Morning Report

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change	Percent
S&P Futures	1387.6	-1.3	-0.09%
Eurostoxx Index	2510.8	-19.5	-0.77%
Oil (WTI)	105.76	0.4	0.39%
LIBOR	0.4732	-0.001	-0.11%
US Dollar Index (DXY)	79.483	-0.253	-0.32%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.25%	-0.03%
RPX Composite Real Estate Index	169.74	0.0

Markets are flat this morning on a lack of news. Bonds and MBS continue to retrace their large move downward after the FOMC statement. New Home Sales are due at 10:00 am.

Radar Logic released their Monthly Housing Report yesterday, noting that price declines are slowing, but we are not at a bottom. Distressed sales declined 21.8%, although the settlement between the State AGs and the 5 big banks means that foreclosures are going to pick up again. Interestingly, while Radar Logic has the opinion that housing has yet to bottom, the Radar Logic futures indicate that real estate will stay flat in 2012 and 2013 and then start increasing. The RPX futures are very illiquid, so take what they say with a grain of salt, but still...

Bank of America is launching a pilot program for distressed homeowners, where they follow a Deed In Lieu process to turn over the title to the bank and then rent at sub-market rates for up to 3 years. Bank of America would then sell the properties to outside investors. Speaking of which, we should be hearing the results of the FHFA's REO-to-Rental program soon. In my opinion, the government made it very difficult for investors to take a look, (you have to pay $250,000 just to find out basic information) which I found surprising.

In the "because I said so" category, Ben Bernake said the Fed's easy monetary policy after the stock market bubble burst wasn't responsible for the housing bubble.

As I noted yesterday, the homebuilders have quietly put in a huge rally since last fall. (Note to the business press: there are more stocks in the US than Apple) Is the move over? Perhaps. KB Homes reported disappointing Q1 earnings and the stock is down 14% pre-open.

Etch-a-Sketch-gate was actually market-moving, believe it or not. Yesterday, shares of little Ohio Art (NASDAQ - OART) more than doubled on the prospect that Democrats will be buying Etch-a-Sketches en masse as props for upcoming election. The stock trades by appointment and has a miniscule market cap ($8.6 million), but there you go.