What Are the Odds of a Depression? International evidence suggests there is a 20% chance...
online.wsj.com
Oil Prices: Here Come Tighter Oil Supplies, Higher Prices:
First, the good news. Analysts are scouring data for signs that the economy may be bottoming out and oil types are seeing faint signs of firmness on the energy front. Now, the bad news. If the economy does start to get back on its feet later this year, it could get a repeat wallop from higher fuel prices. blogs.wsj.com
Personal saving jumped to 5% of disposable income in January, the Commerce Department said Monday, the highest level in nearly 14 years. It was a remarkable shift from the negative saving rates -- when people were spending more money than they earned -- during the height of the housing bubble in 2005. online.wsj.com
Twenty percent of all U.S. residential properties that had a mortgage on them were underwater at the end of December, with mortgage debt greater than what the homes were worth, according to a report released Wednesday by First American CoreLogic. That's more than 8.3 million mortgages that were upside down at the end of the year, compared with 7.6 million three months earlier. An additional 2.2 million mortgaged properties throughout the country are approaching negative equity, the report found. These properties are within 5% of being underwater. And home prices are still dropping in many areas. online.wsj.com
(these last 2 news items are connected. Savings will go up, and consumption will continue to go down, as a % of income, as long as housing prices continue to decline. I've posted repeatedly, the reasons why housing prices will continue to decline well past 2009. In addition, non-residential construction is on the same trend as residential construction, with a 2-year lag, so most of that pain is still to come.)
GE Shares Fall to 18-Year Lows
General Electric shares fell Wednesday to levels not seen since 1991. The cost of protecting the debt of its ailing financing arm continued to soar.
disclosure: I continue to do what I've been doing since last September: buying the dips, selling the rallies, in lots of small increments. On this current dip, I'm buying tech and alt-energy (KLIC and FAN). On the next rally, I intend on finishing getting entirely out of my big-cap non-tech stocks.) |
