| Last | Change | Percent | |
| S&P Futures | 1449.8 | -5.7 | -0.39% |
| Eurostoxx Index | 2501.7 | -29.5 | -1.16% |
| Oil (WTI) | 88.55 | -1.3 | -1.48% |
| LIBOR | 0.35 | -0.001 | -0.28% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 79.62 | 0.281 | 0.35% |
| 10 Year Govt Bond Yield | 1.74% | 0.00% | |
| RPX Composite Real Estate Index | 194.6 | 0.3 |
Stocks are lower this morning on no real news. There is no economic data this morning and the bond market is closed for Columbus Day. Alcoa kicks off the earnings season tomorrow.
Treasury and HUD released their monthly Housing Scorecard, which shows that the number of underwater homeowners fell from 12.1 million in Q411 to 10.8 million in Q212. The report doesn't really delve into what caused the drop - was driven by home appreciation, or was it driven by foreclosures and short sales? Most of the report focuses on the Administration's efforts regarding aid to distressed borrowers.
Bob Schiller has an interesting article on the psychology of the housing market during the bubble years and now. He makes an interesting observation - "In 2004, there was little about the economic climate that would explain why a housing peak should be coming soon. The world was widely believed to be slowly emerging from the early-2000s recession, which had been associated with the bursting of the stock market bubble of the 1990s. The stock market was just starting to recover. It seemed a time of healing." The real estate market will surely recover, and while we are breathing a sigh of relief, some other bubble may be forming. That is the problem when you have a Federal Reserve which keeps trying to put the wealth-effect genie back in the bottle.
The latest "selling you the Brooklyn Bridge" scam - advertising REO as rentals. Pretty brazen stuff.
Commercial real estate pricing has almost returned to its 2007 peak.
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