Empiric Student Property Share Discussion Threads

[briarberry] 26/4/2010 13:28

Does the Treasury watch fib retracement levels ?

If I was running a big fund and the Treasury started selling, I might start selling too ??? ... just a thought

[briarberry] 26/4/2010 13:14

Treasury to sell 1.5 bln Citi shares (initially)

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced the next steps in its plan to sell approximately 7.7 billion shares of Citigroup common stock.

[briarberry] 26/4/2010 12:11

SPX - nearly at the 0.618 fib retrace (of the Oct07 high to the Mar09 low), somewhere in the 1220s

[briarberry] 26/4/2010 12:10

George Carlin - The American Dream (2008) - He's dead now, died in 2008

[briarberry] 24/4/2010 21:22

NEW YORK (AP) -- Regulators on Friday shut down seven banks, putting the number of U.S. bank failures this year at 57.
...
The number of banks on the FDIC's confidential "problem" list jumped to 702 in the fourth quarter from 552 three months earlier, even as the industry squeezed out a small profit. Still, nearly one in every three banks reported a net loss for the latest quarter.

There were 140 bank failures in the U.S. last year

[briarberry] 21/4/2010 20:45

Greek 10-year bond yield above 8%

The yield premium demanded by investors to hold Greek government bonds soared to more than five percentage points at the 10-year level, as the Greek 10-year bond yield moved above 8% for the first time since before the launch of the euro in 1999.

[briarberry] 21/4/2010 19:52

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- - India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party rallied supporters through the streets of New Delhi today to demand the government move to ease prices it says are hurting the poor.
...
India's benchmark wholesale-price inflation rate in March stood at 9.9 percent, almost doubling since November.

Increasing food prices "is a problem of such severity that common man does not know what he has to do and how to live with limited income," Sitharaman said.

[briarberry] 21/4/2010 13:31

Low rates (-ve real rates)(plus Fed buying) have done wonders for Mortgage-Backed Securities, this JPM fund is at an all time high...

JPMorgan Mortgage-Backed Securities Fund


Also at an all time high... Fidelity Ginnie Mae Fund


Never in history has so much free money been given by so many (taxpayers & savers) to so few (Wall Street).

[briarberry] 20/4/2010 21:33

Apple did well, it was expected though...

Apple Q2 net income $3.33 vs $1.79 a share
Apple Q2 revenue $13.5 bln vs $9.08 bln

Apple significantly changed its accounting practices last quarter. It now recognizes iPhone revenue almost all at once, instead of spreading it over 24 months.

Apple expects Q3 EPS of $2.28 to $2.39 (lower than this Q ? although they do always guide low plus they have a lot of orders for iPads, so Q3 should be ok too)

[briarberry] 20/4/2010 09:44

The Reserve Bank of India raised its short-term lending, or repo, rate to 5.25% and its borrowing or reverse repo rate to 3.75% with immediate effect. The increase in the repo rate is the central bank's second in a month.

[briarberry] 19/4/2010 17:09

April 19 (Bloomberg) -- China told banks to stop loans for third-home purchases as the government steps up measures to cool property prices with some of the "most draconian" orders yet. Shares of developers and banks tumbled.

Banks should also suspend lending to buyers who can't provide tax returns or proof of social security contributions, the State Council said in a April 17 statement. The latest measures come on top of orders to banks this year to set aside more deposits as reserves and raise mortgage rates, and steps to re-impose a sales tax on homes.

"These are the most draconian measures on the property market in history,

[briarberry] 19/4/2010 16:58

C profit up but revenue down, credit losses up...


Citigroup Inc. reported first-quarter net income of $4.43 billion, or 15 cents a share, compared to $1.59 billion in the prior-year period.

The banking giant said quarterly revenue was $25.42 billion, compared with $26.97 billion in the year-ago period.

Net credit losses climbed to $8.38 billion from $7.28 billion a year ago.

[briarberry] 16/4/2010 12:45

Industrial bellwether, General Electric Co. said Friday its first-quarter profit dropped by nearly a third, dragged lower by its financial and media arms as it said it may chop costs further.

For the recent period, the conglomerate said earnings fell 32% to $1.87 billion, or 17 cents a share, as revenue fell 5% to $36.61 billion.
...
GE: total company orders down 8% at $17.1B

[briarberry] 15/4/2010 16:05

April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Mumbai home prices have jumped about 30 percent over the past six months, leading to a drop in home sales in India's financial capital as higher prices deter buyers, Knight Frank LLP said.

[briarberry] 15/4/2010 16:04

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A record number of U.S. homes were lost to foreclosure in the first three months of this year, a sign banks are starting to wade through the backlog of troubled home loans at a faster pace, according to a new report.

RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday that the number of U.S. homes taken over by banks jumped 35 percent in the first quarter from a year ago. In addition, households facing foreclosure grew 16 percent in the same period and 7 percent from the last three months of 2009.

More homes were taken over by banks and scheduled for a foreclosure sale than in any quarter going back to at least January 2005, when RealtyTrac began reporting the data, the firm said. "We're right now on pace to see more than 1 million bank repossessions this year," said Rick Sharga, a RealtyTrac senior vice president.

[briarberry] 14/4/2010 23:41

JPMorgan Chase made nearly all it's profit from the rising markets...


JPMorgan Chase relied on its investment bank for the lion's share of its profits. The $2.47bn of profits it (the investment bank) generated accounted for 74pc of the total $3.33bn

[briarberry] 14/4/2010 22:18

I guess the IMF is saying that smaller countries need to defend themselves from our dangerous bubble blowing :)


The International Monetary Fund has formally come out in favour of capital controls, effectively reversing its decades-old stance that economies must open themselves as much as possible to the flow of cash around the world.


The document warned that the record low level of interest rates in the US, the UK and throughout much of the developed world, threaten to unleash a wave of capital which could overwhelm younger, more fragile countries, concluding that these recipient countries are entitled to consider erecting barriers to prevent unnecessary damage.

The report said: "Despite their beneficial effects, capital inflow surges can pose challenges to receiving economies... surges of capital inflows can complicate macroeconomic management as the real economy may not be able to adapt to large swings in the exchange rate.

They can fuel a boom in domestic demand leading to overheating and a combination of accelerating inflation and a widening current account deficit through the appreciation of the real exchange rate. They may also lead to asset price bubbles and increase systemic risk in the financial sector, even sometimes in the case of a generally effective prudential supervisory and regulatory system.

[briarberry] 14/4/2010 13:59

China's March Property Prices Jump a Record 11.7%

April 14 (Bloomberg) -- China's property prices rose at a record pace in March, indicating government efforts to stem gains aren't working and more drastic measures may be needed amid concern of a bubble in the nation's housing market. Residential and commercial real-estate prices in 70 cities climbed 11.7 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on its Web site.

[briarberry] 14/4/2010 13:44

April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore unexpectedly revalued its currency, triggering the biggest gain in a year, after the government raised forecasts for economic growth and inflation.
...
Currencies across Asia rallied as investors bet governments will switch to fighting inflation from stimulating growth

[briarberry] 13/4/2010 22:23

Intel did OK, partly because of the release of Win7

Intel posted first-quarter EPS of 43 cents, up 32 cents from a year ago. Revenue of $10.3 billion, was up 44% from last year. Gross margins, a certain focal point for investors, was 63%

[briarberry] 13/4/2010 14:59

Has there been an increase in trade or is it just higher prices ? ...

Import Prices Y/Y change +11.4 %

[briarberry] 13/4/2010 10:01

Banks took back $377 billion from SIVs on to their balance sheets...


As of the week ending March 31, 2010, domestically chartered banks and foreign-related institutions had consolidated onto their balance sheets the following assets and liabilities of off-balance-sheet vehicles owing to the adoption of FASB's Financial Accounting Statements No. 166 (FAS 166), Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets, and No. 167 (FAS 167), Amendments to FASB Interpretation No. 46®. Domestically chartered commercial banks consolidated $377.8 billion in assets and liabilities.

[briarberry] 12/4/2010 21:18

Q1 earnings opens with a loss...

Alcoa Q1 net loss 20c a share vs 61c loss

[briarberry] 11/4/2010 23:45

still closing 10 banks per month..

Beach First National Bank is 42nd failure of 2010