Broker: now Homer before I push this button, do you have *any* idea how the stock market actually works? *homer thinks ... sees girls dancing and singing "we're in the money" and this * Homer: you heard the monkey, make the trade!
You mean ... to tell me .. that the world didn't end because the market was down? Now sir, I don't think I believe you
maybe this has something to do with the "outlook" of the market peoples: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012400532.html?hpid=topnews
yeah, the government is trying to pump some liquidity back into the market by printing some more money :roll:. i won't complain though, I'll take a free check any day of the week. I'll cope with the increased inflation this will cause. The major thing is that its giving a break to investing companies. Trying to jump start some spending in business sector.
I think that a plan like that should have been put into place a year ago. Maybe would have saved everyone a bit of hassle. But most of this, imo, is caused by the housing bubble bursting. That will probably fix itself when the condo owner people realize that they don't like paying out the wazoo for what is essentially an apartment that you have a 30 year mortgage on that's just how i feel about it .. I'm probably wrong though.
let it keep dropping and keep lowering the interest rate. By interest dropping from 6.25 to 5.25 i will save over $200 a month on my home loan
Nah, you're right about the mortgage bust. It has spilled over into the general economy and is a huge, if not the main factor right now. Goddamn speculators trying to make a quick buck flipping houses. That show "flip this house" pisses me off. That crap should be taken off the air and the producers prosecuted for teaching other *******es how to create a vicious bubble that has now popped and killed the economy. How is that? You have a variable rate mortgage?
Stated income mortgages I think are a big chunk of this current problem. Too many a$$hats buying houses they can't afford based on an income they wish they made and now everyone has to pay for their mistakes when they couldn't pay their first and or second mortgage.
"they wish they made" ? you mean, nobody checked up on that before allowing these people to sign the papers?
nope. That was another huge part of this. Basically, the credit market was so loose all you had to do was lie and you could get a loan from somebody. Basically, if you had a breath you could get a loan. It was shady mortgage brokers and buyers. The banks really weren't at fault in that sense. Now everyone is taking the hit and the mortgage brokers made their cash and are gone. Now the credit market is very tight. Even though interest rates are low, banks have tightened up. That's another reason for this stimulus package, to try to avoid a credit crunch. A lot of the major banks took huge hits when they had to write off the loans that went default. What happened is that these banks take all these mortgages they had and lump them in one big fund called a SIV - Structured Investment Vehicle. They then hedge these mortgage backed securities and try to make money using all these mortgages. But then, once these mortgages crapped the bed and/or the house value fell, they had a worthless pile and lost millions.
Yeah I am familiar with that, we had a fund at my last job that invested in that sort of thing, and we had to close it because it tanked. it's very sad, I feel bad for the people who were honest on their credit apps and are now suffering the same fate as everyone else. But the real question is - what are we going to do with all the housing developments that are all over the place (like downtown mpls) now that nobody can afford to buy a new place anymore? And there are a select few that still can afford it - but it seems like a big waste of space now.
yeah it sucks. But like always, the market will find its equilibrium and it'll be all good. Being a renter I for one love it. In a year or 2 when I'm ready to buy the market should be at one of its low points.
Now would probably be a good time to invest in the market. We just bought our first home and the timing worked out pretty good for us. I'm sure if we waited another year we could probably find some good bargains, but I browse the listings every now and then and it still looks like we did pretty good (especially in NE). It's hard for me to have a negative outlook on the market when my company is growing hand over fist. I think this is (or will be) the first recession of my adult life, so I don't really know what to think of it. But from what I've heard, nobody really knows what to think of this since it's kind of a first of its type... "stagflation."
My STI payment(heloc) keeps going down every month. Discount stocks and I'm paying the same for my car but paying down extra principal....I'm pretty much lovin this!
I doubt that housing prices will fall by much soon, unless a serious recession hits They are more likely to stall for a while (and get effectively reduced over time via inflation that is to come from low interest rates and proposed stimulus packages), and maybe adjust down for those empty/foreclosed houses on the market that deteriorate from lack of maintenance.
personally no-body around here knows whats going on thoroughly... we get info weeks after when it counts... what we see are the results fo things earlier... its all Bush's fault of course, and Hillary couldn't control her husband how the heck can she run a country... they all suck (no pun intended) but I would like to see people on here run this country better... you cant even organise an event properly yet alone t-shirt sales amongst the members.. priceless...
right now I haven't been keeping up, being out of classes and overall laziness. But last semester in my Money, Banking, and Financial Markets class we literally looked in the WSJ daily at the numbers and analyzed the market, had a very good understanding of everything right there. Every time a FOMC meeting was coming up we analyzed the market and discussed, we all voted and bet what they were going to do with the Discount Rate. The class majority was right every time with which way the rate went and most times we hit the amount of basis points it fell as well. I haven't opened a WSJ since finals though lol. I have a pile of them in my garage, i should cancel that subscription :biggrin:,
I meant.. in general... there are many people on here who are very intelligent and know a lot of good stuff... i meant like in regards to things such as the war in Iraq.. it's all Bush's fault, and maybe that's true due to him being the Leader hence he is the one who ultimately has to live or die on his decisions (popularity wise) but we know where that gets you.. I;'d rather have him running us then clinton... off topic... or other stuff.. the media feeds us what they want and we eat it up.. no-one knows... that's all.. wasnt trying to upset anyone
here's a good article posted today on CCNmoney that interviews 3 leading economists. http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/23/news/economy/how_bad/?postversion=2008012315 Here's an excerpt which agrees with what I've been spouting all along:
Yeah, exactly what I was saying - people from places with big stakes in the game all would like a large scale government action (to bail them out) and use every interview to predict how bad things might become. CEPR is another thing, I am more likely to believe that he is genuine, but his point is weak, estimates of how much recent consumption was fueled by HELOCs vary a lot. Other guys shoot BS, like fears of oil prices going to $150 if global economy goes into slide. Plain stupid, oil prices are already down from $100 because of fears of slowdown, if it actually happens, prices will go down even more, since demand will dry up. Any economic commentary in big media should not be taken at face value these days.
Do not rush Market expects Fed to cut rates by another .5% next week and at least another cut by end of April, and given that Fed was mostly going by what market expects lately - might be worth the wait.
The Fed cut the interest rate again today. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-01-30-14-31-31
