ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on January 12, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) I last provided a comprehensive review of the housing market on September 29, 2010 in “Still Expecting Housing to Bounce Along the Bottom Until 2013.” At the time, I reiterated the … Read more
This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 29, 2011. Click here to read the entire piece.) In early November, I wrote that a turnaround finally seems to be materializing for Lender Processing Services (LPS). Regulatory and legal issues have long been a severe overhang for LPS, so … Read more
This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on October 30, 2011. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} Today, I am going to try again to make the case that LPS is potentially turning around. Here are the main points and observations: Short interest is down 34% from … Read more
Unlike Prior Decades, House-Price Changes in Largest District Cities Are Following National Trends (St. Louis Federal Reserve) Although some areas of the country had experienced declines in the past, few people thought a nationwide decline in house prices was likely. However, all national indexes of house prices did fall significantly in recent years. And if … Read more
China Bears Have It Wrong: Jim Rogers – CNBC Commodity bull Jim Rogers says hedge fund managers such as Jim Chanos of Kynikos Associates and Hugh Hendry of Eclectica, who have been shorting Chinese related stocks and credits, have got it wrong. "Those guys have been dead wrong for two years. Chanos said two years … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) After discovering that shorts ramped ahead of earnings for Research In Motion (RIMM), I decided to check in again on the short interest in Lender Processing Services (LPS)… {snip} Source: NASDAQ.com So LPS caught bulls … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) In late May, I wrote two pieces on Lender Processing Services (LPS) that reflected my increasingly bearish opinion on the company: “Rethinking Lender Processing Services Amidst New Allegations and Surging Put Activity” and “Shorts Close … Read more
“IPOs Boost Demand for Silicon Valley Mansions” – Bloomberg “US Housing Crisis Is Now Worse Than Great Depression” – CNBC These two headlines from Tuesday’s financial press describe well the dichotomy in America’s two-speed economy. Corporate profits have never been better but employment has rarely been worse. The housing market in Silicon Valley is benefiting … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) As I feared would eventually happen, LPS sliced right through support and made fresh two-year lows. On Tuesday, LPS closed down 3.6% on a third straight day of heavy selling volume. *Chart created using TeleChart: Put … Read more
As Banks Hold Foreclosed Homes, a Kink in the Housing Market – NYTimes.com The nation’s biggest banks and mortgage lenders have steadily amassed real estate empires, acquiring a glut of foreclosed homes that threatens to deepen the housing slump and create a further drag on the economic recovery. All told, they own more than 872,000 … Read more