roiled investors in the United States and around the globe. Even as Bernanke vowed Fed action, he sought to temper investors' expectations. "It is not the responsibility of the Federal Reserve -- nor would it be appropriate -- to...

President Bush and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke yesterday pledged to help homeowners and businesses hurt by the spreading credit crunch, but said they will not offer a bailout for speculators and lenders who lost money because of poor judgment. In speeches that were scheduled separately but featured the same conservative philosophy of limited government assistance and noninterference in markets, the two leaders sought to reassure people caught up in stressed housing and credit situations that some help is on the way. Mr. Bernanke said the Fed, for its part, stands ready to cut interest rates if the deepening...

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo., Aug. 31 -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke Friday said that the central bank will take action to prevent problems in the financial markets from disrupting the U.S. economy, if necessary. In the speech here, Bernanke laid out his thinking on the troubled credit markets publicly for the first time. Continued...============================================================== The good news is we're doomed! It is absurd and stupid to bet against the U.S. economy -- which is precisely why liberals are betting against the U.S. economy. Liberals have been cheerleading recession for years -- beginning right at the end of the Clinton...

President Bush on Friday pledged to help homeowners behind on their payments as a way to stem the nation's deepening mortgage crisis. The move is particularly significant in South Florida, where thousands of people face foreclosure after stretching to buy properties they couldn't afford. Bush said he will let the Federal Housing Administration, which insures mortgages for low- and middle-income residents, guarantee loans for delinquent borrowers. That will allow them to avoid foreclosure and refinance at more favorable interest rates. Those eligible must meet specific criteria, including a history of having made on-time payments before getting into trouble with risky...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The White House is proposing to expand the role of the federal government to stem a wave of mortgage defaults, President Bush said Friday, unveiling a series of steps including allowing refinancing into government-insured mortgages. nder the plan, the Federal Housing Administration's mortgage insurance program will be changed to allow more people to refinance with FHA insurance if they fall behind on adjustable-rate mortgages. People who have missed mortgage payments are now ineligible for FHA insurance. ****************************************** 'Prospects of the administration joining the Fed in tackling subprime issues are helping markets believe that the current crisis will...

A historic decline in home values comes down to this: Even if you never signed papers on a risky loan during the real estate frenzy, you may now be paying a price. In recent decades, it has been uncommon for US home prices to fall much, even during recessions. One government measure has never shown a year-over-year decline in its three-decade history. But the current economy is far from normal – with the housing market in a period of persistent decline at a time when many other economic indicators are positive. By one index released this week, home prices are...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The private sector and Congress should create new, affordable mortgage products that would help some homeowners refinance their mortgages and keep their homes, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested in a letter released Wednesday. In the letter to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Bernanke repeated that the Fed is closely monitoring markets and stands ready to act if needed. The Fed issued a statement with almost identical wording on Aug. 17 after it cut the discount lending rate to 5.75%. The letter from Bernanke was dated Aug. 27 and released by Schumer's office on Wednesday. Calling it a...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 — President Bush, in his first response to low-income families hit by the subprime mortgage crisis, plans to announce several steps Friday aimed at helping Americans with credit difficulties to meet the rising cost of their housing loans, administration officials said Thursday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in a widely anticipated speech, reinterated that central bank will "act as needed" to keep the credit crisis from spreading but will not bail out investors who made poor decisions. "The committee continues to monitor the situation and will act as needed to limit the adverse effects on the broader economy that may arise from the disruptions in financial markets," Bernanke said in a speech at the Fed's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. But the central bank is not ready to shield investors whose actions have resulted in financial losses, he said. "It is...

Subprime Auto Lenders Are Confident, Analysts Aren't Topics:Automobile Industry | Credit | Housing | Mortgages | Subprime Lending Sectors:Automobiles and Parts Companies:Goldman Sachs Group Inc | JPMorgan Chase and Co | Wells Fargo and Co | Citigroup Inc | HSBC Holdings, plc. | Capital One Financial | AmeriCredit CorporationBy Reuters | 31 Aug 2007 | 12:56 PM ET Font size: U.S. subprime auto lenders say they do not see a rising wave of defaults, but over the past year they have made a number of moves to burnish the scratches and dents in their loan portfolios. AP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Triad Financial,...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Offering federal help for strapped mortgage holders, President Bush is proposing to aid hundreds of thousands of borrowers hard hit by the housing slump. The president on Friday was to talk about several initiatives and reforms to help homeowners with risky mortgages keep their homes, a senior administration official said Thursday. Bush also was to discuss efforts to prevent these kinds of problems from arising in the future. The official said Bush will direct Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson to work on an initiative to help troubled mortgage holders get services and products...