Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (141845)	8/19/2008 12:49:45 PM
From: Smiling Bob	Respond to of 306849

J OIL FUTURES: Nymex Crude Leaps $3 In Thin Volume As Dlr Sags . By Gregory Meyer Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Crude oil futures leaped more than $3 a barrel Tuesday as the dollar reversed course and grew weaker. The steep rise also reflected short-covering, or buying back bets on price declines, a day before crude for September delivery expires on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a trader said. Front-month September light, sweet crude was recently up $2.63, or 2.3%, at $115.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after rising as high as $116.65. October Brent crude on the ICE Futures exchange rose $2.45 to $114.39 a barrel. After trading quietly for most of the session, the rally "started with the dollar reversing and getting weaker," said Tom Bentz, a broker and analyst at BNP Paribas Commodity Derivatives in New York. The euro was recently $1.4766, up from a fresh overnight to a fresh six-month low of $1.4630 overnight. A stronger greenback tends to make oil less attractive as a currency hedge. With volumes light, the initial climb touched off automatic buying orders and stoked the rally further, Bentz said. Crude prices have been strained in recent weeks by evidence of falling oil demand. That message was reinforced by data releases earlier Tuesday. In the U.S., the world's largest energy consumer, home construction in July slid to the lowest seasonally adjusted rate since March 1991, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. In the same month, U.S. producer prices shot to their highest annual rate since 1981, jumping 1.2% as high energy prices seeped into the economy. Nymex crude has fallen from its July peak above $147 a barrel, suggesting inflationary pressures may ease. But analysts say Tuesday's producer-price index figures could force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later this year, which could boost the dollar and undercut commodities including oil. "On the one hand, the PPI numbers seem to be suggesting the Fed will have to raise rates in the future. That's bullish for the dollar," said Peter Beutel, president of Cameron Hanover, a New Canaan, Conn.-based energy risk management firm. "On the other hand, they are looking at housing starts and weakening consumer strength and seeing in that the seeds of lower demand." Tropical Storm Fay was expected to slowly weaken as it moves over Florida, the National Hurricane Center reported. But traders cited speculation the storm may reverse course and hit the U.S. Gulf Coast, home to an array of oil installations, as another reason behind crude's jump. Front-month September reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, rose 6.67 cents, or 2.4% to $2.8819 a gallon. September heating oil rose 8.46 cents, or 2.7%, to $3.1694 a gallon. -By Gregory Meyer, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4377; greg.meyer@dowjones.com

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (141845)	8/19/2008 12:53:01 PM
From: MulhollandDrive	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

some foreclosure data on CA....(pasted from an email, so the chart looks funky ) CALIFORNIA FORECLOSURE SALES JUMP 22.5 PERCENT SINCE JUNE Lenders take a record $12.55 Billion in loans to foreclosure auction Discovery Bay, CA, August12, 2008 – ForeclosureRadar (www.foreclosureradar.com), the only website that tracks every California foreclosure with daily auction updates; today issued its California Foreclosure Report for July 2008. Sales at foreclosure auction jumped dramatically in July, increasing by more than $2 Billion in combined loan value to $12.55 Billion. This represents more than 1,300 properties being taken to auction per business day, up from 415 per day one year ago. Notices of Default declined for the third straight month. The total number of properties that are still actively scheduled for auction increased to 64,598 at the end of July, up from 59,973 at the end of June, and 53,793 at the end of May. This indicates that further increases in foreclosure sales are still likely near term, despite the declining number of defaults. High-level findings include: o Notices of Default declined by 4.6 percent, to a total of 40,219 filings representing $17.71 Billion in loans. o Notices of Trustee Sale, which are typically recorded 105 days after the Notice of Default, and which set the auction date and time, increased 9.8% to 39,010 filings in July. Looking at this number in comparison to Notices of Default, it is clear that far fewer homeowners are finding a way out of foreclosure. At 97 percent of defaults, July’s Notices of Trustee Sale filings are nearly double the 50 percent that were more typical as recently as February. o Sales increased to a total of 28,795 properties with a combined loan balance of $12.55 Billion. Of those, 27,817 received no bid higher than the lender’s opening bid and became bank owned (REO). o Sales to 3 rd parties at auction continued to increase, and were up 28.7 percent from the prior month. 3 rd parties purchased loans with a combined loan balance of $481 Million, at an average discount of 39 percent to the loan balance. Despite the increase in sales to 3 rd parties, lenders continue to take back 96.6 percent of all properties that went to auction, and have now taken back a total of $100 Billion in loans since January 2007. “Although the declines in Notices of Defaults seem promising, much of this can be explained by the actions of just one lender,” said Sean O'Toole, founder of ForeclosureRadar. “Ninety-one percent of the decline in Notices of Default since April can be attributed to Countrywide Financial. Unfortunately, this is more likely due to the challenges of integrating two companies the size of Countrywide Financial and Bank of America, than it is a fundamental shift in foreclosure activity.” Average discounts offered by lenders from the outstanding loan balance at foreclosure auction reached 45 percent in Merced and San Joaquin counties. Statewide discounts increased to 33 percent on average. San Francisco continued to see the smallest discounts at 18 percent on average. Of the 243,444 Notices of Trustee Sale filed in the last year that have concluded the foreclosure process, 85 percent resulted in the loss of the property at trustee sale. Only 15 percent averted foreclosure; and, of those, 30 percent have since had a new foreclosure notice filed. Page 3 ForeclosureRadar July Report by County: Rank Change in Rank County NDF NTS Sales Population Per Sale % Change June 2008 % Change July 2007 1 1 Merced 532 673 603 409 37% 305% 2 1 Stanislaus 1138 1239 1053 488 23% 287% 3 -2 San Joaquin 1438 1774 1357 491 10% 204% 4 0 Riverside 4928 4834 3812 512 19% 216% 5 0 Yuba 150 144 129 541 42% 169% 6 2 San Bernardino 4094 3650 2931 680 24% 280% 7 -1 Sacramento 2431 2575 1968 704 14% 156% 8 -1 Solano 810 791 580 729 13% 254% 9 2 Madera 242 198 183 789 24% 245% 10 0 Contra Costa 1711 1645 1267 812 17% 213% 11 1 Kern 1227 1226 940 830 18% 298% 12 -3 San Benito 40 38 68 847 11% 240% 13 1 Sutter 122 131 100 915 18% 213% 14 3 Calaveras 30 28 48 952 50% 860% 15 7 Imperial 255 212 171 974 45% 389% 16 -3 Monterey 498 581 406 1,046 -1% 314% 17 41 Sierra 1 0 3 1,167 200% ND 18 -2 Placer 439 411 264 1,199 6% 120% 19 -1 Fresno 990 911 694 1,296 23% 318% 20 3 Yolo 173 180 142 1,340 30% 223% 21 -1 San Diego 3158 2965 2174 1,411 17% 198% 22 -3 Sonoma 449 489 340 1,412 14% 330% 23 23 Siskiyou 20 16 32 1,442 220% 220% 24 1 Ventura 678 691 524 1,560 22% 223% 25 4 Amador 34 31 24 1,589 41% 300% 26 12 Colusa 1 0 13 1,655 30% ND 27 1 Alameda 1398 1326 900 1,668 25% 230% 28 -4 El Dorado 201 153 104 1,694 11% 104% 29 -3 Tulare 376 362 234 1,798 15% 409% 30 3 Tehama 19 16 34 1,810 26% 580% 31 6 Glenn 2 5 15 1,910 36% ND 32 -1 Nevada 91 62 52 1,924 30% 373% 33 -3 Santa Barbara 265 305 214 1,970 16% 168% 34 -13 Napa 116 100 65 2,068 -19% 261% 35 -1 Orange 2206 2128 1444 2,128 23% 235% 36 5 Shasta 136 138 81 2,241 40% 212% 37 -2 Los Angeles 7974 7116 4488 2,283 17% 234% 38 9 Kings 88 75 63 2,345 117% 600% 39 3 Plumas 11 8 9 2,383 50% 350% 40 15 Del Norte 7 11 12 2,433 1100% 500% 41 4 Mono 1 0 5 2,719 67% ND 42 -2 Santa Clara 1144 1173 646 2,745 14% 365% 43 0 Tuolumne 40 20 20 2,912 25% 150% 44 -5 San Luis Obispo 190 136 88 2,991 2% 175% 45 -18 Lake 1 0 18 3,561 -51% -31% 46 3 Marin 104 106 68 3,726 74% 467% 47 -11 Santa Cruz 285 170 67 3,916 -29% 139% 48 -16 Butte 1 0 55 3,949 -35% 49% 49 -5 San Mateo 342 316 176 4,114 6% 203% 50 2 Mariposa 3 4 3 6,072 0% ND 51 5 Inyo 1 0 3 6,172 ND 200% 52 -4 Mendocino 36 23 14 6,460 -7% 250% 53 -2 Humboldt 32 26 20 6,626 25% 186% 54 -4 Trinity 1 0 2 7,012 0% 100% 55 -1 Lassen 1 0 5 7,090 150% 0% 56 -3 San Francisco 176 148 57 14,012 -10% 97%