Bits Bucket for October 13, 2013
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Is the housing market experiencing a major shift?
Ruh-roh…
Is the housing market making a major shift?
Eric McWhinnie, Wall St. Cheat Sheet 6 a.m. EDT October 13, 2013
AP Housing Recovery
(Photo: Steven Senne, AP)
Story Highlights
* Interest rates low, but rise in home prices is affecting home affordability
* In the third quarter, 72% of agents surveyed said now is a good time to sell a home
* Down from 86% in the previous quarter
The real estate market has been one of the strongest pillars of the economy following the greatest financial downturn since the Great Depression. Amid low interest rates and a great deal of intervention from policymakers, home buyers received an added incentive to purchase a home. Meanwhile, sellers enjoyed low inventory levels and rising prices. However, a new survey finds that sellers might be losing their control on the market.
In the third quarter, 72% of real estate agents said now is a good time to sell a home, down from 86% in the previous quarter, and the first drop of the year, according to Redfin, an online estate brokerage. On the other side of the closing table, 55% of agents said now is a good time to buy, up from 46% at the beginning of the year. Thirty percent of agents also said that sellers are having difficulties getting their home to appraise for the contract purchase amount.
“At the end of this summer, you could smell the rubber on the road from buyers hitting the breaks,” said Redfin San Diego agent Sara Fischer. “The cutthroat competition and frenzied demand has relaxed considerably.”
Although interest rates are still low on a historical basis, the recent rise in home prices is affecting home affordability. In the second quarter, 69.3% of new and existing homes sold were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $64,400, according to the National Association of Home Builders. That is down from 73.7% in the first quarter and is the first reading below 70% since late 2008.
In August, home prices across the nation increased on a year-over-year basis for the 18th consecutive month. According to CoreLogic, a property information and analytics provider, home prices jumped 12.4% in August from a year earlier. In fact, home prices have logged double-digit gains for seven straight months. Home prices are still 17.1% below their bubble peak in April 2006, but every state posted an annual increase in August.
Going forward, the survey from Redfin finds that only 5% of agents believe home prices will rise a lot in the next 12 months, down from 44% at the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, 11% of agents believe prices will drop a little over the next year, compared to only 4% in the second quarter.
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Slow imperceptible movements just under the surface day after day add up…… and nobody notices.
October 12, 2013, 5:00 AM
Number of the Week: Housing Affordability Hits Four-Year Low
By Nick Timiraos
CONNECT
16%: The average mortgage payment on the median priced home in August as a share of the median income, according to data compiled by the National Association of Realtors.
Housing affordability hit a four-year low in August amid steady gains in home prices during the spring and higher interest rates during the summer.
While the data released earlier this week show affordability has been dented, homes are still more affordable than any time between 1989 and late 2008, according to the NAR’s figures.
At prevailing interest rates in August, the mortgage payment on the median priced home stood at $851, or around 16% of the median U.S. income. By contrast, the equivalent mortgage payment one year earlier, at $683, accounted for 13.3% of the median income.
The NAR data isn’t adjusted for seasonal factors. Median home prices tend to peak in June, when there are more home transactions, particularly at the more expensive end of the market. Because the affordability figures are pegged to median home prices, the data typically show housing becoming more affordable during the winter and less affordable in the summer.
But the affordability figures show unmistakable evidence of how rising interest rates hurt housing affordability in July and August because median prices didn’t rise in those months, even as the average monthly payment went up due to rising rates. The average monthly payment rose from $787 in June to $851 in August — even though median prices fell slightly from June to August.
Monthly payments last stood above $850 in November 2008, and monthly payments as a share of income last stood at 16% in July 2009.
…
r u waiting for another chance to buy? Where were you in 2009 -2010?
If you bought a house in 2009/2010, you’re underwater. Just like all the suckers who got suckered in with the first time home debtor tax credit.
Believe it or not, there are people who have no desire to become homeowners, and read and post here to enjoy the entertainment value generated by those other people who desperately crave the experience beyond all reason.
Got popcorn?
Right on!
And also stop the rewriting of history with the 2009 stuff. That this bubble collapse was in progress back then may be true, but people were still drinking the kool aid calling for soft landings and permanently high plateaus and such back then.
It’s an old trick that the REIC also adopted at some point in the past few years knowing most people’s memories are pretty short. If you know the length of the average bust or bear market is 3-4 years, then 2 years into the cycle claim the bust started earlier and is now over.
I recall the Saving & Loan housing bubble. The deflating of prices was much quicker than this nightmare. Prices stayed pretty low for years and we sold after we gained some decent equity again.We sold that 14 yr home in 1998. We were an anomaly back in 1998, and actually had equity. Refi- orgy as well back then. Most of our neighbors were underwater from their refi’s when we sold.
It’s pretty now.
Then we bought our luxury McMansion (sold it for a net profit), and then we bought the ugliest fixer (one-story) on the block.
Keep telling yourself that Debt Donkey.
2009/2010 was not the bottom. The Federal Reserve and politicians propped up the market. But the ever increasing debt will put an end to the propping. RE will go into free fall after that. The real correction will undershoot 1997 prices.
Build up cash, platinum, gold, silver, and fine wines. Emerging market funds too. The correction will be a doozy.
Bill,
My crystal ball is cloudier than yours, but I nonetheless agree that the interesting question going forward regards the continued efficacy and political sustainability of government-sponsored price support measures.
I suspect academic finance departments steer clear of such questions out of fear the Fed may whack their research funding.
This hunch of mine is why I do not consider your primary residence as an investment. The REIT I’m investing in is into apartment chains mostly. It is true that one needs a roof over his head whether owned or rented.
“This hunch of mine is why I do not consider your primary residence as an investment.”
Technically, owner-occupied housing is an investment; whether or not it is a looser is another matter.
The reason I beg to differ is that section 8, HUD, FHA, and all these things that force integration, prevents values of many neighborhoods from going up. Slums are king these days. For most of us, entry level houses are depreciating assets. For a tiny few, the places in such spots as Malibu, Laguna Beach, Pacific Palisades, Manhattan Beach, Del Mar, La Jolla - yes they are investments.
keep making excuses folks. tomorrow there will be someone else or some entity who scr@wed you one way or another from owning a home. Got Equity?
“Equity” is a fallacy. It doesn’t exist. Either you own it or your don’t.
That’s probably pretty close to the reasoning they used to suspend mark to market.
Real estate investors, consider yourselves warned:
The price you pay determines your rate of return.
The value of what you paid the price for (aka the “dividend stream”) has nothing to do with it, then?
It has everything to do with it.
If your definition of “price” is denominated in some kind of measure of value (e.g. price/dividend, price/rent or price/(local income) ratio), then I generally agree with you.
If you are going to buy a stock that pays a five dollar dividend then the price you pay for this five dollar dividend determines your rate of return.
If you pay $100 for it then your rate of return is 5%. If you pay $50 for it then your rate of return is 10%.
Similar rule goes for buying a bond. Similar rule goes for buying a rental.
The other part of the story, which modern finance professors apparently have recently stumbled upon, is that future returns (e.g. the value of the future price plus rents divided by the price you pay to buy it) is heavily influenced by whether you underpaid or overpaid. So, for instance, HA’s group which overpaid for housing is destined to see low future returns, while folks who were fortunate enough to buy in the mid-1990s generally saw high future returns.
While the above may seem completely obvious, there was an ongoing argument in academia for many years that prices were completely unpredictable; in short, any information (e.g. price/rent ratio) that could potentially be used to predict future price movements was already reflected in the current price.
Obviously what the old theory failed to capture were the greater fools who overpay for the privilege of home ownership, then find themselves forced to sell when their job is gone and they can no longer make the monthly payment.
Another way to look at it is that a low price/rent ratio can be a signal of market distress, as nobody is willing and able to buy when prices are getting hammered and would-be buyers are in a state of financial panic. The period from circa 2007-2010 offers a good example.
The wild card in the more recent period is the extraordinary (unprecedented?) series of interventions by the U.S. federal government and the politically independent Federal Reserve Bank to reflate housing prices. The effects of these interventions on the future path of housing prices is anybody’s guess.
So far as I know, the academic finance guys don’t have any good theories for the effects of federal government and central bank interventions to prop up asset prices.
If anyone has evidence to the contrary, please share.
Whither gold?
From a Keynesian standpoint, gold is very, very good for the global economy, as is digging in ditches and refilling them, and shuffling aluminum around Detroit from warehouse to warehouse.
Is Gold Good for the Global Economy?
Eric McWhinnie
October 10, 2013
Gold is perhaps the most controversial asset in the market. Some people view the precious metal as a long-term storage of wealth and a hedge against financial chaos, while others see gold as a barbaric, lifeless rock held only by doomsayers. The debate over gold is not likely to be resolved anytime soon, but the precious metal is still helping to boost economies around the world.
According to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Gold Council, the gold industry generated more than $210 billion for the global economy last year — roughly equivalent to the gross domestic product of Beijing. It is the first study to factor into account the entire value chain, from large-scale mining supply to consumer demand. Due to difficulty researching small mining operations, the report likely underestimates the total fiscal contribution of the gold industry.
“With the global mining sector facing challenging times and increasing costs, transparency is vital — and this research is important as it examines the economic value generated by gold and where that value is created,” said Jason Burkitt, U.K. mining leader of PwC. “The industry does make a significant impact globally, and this report helps us to understand better the fundamental role that gold plays in advancing economic development.”
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It’s good for us bankers as well. Money needed to dig these trenches needs to come from somewhere, which means the money people, such as myself, will be presented with a need to fill. And that, filling needs, is what we money people do best (at a cost, of course).
All we need is a need for money and then we are set. If a need for money doesn’t already exist then its our job to create one.
One way or another, great vampire squids either need to find a supply of fresh blood, or else die.
“… need to find a fresh supply of blood …”
Oh, so very true! And so easy to find too because the country is filled with so many willing blood donors.
They may intend to be blood donors but this is how they end up.
They may NOT intend to be blood donors but this is how they end up.
“If God did not want them sheared then He would not have made them sheep.” - Calveras
“If God did not intend them to be blood donors, then he would have given them larger brains and smaller veins.”
“Willing blood donors”
My favorite group of blood donors are the oldersters, those workers who are in their Sixties and are looking to retire and are offered a pension for doing so.
A pension: A type of forced savings that can be tapped by a money manager if the pensioner can be convinced to cash out his pension all at once in the form of a lump some rather than having it dribbled out to him on a monthly basis. The money manager does not get a cut if the pension is dribbled out but can work it out so as he get a big cut if he can convince the pensioner to cash it out and turn the cashed out money over to him for handling.
So, what sort of advice should a prospective pensioner expect to recieve from such a money manager regarding the decision to cash out or to not cash out his pension?
I cashed my pension out over a year ago, rolled the money into an IRA and have no regrets, the artificially low interest rates meant the cashout amount was MUCH bigger than it would have been a few years ago so I definitely benefited from all the QE nonsense on that score….though prior to retirement QE effectively made it nearly impossible to buy a house where I live as I was competing with 100% cash flippers and specuvestors…am now on the sidelines and will buy for cash myself after Bubble 2.0 pops
In case you were on vacation when the aluminum price fixing story broke, here it is.
Luckily, I don’t number among those millions of Americans whose daily liquid intake includes products stored in aluminum cans, or I might be a bit vexed over this “aluminum tax.”
JPMorgan Sued With Goldman in Aluminum Antitrust Case
By Andrew Harris & Margaret Cronin Fisk - Aug 7, 2013 1:43 PM PT
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. bank, was sued with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Glencore Xstrata Plc (GLEN) over claims they restrained aluminum supplies and drove up prices.
The complaint was filed by a Jacksonville, Florida, direct purchaser, Master Screens Inc., and by individual plaintiff Daniel Price Bart of Tallahassee, who is described in the filing as a “purchaser of beverages sold in aluminum cans.”
The banks and Glencore are accused in the complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Tallahassee of racketeering and conspiring with the London Metal Exchange, hoarding aluminum in Detroit-area warehouses and violating federal antitrust laws. Goldman Sachs was first sued over similar claims by a Michigan company on Aug. 1.
“By inserting itself into a healthy industry producing widely needed commodities, severely degrading functionality and widely distributing costs while itself benefiting, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan couldn’t fit a more archetypal description of a parasite on the markets,” according to the Florida complaint.
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Contrarian signal of a good time to buy the dip, or momentum generator? I guess we will soon learn the significance of this bearish sentiment.
Investing 10/11/2013 @ 2:14PM
Survey Participants Bearish On Gold Prices For Next Week
(Kitco News) - Bearish technical charts and negative general sentiment about gold is expected to weigh on prices next week, said a majority of participants in the weekly Kitco News Gold Survey.
In the Kitco News Gold Survey, out of 34 participants, 26 responded this week. Of these, four see prices up, while 18 see prices down and four see prices sideways or unchanged. Market participants include bullion dealers, investment banks, futures traders and technical-chart analysts.
Last week, a nominal number of survey participants were bullish. As of noon EDT Friday, December gold on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was down about $41 for the week.
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Gold price plunges below Rs 28,400; silver under 47K
Last Updated: Friday, October 11, 2013, 21:16
Zee Media Bureau/Ajeet Kumar
Gold prices dipped below Rs 28,400 level by falling Rs 468 to Rs 28,389 per ten grams in futures trade Friday as market participants offloaded their positions in tandem with a weakening trend overseas.
Appreciation in rupee against the US dollar also weighed on bullion prices.
The rupee gained for the second day today, adding 32 paise to close at a fresh two-month high of 61.07 against the dollar
At the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), gold for delivery in December declined by Rs 468 to Rs 28,389 per ten grams.
Similarly, silver for delivery in December moved lower by Rs 1,278 to Rs 46,986 per Kg.
Gold price in overseas markets, which normally set price trend on the domestic front, dropped by over 1.5 percent as US lawmakers continued negotiations about increasing the debt limit and ending the partial government shutdown.
Spot gold last quoted down 1.66 percent or USD 21.30 at USD 1,266.10 an ounce.
…
Bangkok Post
Gold prices down 150 baht
Published: 12 Oct 2013 at 09.31
The Gold Traders Association this morning announced buying prices at 18,571.00 baht per baht-weight for gold ornaments and 18,850 baht per baht-weight for gold bar.
Selling prices were set at 19,350 baht per baht-weight for gold ornaments, and 18,950 baht per baht-weight for gold bar.
This means gold prices were down 150 baht from yesterday’s close.
Buying prices yesterday closed at 18,722.60 baht per baht-weight for gold ornaments and 19,000 baht per baht-weight for gold bar.
Selling prices closed at 19,500 baht per baht-weight for gold ornaments, and 19,100 baht per baht-weight for gold bar.
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How is Congress’s approval rating holding up these days?
Cockroaches, zombies, dog poop more popular than Congress
By Thomas Burr | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Oct 09 2013 12:05 pm • Last Updated Oct 09 2013 08:06 pm
Washington • What do hemorrhoids, toenail fungus, dog poop and cockroaches have in common?
They’re all more popular than Congress.
In fact, there’s a litany of things polling better than the esteemed legislative branch of our federal government, or at least the still-functioning part of our federal government.
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It seems there are two opinions that mater. One is the shrinking number of people who bother to vote every couple of years and most of them can’t even name their representatives a few months after the elections.
The other group is the financial markets who can force congress to pass legislation in a mater of hours (see TARP). Mr. Stock Market will speak next week and the government will quickly bend to their will.
My opinion:
The ‘people’ have the ultimate political weapon with the General Strike but they lack the will or intelligence to use it. If we had a general strike that lasted at least two weeks we could break the grip of the 1% and America could become a democratic society again.
Wouldn’t even need to go that far. Just a debt strike would work… stop borrowing for 6 months.
I haven’t borrowed in at least 6 years. No dice….
Everyone would need to do it collectively for it to work.
Everyone would need to do it collectively for it to work.
And give up their iToys? Not gonna happen.
I’ve been on strike against the lenders for a decade. They might not have felt the pain, but I’ve felt the gain.
I’ve been on strike against the lenders for a decade. They might not have felt the pain, but I’ve felt the gain.
…. it’s the new black.
“Mr. Stock Market will speak next week and the government will quickly bend to their will.”
Such a pessimist! Given Mr. Stock Market’s curious silence so far, why do you think next week will be any different?
Doesn’t matter. What was the approval rating a year before the Repubs took over in 2010?
This is all theater.
What is the approval rating of the assassin in chief?
‘President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama met in the Oval Office Friday with Malala Yousafzai, the Pakastani girl who was shot in the head on her school bus by Taliban gunmen for criticizing their rule, including banning education for girls.’
‘The White House says the first couple invited Malala — the youngest ever nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize — to the White House “to thank her for her inspiring and passionate work on behalf of girls education in Pakistan.”
‘In a statement, the White House says the United States “joins with the Pakistani people and so many around the world to celebrate Malala’s courage and her determination to promote the right of all girls to attend school and realize their dreams.”
‘In a statement released after the meeting, Malala said she was honored to meet with Obama, but that she told him she’s worried about the effect of U.S. drone strikes. (The White House statement didn’t mention that part.)’
“I thanked President Obama for the United States’ work in supporting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan and for Syrian refugees,” she said in the statement. “I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact.”
I am glad Malala made it out of the White House alive and with all of her limbs intact? If you are a moosleem kid, you don’t want to be near that man.
I’d vote for her is she ran for Congress.
What do I call the people who sit behind a computer screen 10,000 miles away and actually pull the trigger? Glorious heroes of Imperial America?
Thank you for your service and happy to see you back alive. Now you don’t have to be on line at the airport. You may also get a free ticket to some sporting events if you promise to parade in front of camera.
“the Pakastani girl who was shot in the head on her school bus by Taliban gunmen for criticizing their rule, including banning education for girls.’”
—————————————————————
How difficult would it be to fake something like this?
“Houses never give back. They always take take take. Houses depreciate…. rapidly.”
Hence the reason you should never overpay. And at current inflated asking prices of resale housing, you’re overpaying by 120%. That loss is magnified tremendously by financing.
there are houses 200 years old still n livable condition. Doesn’t housing depreciation depend on the quality of construction and how it is maintained?
The rate of depreciation is highly variable.
I went to a house the other day that a fellow was selling stuff on craigslist out of. From the outside it looked real run down. I cant imagine what it looked like inside. It was providing him with shelter.
I guarantee it would cost more to fix that house if he ever tried to sell than it would to tear down and start over.
Do you really have to worry about depreciation once your in the ground?
appraisers keep giving homes 30 more years of life.
“there are houses 200 years old still n livable condition. Doesn’t housing depreciation depend on the quality of construction and how it is maintained?”
A 60 year old balloon framed firetrap is worth the same as a 30 year old guinea ranch?
You don’t know what you’re talking about.
your full of beans as usual. u like being a renter don’t you?
This has nothing to do with me Sh*itHouse Poet.
Now answer the question.
A 60 year old balloon framed firetrap is worth the same as a 30 year old guinea ranch?
What is a “guinea ranch”?
aka split level ranch or raised ranch.
Houses would not need any maintenance if they didn’t depreciate. What’s a 200 year old house worth if it never had maintenance?
Are you personally holding on to your short-term Treasurys?
OpEdNews
10/11/2013 at 23:50:21
The Nightmare Scenario: A Repo Implosion
By Mike Whitney
President Barack Obama is determined to prevail in his battle with GOP congressional leaders on the debt ceiling issue, but not for the reasons stated in the media. Obama is less concerned with the prospect of higher interest rates and frustrated bondholders than he is with the big Wall Street banks who would be thrust back into crisis if there is no resolution before October 17. Absent a debt ceiling deal, the repurchase market — known as repo — would undergo another deep-freeze as it did in 2008 when Lehman Brothers defaulted triggering a run on the Reserve Primary Fund which had been exposed to Lehman’s short-term debt.
The frenzied sell-off sparked a widespread panic across global financial markets pushing the system to the brink of collapse and forcing the Federal Reserve to backstop regulated and unregulated financial institutions with more than $11 trillion in loans and other obligations. The same tragedy will play out again, if congress fails lift the ceiling and reinforce the present value of US debt.
…
“The same tragedy will play out again, if congress fails to lift the ceiling and reinforce the present value of US debt.”
“… lift the ceiling and reinforce the present value of US debt.”
Lol. Reinforce the value of US debt by lifting the ceiling, which means - what? - which means borrowing more money?
If you want of reinforce the value of US debt - or reinforce the value of any kind of debt - you do not do this by increasing the debt.
“If you want of reinforce the value of US debt - or reinforce the value of any kind of debt - you do not do this by increasing the debt.”
+1 Insanity is the new normal.
Back in 2008 or 2009 I recall reading something that suggested the national debt would be driven up to $20 or $21 trillion, IIRC. I should have saved it.
Sounds to me that if the debt ceiling issue is not resolved soon, Wall Street will get bailed out again. Where is the downside for them?
I don’t think CONgress will bail out banks again.
That’s why they got Benellin.
Apparently the $700 bn-ish TARP bailout last time around was only for political theater, while the multi-trillion dollar bailout behind the scenes was orchestrated by the Fed.
Why would anyone expect it to be different next time?
Current Yield | SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2013
Short-Term Panic, Short-Lived
By MICHAEL ANEIRO
Bond markets continue to react to the news out of Washington. Though it seems a deal may be reached—at least an interim measure—institutional investors dumped their shortest-term bonds.
Bond markets endured another week of D.C.-driven news, with potential progress in talks to forestall the debt-ceiling deadline overshadowing the nomination of a new Federal Reserve chief. Along the way, a typically staid corner of the bond market suffered paroxysms of panic as big investors shunned U.S. government debt due to mature around Oct. 17, when the Treasury said it expected to hit its borrowing limit.
Notably, Fidelity Investments, the largest manager of money-market mutual funds, unloaded all short-dated U.S. debt maturing in late October and early November. J.P. Morgan followed suit, saying it had sold all short-term U.S. debt in the money-market funds under its asset-management arm. Yields on one-month T-bills skyrocketed, reaching 0.355%, per Tradeweb data, up from 0.030% a week earlier and 0.003% in late September. That eclipsed the yields on the three-month, the six-month, and the one-year bills, a rare inversion illustrating the heightened anxiety about the government debt maturing near the debt-ceiling deadline. That rate subsided to 0.256% by Friday amid signs that the two sides in Washington were at least considering a plan to raise the debt ceiling for another month.
Not everybody was selling. Pimco’s Bill Gross said his firm has been buying short-term debt as yields have soared. He noted a key distinction: Pimco doesn’t face the same constraints as money-market funds, which must avoid “breaking the buck,” or seeing their net-asset values dip below $1 per share. It’s a particularly thorny issue after some funds did just that during the financial crisis, and the industry is now fighting stricter regulatory efforts.
…
“Housing Shifts Into Reverse”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/08/02/housing-shifts-into-reverse/
From the article;
“According to Census data released last week, the number of homes that are currently vacant and being held off market is LARGER NOW than 2009
25 MILLION excess, empty and defaulted houses CHECK
Housing demand at 14 year lows and falling CHECK
Housing prices inflated by 250% CHECK
Household formation at multi decade lows CHECK
Rampant housing fraud CHECK
Public denial formed and supported by a corrupt media CHECK
Population growth the lowest in US history CHECK
Immigration flat to slightly negative CHECK
“With 25 million excess, empty and defaulted houses and another 35 million houses to be vacated as boomers die off, what do you think is going to happen to housing prices?”
“Just for the record; there is no shortage of housing. Not in California, not in Tokyo, not anywhere. And there will come a day (again) when the media will tell us, ‘there’s a glut of houses for sale in….’, and regale us with sob stories, ‘I was doing great until the economy went south and my income went away and I can’t get rid of this damned house!’”
~Ben Jones, August 8, 2013
What no Suze Orman quote today?
Hello Debt Donkey.
+1
“Today’s housing transaction at a grossly inflated price is tomorrow’s default.”
Correct. And there will be millions of them…… Combined with the already massive defaulted inventory in the 20+ million range (4million of which are in California)and it becomes a perfect storm of massive personal losses as a result.
Just to give you an idea how massively inflated resale housing prices actually are.
http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/7812/caseshiller.jpg
There is at least one thing on that chart that looks like baloney to me: the long-term trendline is shown as flat (zero slope), whereas any reasonable interpretation of the long-term trendline should really show a line with slope equal to the rate of devaluation of the dollar.
The .dxy today is right where it was in 1990.
The graph is baloney because it’s not adjusted for inflation.
Liar,
Take it up with CS.
“Why would pay more than new construction cost ($60 per square foot) for a depreciating 20+ year old resale house?”
Let me guess…… Because realtors tell you that the cost of a house cannot be evaluated using math?
Greenwich adapts to Common Core
Paul Schott
10:32 pm, Saturday, October 12, 2013
“We renewed the units of study [in math] probably a little faster than we wanted, but we knew we had to,” Parisi said. “We had an obligation to the kids, and then to get the right resource to the teachers.
“I probably would’ve engaged even more teachers in the process, but we didn’t have that time. We didn’t have that luxury because we knew this was kind of the drop-dead date, you wanted to implement now. If we had our way, we would have had more of a cadre of a significant team of teachers dealing with the curriculum with us, instead of just a few teachers and the coaches, myself and the coordinator.”
Since her arrival, Parisi has advocated for “keep, delete, substitute,” which uses those three overarching options for adapting curricula and teaching practices to Common Core. That approach, she said, facilitates a manageable transition to Common Core for teachers and administrators.
http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/Greenwich-adapts-to-Common-Core-4891093.php
Common Core Based On UN Education Program and Agenda 21
Published On: Mon, Jun 3rd, 2013
By Jeffrey Kibler
Before explaining Common Core, you must first understand that it is a part of the Agenda 21 program. In the Agenda 21 document chapter 36 is titled “Promoting education, public awareness and training”. This chapter goes on to explain how promoting education, public awareness and training, with focus on environmental education, is a critical theme both relevant to the implementation of the whole of Agenda 21 and indispensable for achieving sustainable development.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has a program called “Education for All” that includes the same people and same ideas as Common Core. The UNESCO goals and objectives for education are very similar to the Agenda 21 and Common Core goals and objectives.
During the 2008 Presidential campaign Barack Obama committed to making sure that every child has the chance to learn by creating a Global Fund for Education. This would require a new architecture of global cooperation that requires institutions to “combine the efficiency and capacity for action with inclusiveness.”
UNESCO’s educational goals and Common Core are both heavily funded by activist and philanthropist Bill Gates. So the Global Fund for Education was formulated by the UN, “agreed to” by Barack Obama, funded by Bill Gates, and Common Core was imposed on the American people through Department of Education (DOE) funding schemes that included “strings.” I say “agreed to” because the taxpayers never had a say, or vote, and neither did the 45 States who were essentially coerced into adopting by the president’s Race to the Top program, before Common Core was even defined, because they desperately wanted the federal funds that came with it. The “strings” were that it was a take it or leave it now proposition from the DOE – there was no time for analysis or evaluations. Just sign on now and accept your federal funds. 45 states did sign on, while Texas, Alaska, Virginia, and Nebraska declined. Minnesota did adopt the English standards but not the math standards.
Common Core promotes the “three E’s” of Agenda 21 – equity, economy and environment. These three E’s are integrated throughout the standards and intended to be taught in every class, including math. To be clear the real meaning of these three E’s is as follows:
Equity means social equity or social justice, it does not equal justice. It means the “Common Good” — not individual rights.
Economy means redistribution of wealth, global trade, and Public/Private Partnerships (PPPs).
Environment means animals have equal rights or even more rights than humans. Nature or the environment is the central organizing principle for our economy and society.
http://www.thebrennerbrief.com/2013/06/03/common-core-based-on-un-education-program-and-agenda-21/ - 116k -
Education has been in steady decline since the goobermint got involved in a big way. Remember the “New Math”? What a fuggin’ joke. Turning out generation after generation of innumerate students.
Right, and kids back in the 50’s were well versed in Calculus. I recall my mom saying that if you took trig in HS back then, that it was a big deal.
Mathematics was my favorite in college, so it was my major. I would like to see any country excel in math. Through history, during the eras a society makes math advances, such societies are in the age of reason. Math and voluntaryism make sense.
Mathematicians invented CDOs, derivatives, and credit swaps.
Mathematicians invented microcomputers for medical devices that prolong health, invented operations research (minimax) techniques to improve drug effectiveness and harvests to feed more people. I can name hundreds of other inventions of math, particularly because any computer program is based on mathematics (it’s a proof I learned about decades ago in one of my classes).
You might as well have also said mathematics helped prolong lives of everyone, including Mao, so that he stayed alive long enough to order more Chinese murdered. IOW, you are making a nattering nabob exception in the flood of the great things that came from math. But you would prefer to go back to average lifespans of 55 years old I suppose and where old age particularly sets in at 50.
Annointed them as well.
The chance of failure was deemed to be as rare as seeing a black swan.
The best math that Wall Street could buy.
Do you agree with the experts who say there “isn’t another housing bubble”?
I note that Chris Mayer was among the bubble naysayers before the last U.S. residential real estate price crash. Perhaps it gets down to the definition of what a bubble is?
Or is it perhaps a matter of who pays your consulting fees?
Another Housing Bubble? Real Estate Expert Says “No”
By David Hanson
October 12, 2013
Join the Fool for a talk with Chris Mayer, who is the Paul Milstein Professor of Real Estate at Columbia Business School. Mayer is also a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. His research has delved into topics such as housing cycles, mortgage markets, debt securitization, and commercial real estate valuation.
Mayer puts the housing recovery into context: What does it really mean if house prices dropped more than 50% and are now up 30%? He also responds to the idea that the United States is turning into a society of renters.
…
“What does it really mean if house prices dropped more than 50% and are now up 30%?”
(1-(1-0.5)*(1+0.3))*100 = 35%.
What it really means is that the owners remain 35% underwater.
One word review of the Motley Fool interview with Chris Mayer:
LAME.
One of my former econ professors had a joke about a philosophy professor and a business school professor seen in an argument. Two things were certain:
1) The philosophy professor was winning the argument.
2) The business school professor was earning twice as much pay.
One of my former econ professors had a joke about a philosophy professor and a business school professor seen in an argument. Two things were certain:
1) The philosophy professor was winning the argument.
2) The business school professor was earning twice as much pay.
:-). I’ll be stealing that now…
What was the eCON professor doing? Destroying the impressionable minds one by one?
Actually the joke was quite personal to him, as he had earned degrees in both economics and philosophy.
Now that’s funny!
You’ve been hanging on to it
And I sure do wish you’d quit.
Don’t bogart that house, my friend
Pass it over to me.
Don’t bogart that house, my friend
Pass it over to me
Vampire REOs and Zombie Foreclosures Threatening Housing Recovery
Saturday, October 12, 2013
RealtyTrac has identified two threats that are harming housing recovery efforts right now: vampire REOs and zombie foreclosures.
According to the Irvine, Calif.-based data firm, about 47% of bank-owned homes across the country are still occupied by the previous owner who was foreclosed on by their lender, deemed to be vampire REOs.
These properties often will look like normal, nondistressed homes. But in reality, they represent a shadow inventory that is becoming more imminent as rising home prices motivate banks to sell off these types of homes to try to recoup their losses on soured loans.
Houston, which has a total REO inventory of 6,582 homes, has the highest percentage of vampire REOs with 65%, RealtyTrac said.
Another metropolitan area that has a large volume of vampire bank-owned inventory is Miami. Here, vampire REOs account for 64% of the city’s REO inventory of 30,868 assets.
http://www.nationalmortgagenews.com/dailybriefing/vampire-reos-zombie-foreclosures-threatening-housing-recovery-1039201-1.html -
I’d love to see a breakdown by state. It would be interesting.
‘All of the major internet organisations have pledged, at a summit in Uruguay, to free themselves of the influence of the US government.’
‘The directors of ICANN, the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet Architecture Board, the World Wide Web Consortium, the Internet Society and all five of the regional Internet address registries have vowed to break their associations with the US government.’
‘In a statement, the group called for “accelerating the globalization of ICANN and IANA functions, towards an environment in which all stakeholders, including all governments, participate on an equal footing”.
‘That’s a distinct change from the current situation, where the US department of commerce has oversight of ICANN.’
‘In another part of the statement, the group “expressed strong concern over the undermining of the trust and confidence of Internet users globally due to recent revelations of pervasive monitoring and surveillance”.’
A step in the right direction. Hope they start boycotting US technology firms and their products, too. NSA has direct access to the backdoor via US companies.
NSA has direct access to the backdoor via US companies.”
US companies that manufacture phone equipment
that’s why they don’t like Huweii
Asia Times Online - Homeland Security set for next Wall St collapse:
“Reports are that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is engaged in a massive, covert military buildup. An article in the Associated Press in February confirmed an open purchase order by DHS for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. According to an op-ed in Forbes, that’s enough to sustain an Iraq-sized war for over 20 years.
DHS has also acquired heavily armored tanks, which have been seen roaming the streets. Evidently somebody in government is expecting some serious civil unrest. The question is, why?
Recently revealed statements by former UK prime minister Gordon Brown at the height of the banking crisis in October 2008 could give some insights into that question. An article on BBC News on September 21, 2013, drew from an explosive autobiography called Power Trip by Brown’s spin doctor Damian McBride, who said the prime minister was worried that law and order could collapse during the financial crisis.
McBride quoted Brown as saying:
If the banks are shutting their doors, and the cash points aren’t working, and people go to Tesco [a grocery chain] and their cards aren’t being accepted, the whole thing will just explode.
If you can’t buy food or petrol or medicine for your kids, people will just start breaking the windows and helping themselves.
And as soon as people see that on TV, that’s the end, because everyone will think that’s OK now, that’s just what we all have to do. It’ll be anarchy. That’s what could happen tomorrow.
Fear of this threat was echoed in September 2008 by then US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson, who reportedly warned that the US government might have to resort to martial law if Wall Street were not bailed out from the credit collapse.
In both countries, martial law was avoided when their legislatures succumbed to pressure and bailed out the banks. But many pundits are saying that another collapse is imminent; and this time, governments may not be so willing to step up to the plate.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/GECON-02-101013.html
World top bankers warn of dire consequences if U.S. defaults
By Emily Stephenson
WASHINGTON | Sat Oct 12, 2013 1:56pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three of the world’s most powerful bankers warned of terrible consequences if the United States defaults on its debt, with Deutsche Bank chief executive Anshu Jain claiming default would be “utterly catastrophic.”
“This would be a very rapidly spreading, fatal disease,” Jain said on Saturday at a conference hosted by the Institute of International Finance in Washington.
“I have no recommendations for this audience…about putting band aids on a gaping wound,” he said.
Jain, JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon and Baudouin Prot, chairman of BNP Paribas, said a default would have dramatic consequences on the value of U.S. debt and the dollar, and likely would plunge the world into another recession.
The U.S. Treasury Department has said it expects to max out its borrowing authority next week and won’t be able to prioritize payments on U.S. debt over obligations like Social Security.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/12/us-usa-fiscal-banks-idUSBRE99B09F20131012 - -
Hope we default. Banksters are panicking….let’s go for a kill.
Comment on another blog:
“The NYSE and NASDAQ have been shutting down the past couple months because of “glitches.” Then there is the power trouble with the NSA’s Utah data center. In July there were cyber security drills (called “Quantum Dawn 2″). These all sound like dry runs too. The EBT “glitch” should be seen in context with these. The next false flag may be electronic in nature.”
EBT “glitches” could be Obama’s ways to get people more mad at republicans. We will see how it plays out. Let’s not forget as a group whites are still the largest recipients of EBT.
“Let’s not forget as a group whites are still the largest recipients of EBT.”
Lilly Whites?
Come to think of it the dude who asked me if I wanted to save some money on my groceries by letting him pay with his EBT card and giving him a lesser amount of cash a couple of months ago was white. I’m not sure if he was Lilly White though. I don’t think he was a Cracka cause’ he was much better dressed than I was. How do Crackas dress anyway? Don’t think he was a Teabilly. Looked kinda like a guy who had a lot of student loan debt and no money for his Saturday night date.
“Let’s not forget as a group whites are still the largest recipients of EBT.”
Statements like these are among the most stupid and evil being promulgated right now and meant to accomplish two things: 1) Denigration and debasement of white people, usually by other whites with an agenda. 2) Stir up trouble between the races.
So let’s clarify, shall we? What percentage of the population are white? What percentage of the population are “minorities”? What percentage of white people are recipients of EBT? What percentage of “minorities” are recipients of EBT?
And go screw yourself.
Sorry, that was meant to reply to mo-mo’s post, not yours, scandals.
I’m so sick of the constant race-baiting.
Where’s the race baiting? Are you disputing that there are more whites receiving ebt as a group? Why is such an aversion to the absolute truth?
So let’s clarify, shall we? What percentage of the population are white? What percentage of the population are “minorities”? What percentage of white people are recipients of EBT? What percentage of “minorities” are recipients of EBT?
Looks like someone else is doing the race baiting, don’t you think? Someone else is trying to divide the races, no?
Are you disputing that there are more whites receiving ebt as a group? Why is such an aversion to the absolute truth?
What are the relative percentages? I honestly have no idea, but that seems like a more interesting question than the “absolute number”.
The race baiters never seem to post about the highest absolute number by race of those paying for all this via taxes.
Group politics based on race is un american. How did we ever get here to where it is a normal accepted practice ?
Yesterday I flipped through several celebrity magazines while waiting on a haircut. Briefly digested a spread featuring Tori Spelling; absolutely, positively no curb appeal.
Group politics based on race is un american. How did we ever get here to where it is a normal accepted practice ?
It’s been part of American politics since the beginning.
Group politics based on race is un american. How did we ever get here to where it is a normal accepted practice ?
It’s very american. The whole democratic party thrives on that.
Don’t forget the farmers.
What is Lilly White?
Can you get a masters degree in baiting?
I read that Xerox runs the EBT systems that “glitched”. Could it possible that it was just a bona fide screw up?
Gee, ya think? I guess that’s not as sexy as a full-on collapse, though.
Government is paying xerox to work during the shutdown? Something doesn’t compute.
contractors rule, feds drool!
Government is paying xerox to work during the shutdown? Something doesn’t compute.
Apparently so.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/EBT-Card-Problems-NOT-Shutdown-Related-227521921.html
maintain your home and you have little to no depreciation!
Keep saving money in your bank account and watch it evaporate due to loss of purchasing power.
Buy a home with lots of leverage and watch you initial investment turn into a tidy nest egg while you live in it. In some cases you will live basically free in the house. Got equity?
“maintain your home and you have little to no depreciation!”
And the cost to offset that depreciation? Cha-ching.
not if you do your own labor.
And you get what you pay for.
“maintain your home and you have little to no depreciation!”
And all that sweat for nothing if most of your neighbors foreclose or don’t maintain their homes.
“Keep saving money in your bank account and watch it evaporate due to loss of purchasing power.”
Cash is for emergencies. In the Great Depression if you invested all your money in stocks in 1929 before the crash and ever invested a dime again, it would have taken 23 years to break even. If you instead had plenty of cash to live on for several years and dollar cost average into stocks, you would have recovered from the stock crash well before 1953.
“Buy a home with lots of leverage and watch you initial investment turn into a tidy nest egg while you live in it. In some cases you will live basically free in the house. Got equity?”
Assuming a 30 year mortgage paid off before collecting SS, you are addressing 30-somethings. Many 30-something professinals are still paying for the loans they took for college, have small families that don’t require McMansions. And they don’t want to be glued to any one community since career-long jobs are a thing of the past.
u have a million excuses dont you? I suppose your gonna get in on the twitter ipo?
people don’t believe in your phony stock market my friend. They are tired of paying wall street taxes.
“people don’t believe in your phony stock market my friend.”
Stock market? You mean the vehicle in which investors have provided capital to companies to grow and to earn gains from the growth, - like not for decades, but for centuries? I chalk that one up with the rest of the elitist peanut gallery remarks. In the face of history, which demonstrated that stocks over the long run outperform real estate. And in which the Case-Schiller study SHOWED the average annual gain on real estate is only 1% per month, which is six percent lower than the average gain on a broad array of stocks over the long haul.
Stocks over 25 years outperform ANY investment class. ALWAYS HAVE and ALWAYS WILL.
That is six percentage points lower. Not six percent lower. Big difference.
“Stocks over 25 years outperform ANY investment class. ALWAYS HAVE and ALWAYS WILL.”
BULLSEYE
Good morning, Wall Street!
I wonder what the folks who snapped up stocks last Thursday and Friday, assuming a fix was in, are assuming about now? Got pucker b^tts?
No deal in sight as shutdown approaches third week
By Matt Smith, CNN
updated 6:53 PM EDT, Sun October 13, 2013
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The Treasury says the United States bumps up against its borrowing limit Thursday
Washington (CNN) — The stakes of the stalemate are high — and climbing.
The partial government shutdown will enter its 14th day Monday, just three days before the U.S. government bumps up against its projected borrowing limit.
Talks both on ending the shutdown and on avoiding the debt ceiling have shifted to the Senate, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, along with other top senators, began discussions this weekend.
The Senate reconvened Sunday afternoon, with Reid saying he would do “everything I can throughout the day” to reach some sort of bargain with the chamber’s Republican minority.
But a source familiar with the ongoing Senate discussions expressed doubt that any significant progress would be made Sunday evening. And the Senate adjourned shortly before 5 p.m. ET, showing no signs of such progress.
…
If last week is any indication, the market will have no reaction.
Senate leaders’ talks on shutdown, debt limit stall as sides await market’s reaction
By Lori Montgomery and Rosalind S. Helderman, Updated: Sunday, October 13, 6:00 PM E-mail the writers
What started as a mad dash to strike a deal to lift the federal debt limit slowed to a crawl over the weekend as stalemated Senate leaders waited nervously to see whether financial markets would plunge Monday morning and drive the other side toward compromise.
Republicans seemed to think they had more to lose. After talks broke down between President Obama and House leaders, GOP senators quickly cobbled together a plan to end the government shutdown — now entering its third week — and raise the $16.7 trillion debt limit. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) then asked Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) to elevate negotiations to the highest level.
On Sunday — with the Treasury Department due to exhaust its borrowing power in just four days — Reid was wielding that leverage to maximum advantage. Rather than making concessions that would undermine Obama’s signature health-care initiative, as Republicans first demanded, Democrats are now on the offensive and seeking to undo what has become a cherished prize for the GOP: deep agency spending cuts known as the sequester.
…
Attention mellowcreme lovers-
Walgreen’s has the Brachs Autumn Mellowcreme mix bag-banana, maple, chocolate and just plain sugar pumpkin flavor. Nothing says welcome autumn and tread an extra 30 minutes like eating 6 of these sugar pills. Nostalgia in every bite.
You don’t have two dimes to rub together and you’re yammering about junk food at walmart….. stunning.
Absolute
You’re right about sugarmania. But being that I am a size 2/3 and I indulge without od’ing, it’s ok. A periodic treat of limited junky carbs is an acceptable indulgence.
HA
Speak for yourself.
You seem to be here
all the time, seldom
saying anything of value.
Is leslie appleton young a liar?
Run donkey run!
‘Walgreen’s has the Brachs Autumn Mellowcreme mix bag-banana, maple, chocolate and just plain sugar pumpkin flavor.’
I forgot. We are entering the candypocalypse time of year. October–> Easter. Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Halloween, Thanksgiving, HanukaRamaXmas, Valentine Day, EASTER.
Am I the only one who believes Wall Street really controls everything? Hey Mr. Banker, are we sold out to you or what? This is like an Occam’s Razor moment.
We’ll know for sure if a debt default leads to another round of Fed-funded bailouts, won’t we?
I think I mentioned awhile back (2007?) that the congressional drama was the 21C equivalent of bread and circuses. That our elected representatives are puppets on the stage, controlled by the 300 man club which in reality controls the functioning in this society. In exchange for campaign contributions, insider trading opps, and opps to get in on the ground floor of any scheme as long as the rulemaking was friendly.
Ya think wrestling is rigged? You want to be a fly on the wall when our elected reps are ‘doing bidness’! Party doesn’t matter. They are all crooks, in it for the vig.
Previously cited observation: lowering the median US age by 4 years would solve the SS problem and the ‘health care crisis”. The courses of action thus far are consistent with my observation, and raise it to the level of an operating premise.
Late to the party, as usual -
I’ve been having some of those “Man from Mars” moments, where I feel I am on another planet. The promises made during this government shutdown have been made in the absence of a continuing resolution. Arguably, they have no basis. The unintended consequence could be reduced pay or no pay (depending on the timing and the debt ceiling) for the returning, unneeded and superfluous, ‘civil servants’ (*gagging on the term*).
Out of curiosity, I have (blech) been attending open houses. When the real-t-whores ask me for feedback, I cite my observations: lower level not up to code (no egress window - when the wooden stairs and upstairs catch fire, the people sleeping below will be roasted - popping, crackling and basting in their own juices).
The ad counts basement, bathroom, and stairwell into its square footage calculations. Strictly a no-no from an assessment and an appraisal standpoint. Check the (publicly available) town hall square footage against what is touted on the ad.
“You’re saving money with the mortgage deduction! (which means the tax advantage is baked into the wishing price - only a fracking idjit would be willing to spend $100 to save $30 up front, and take on a interest payments amounting to twice the wishing price of the asset in question).
“Real estate always goes up” (really? I know of two private sector firms who laid off a total of 5500 people in the area last week. Guess what? Those people, if/when they get new jobs over the course of the typical five month search - they are not looking at bumps up vs. prior base salary!)
Today, in a piss-smelling “townhouse” with execrable fit and finish, the real-t-whore had the nerve to tell me “There is a contract out on it!” (I wished her prospective buyers the best of luck - and informed her that the smell of tomcat piss is impossible to eradicate from the subfloor).
They all look at me with exasperated pity. Clearly, I don’t “get it”. I shrug my shoulders and tell them I do not intend to be the bagholder on the next leg down, which will be coming shortly. The polite condescension hits like a baseball bat. (I want to scream at this point. Brings to mind the narcissists who live in their own reality bubbles - charming, and incredulous when the mark does not get sucked in).
Net is, they’re still following the same old script, and are too invested in conning marks to permit a crack in the armor. OTOH, what can you expect from a real-t-whore?
I don’t like this area enough to “invest” in it. The area is a synthetic construct, a concrete pit, a necessary evil, a burden assumed - like an onerous salt tax - as a cost of doing business. Although I like Virginia as a state, beyond 100 miles west from DC and Richmond.
I’m approaching the tipping point that others have experienced. The rate on the rented shack - hikes fiercely contested and partially beaten back, year after year - now risk bumping against the floor of PITI + HOA on a place with more space and more greenery. At the point where there’s a tipping point, I’m ditching the rent shack. For me, it’s about cash out of pocket. I’m not including the mtg interest rate deduction. (I’m out of the SFR market in this area - could buy for cash, but so pi**ed off that I have to be here that I would take it out on the shack).
I’m doing my best to reset the expectations of the real-t-whores. Holding my nose while doing it. I don’t actually like pushing the line as hard as I am - not to be done in polite company.
Oct. 13, 2013, 11:56 p.m. EDT
U.S. stock futures down as Senators talk sequester
By Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock-index futures suggested a lower open Monday as reports said Senate leaders remained deadlocked over a deal to raise the nation’s debt limit due to a clash over previously passed budget cuts known as the sequester.
Midday Monday in East Asia, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (DJZ3 -0.69%) sat 0.7% lower at 15,074, while those for the S&P 500 (SPZ3 -0.76%) were off 0.8% at 1,686.10. Nasdaq futures (NDZ3 -0.43%) traded down 0.5%.
Still, all three futures were off their earlier lows.
The softness for the futures came as reports said Democratic Senate leaders were demanding that a debt-limit deal not lock in further sequester cuts due to take effect next year.
The New York Times said that Democrats wanted the sequester, passed into law as part of the deal resolving the last debt-limit impasse, to last only through mid-November.
The Wall Street Journal quoted Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell as saying “Senate Republicans will not accept anything that undoes these cuts.”
…