Empiric Student Property Share Discussion Threads

[briarberry] 14/3/2008 12:42

wow CPI 0.0% m-o-m

yep no inflation change since last month in the USA

I wonder how many Americans actually believe that ?

just another chance for the insiders to continue to sell their shares to the - buy and hope investors who are buying the recovery idea, who love the shares won't be cheaper idea

just like during the GDP growth at 5% scam months

[briarberry] 13/3/2008 19:37

podcast on Fed's new $200bn (free version)...

[briarberry] 13/3/2008 16:18

Year-on-year, import prices are up 13.6 percent, right at January's rate for the worst readings in more than 25 years of data.

Year-on-year, export prices are up 6.8 percent. A look at just agriculture shows export prices up 4.4 percent in February for a 30.8 percent year-on-year increase.

[briarberry] 13/3/2008 15:45

how many more funds will fail, this is a famous one...


Carlyle Capital, the bond fund affiliated with private equity firm The Carlyle Group, is on the verge of collapse after failing to agree a new financing deal with lenders.

[briarberry] 10/3/2008 17:08

March 10 (Bloomberg) -Since Feb. 15, at least six hedge funds, totaling more than $5.4 billion, have been forced to liquidate or sell holdings because their lenders - staggered by almost $190 billion of asset writedowns and credit losses caused by the collapse of the subprime-mortgage market - raised borrowing rates by as much as 10-fold with new claims for extra collateral. While lenders are most unsettled by credit consisting of real estate and consumer debt, bankers are now attempting to raise the rates they charge on Treasuries, considered the world's safest securities, because of the price fluctuations in the bond market. "There has to be more in the next weeks,'' Allen said. "There are people who have been hanging on by their fingernails who can't hold on much, much longer.''

[briarberry] 08/3/2008 17:16

credit crunch just keeps getting worse, Ben Banky now pledges $200bn...


From The Times - March 8, 2008

US Fed releases $200bn as credit crisis hits new depths
Siobhan Kennedy

The global credit crisis plunged to new depths yesterday as persistent fears over the collapse of a large financial institution caused funding markets to dry up and forced the US Federal Reserve to make available up to $200 billion (£99.3 billion) of emergency financing.

The Fed said that a "rapid deterioration" in the credit markets in recent days had prompted it to begin a series of fresh cash injections in an effort to shore up the balance sheets of America's stricken banks. Unemployment also shot up in the US last month, adding to the gloom. US stocks tumbled, dragging the Dow Jones industrial average down 138.40 points to 11.902.00. Treasury prices jumped and the dollar fell to record lows.

Bankers said that the moves underscored the deepening severity of the crisis, which was triggered last June by the collapse of the American sub-prime mortgage market and has got progressively worse since. One senior banker in London said: "This is the beginning of the real credit crisis and it's not going to end without a major casualty."... more




US Fed pins economic hopes on $200bn liquidity boost
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 10:49pm GMT 07/03/2008

The move culminates a dramatic week that saw yield spreads on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agency bonds surge to the highest levels in over 20 years. A panic flight to safety across the credit universe briefly drove the yield on 2-year US Treasury notes below 1.5pc, a sign that investors may be battening down the hatches for a violent storm....

[briarberry] 07/3/2008 13:50

Nonfarm Payrolls Feb -63K

and that includes +135K from
The US gov are still saying that small businesses are hiring, whereas small businesses are probably firing faster than large businesses

therefore

Nonfarm Payrolls Feb probably more like -250K

[briarberry] 06/3/2008 16:34

big financials losing large amounts of money...


Carlyle Capital

Last week, the group said it "can and will do better" after losing 30% of net asset value between listing on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange in July and Dec. 31. Within weeks of the listing, Carlyle Capital was forced to sell a portfolio of leveraged loans to meet margin calls and borrowed $200 million in emergency funding from Carlyle Group. To preserve capital, it has yet to pay a dividend.


UBS

UBS may have sold a portfolio of Alt-A securities worth 25 billion Swiss francs ($24.1 billion), according to an analyst at J.P. Morgan.

Shares in UBS fell on Thursday on speculation that the Swiss bank had sold a huge portfolio of risky mortgages at a deep discount and planned to announce another massive writedown in the first quarter.

[briarberry] 02/3/2008 20:58

US median price of a single-family home over the past 38 years

[briarberry] 02/3/2008 14:27

I think this is a sign of things to come (this includes Christmas)...


Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Sears Holdings Corp., the biggest U.S. department-store company, said fourth-quarter profit plunged 47 percent, and Chairman Edward Lampert vowed to rein in costs and cut inventory



Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) is the sixth largest retailer in the United States
The company operates 3,800 retail locations under the mastheads of Sears, Sears Grand, Sears Essentials, Sears Hardware, Kmart, Big Kmart, Super Kmart, The Great Indoors, Orchard Supply Hardware, and Lands' End stores.
The company maintains its corporate headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

[briarberry] 26/2/2008 15:35

PPI

Year over year, the PPI is up 7.4% -- the fastest pace since 1981. Also on an annualized basis, the core PPI is up 2.3%

(and Ben Banky has already lowered rates to 3%)

[briarberry] 26/2/2008 15:32

U.S. home prices dropped 8.9 percent in the final quarter of 2007 compared with a year ago, Standard & Poor's said Tuesday, the steepest decline in the 20-year history of its housing index..



The Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday its fourth-quarter profit fell more than 27 percent and a dour housing market contributed to the first annual sales decline for the world's largest home improvement store chain.



The number of homes facing foreclosure jumped 57 percent in January compared to a year ago, with lenders increasingly forced to take possession of homes they couldn't unload at auctions, a mortgage research firm said Monday.

[briarberry] 25/2/2008 17:55

Existing home sales slipped 0.4 percent in January for a 23.4 percent year-on-year decline that's the worst on record.

The median price fell 2.9 percent in the month to $201,100 for a year-on-year decline of 4.6 percent. Prices have begun to slip the last few months, but sellers continue to keep their homes on the market.

[briarberry] 22/2/2008 15:31

Germany - WORST FINANCIAL CRISIS SINCE 1931?

German State-Owned Banks on Verge of Collapse

By Wolfgang Reuter

The German government has had to bail out state-owned banks with taxpayers' money after their managements recklessly gambled away billions on subprime investments. But if a state-owned bank were to go under, the consequences could be disastrous for the whole economy.

The situation for Germany's public banks has become so dramatic that it threatens to topple what has been one of the key pillars of the country's banking system. The state-owned banks are supposed to bail each other out when necessary, but the problem is that many are in trouble themselves and hardly in a position to help their peers. And things could get even worse.

[briarberry] 21/2/2008 13:10

Mish...

There is a stunning ability for the equity markets to shake off bad news after bad news. Meanwhile the underlying credit markets continue to deteriorate. Both cannot be correct. This divergence will end, we just do not know when. The odds are overwhelming that the credits markets have this correct.

[briarberry] 20/2/2008 19:54

Column: Recession would be longer, more painful

Harvard professor Martin Feldstein says he believes a recession -- which may already be under way -- could "be more painful than the past several downturns because of differences in its origin and character." Writing in a Wall Street Journal commentary, Feldstein said past recessions were caused by deliberate Federal Reserve policy aimed at reversing a rise in inflation, but the current slowdown was caused by a collapse of the housing market. "The Fed therefore will not be able to end the recession as it did previous ones by turning off a tight monetary policy," he said.

[briarberry] 15/2/2008 15:28

Citigroup Inc (C.N) has barred investors in one of its hedge funds from withdrawing their money, and a new leveraged fund lost 52 percent in its first three months, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

[briarberry] 15/2/2008 14:31

13% yoy import price inflation, unlucky! (and that's just the official figure)

U.S. Jan. import prices rise 13.7% year over year

U.S. Jan. agricultural export prices rise 5.0%
U.S. Jan. export prices rise 1.2%
U.S. Jan. imported food prices rise 3.1%
U.S. Jan. imported petroleum prices rise 5.5%
U.S. Jan. import prices rise 1.7%

that puts US interest rates at minus 10% (US rate now at 3%)

[briarberry] 15/2/2008 12:43

stagflation still looks like a goer (for now)...

[briarberry] 14/2/2008 17:14

US credit crisis escalates as defaults spread
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor - 13/02/2008

The Mortgage Bankers Association says default rates on all outstanding home loans in the US have reached 7.3pc, the highest level since modern records began in the 1970s.

The arrears rate on US auto loans has reached 7.1pc. Defaults on home equity loans have jumped to 5.7pc.



"during 2007, more than 2.2 million foreclosure filings were logged against 1.3 million properties nationwide"

[briarberry] 13/2/2008 23:13

The US says it's retail sales were up, well look at this list of stores closing in the USA...



Movie Gallery closing another 400 stores
Charming Shoppes (CHRS) closing 150 stores and cutting expansion plans by 50%
Starbucks (SBUX) closing 100 stores and slowing expansion plans by 34%
Ann Taylor (ANN) shuttering 117 stores and slowing store growth
Boston Market evaluating its real estate opportunities
Buffet Holdings sorting out its underperformers
Sprint Nextel (S) closing 125 stores and 4,000 distribution points
Cost Plus World Market closing 18 stores
Liz Claiborne (LIZ) closing 54 Sigrid Olsen stores
New York & Company (NWY) axing the Jasmine Sola brand and its 32 stores
Ethan Allen (ETH) closing 12 stores
PacSun (PSUN) closing all of its 173 demo stores
Talbots (TLB) exiting its kids and men's lines through closure of 78 stores
Rite Aid (RAD) exiting Nevada by closing 28 stores
Macy's (M) closing nine stores
Krispy Kreme (KKD) expecting many franchisees to close stores
Kirkland's Home (KIRK) likely closing 130 stores
CompUSA's remaining 103 stores being disposed of
Rent-A-Center (RCII) closing 280 stores
Sofa Express closing 44 stores in bankruptcy
84 Lumber closing 12 stores
Home Depot (HD) closings some call centers
Levitz Furniture disposing of 76 stores in bankruptcy
Pep Boys (PBY) closing 31 stores
Lifetime Brands (LCUT) closing 30 stores
Big A Drugs liquidating its 21 stores

Vaughn Miller, President of the retail division for Henry S. Miller Commercial: Retailers closing stores has nothing to do with Wall Street, but their losses. "Retailers are hemorrhaging and are trying to stop the bleeding. The bleeding is the operational cost or the occupancy cost of the stores.

[briarberry] 13/2/2008 15:52

US retail aren't adjusted for inflation...

By components, January's gain was led by gasoline station sales and motor vehicle sales, up 2.0 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. Some strength also was seen in food & beverages, up 0.6 percent; clothing, up 1.4 percent; health care, up 0.8 percent; and nonstore retailers, up 0.5 percent. The housing recession clearly is damping some key retail sales components. Weakness was still very pervasive and found in furniture, down 0.5 percent; electronics, down 1.0 percent; building materials, down 1.7 percent; sporting goods, down 1.3 percent; and food services, down 0.5 percent.