Diverging Stocks Set Up Pairs Trade for Goldman Sachs Vs. Deutsche Bank

When news broke of SEC charges of fraud against GS, investors quickly dumped DB out of fear that the SEC would soon target DB for its involvement in creating toxic collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). While the selling in GS has gained momentum, the selling in DB has ever so slightly reversed. On Monday, GS broke … Read more

Toll Brothers Sets Up A Potential Short

Toll Brothers (TOL) has disappointed market participants with its earnings reports over the past 12 months. For example, December’s earnings generated a one-day drop over 7% that finished eliminating a strong gap up in response to November’s preliminary report. However, February’s earnings barely generated a yawn. A week later, the stock resumed an uptrend that … Read more

links for 2010-04-26

Goldman's Defense: We Lost Money on Subprime Market – CNBC When Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and six other company executives testify before a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday there likely will be talk about how the firm manages risk, a lot about how they took actions to protect the firm and its clients during the … Read more

links for 2010-04-25

The Busted Homes Behind a Big Bet: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance The government's civil-fraud allegation against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. centers on a deal the firm crafted so that hedge-fund king John Paulson could bet on a collapse in U.S. housing prices. It was a dizzyingly complex transaction, involving 90 bonds and a … Read more

The SNB Finally Tames Buyers of Francs – for Now

On April 1, 2010, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) apparently intervened to arrest the appreciation of its currency against the euro, and I wondered whether this action would be as futile as all the other interventions this year. So far, so good for the SNB, as the previously persistent buyers of Swiss francs have all … Read more

links for 2010-04-23

Investment Strategy: Banks May Not Be Lending, But They Are Buying Treasurys – CNBC With credit conditions still tight and Congress likely to clamp down on risk in the financial industry, banks are turning toward the safety of government debt, helping keep interest rates low but still not providing credit to consumers. (tags: treasuries banks)

More Money Went into Bonds Funds in 2009 Than in the Last Ten Years

The CNBC interview post below with Marilyn Cohen (from Envision Capital and author of “Bonds Now!: Making Money in the New Fixed Income Landscape“) is a good watch for anyone interested in fixed income. One key statistic that caught my attention was Cohen’s claim that more money went into bond funds last year than went … Read more

links for 2010-04-22

NYC tenants in defaulted properties demand fixes – Yahoo! Finance But in the chaos of the national housing collapse, in thousands of buildings like this one that have fallen into default and where tenants have watched the owners walk away, the answer to one simple question is not always clear: Who is responsible for fixing … Read more

links for 2010-04-21

CBC News – British Columbia – New mortgage rules take effect Federal mortgage rules implemented two months ago aimed at turning down the heat on Canada's red-hot real estate market took effect on Monday. (tags: Canada housing mortgage) Atlanta’s affordable housing ranking low – Atlanta Business Chronicle: The four most expensive major markets for housing … Read more

Florida’s Underwater Mortgages

PBS Newshour aired a segment on Tuesday’s show called “Mortgage Defaults” as part of its “Making Sense” financial series (click here for video, segment aired 25:45 to 35:00). I highly recommend that anyone interested in real estate watch this segment. Newshour picked three example Floridians who are dealing with defaults on their mortgages: A restaurant … Read more