Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Surprising Bullish News For Financials Today

These are two. Let' s start with the first, that really surprised me:
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--U.S. home prices rose a seasonally-adjusted 0.7% in February from January, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Wednesday. The agency said that it had revised downward the home price increase it reported for January to 1.0% from 1.7%. For the twelve months that ended in February, home prices fell 6.5%, FHFA said. The index is calculated using the purchase prices of homes backing mortgages that have been sold or guaranteed by Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (MAC). It does not included prices used for home refinancings.
It is clearly bullish and does not matter that the S&P/Case-Shiller Indices are running the other direction so far, and even accelerating to the downside ... Just trust the Man and Word!

The second one is slightly less bullish from DataQuick, but nevertheless:
La Jolla, CA.--Lenders filed a record number of mortgage default notices against California homeowners during the first three months of this year, the result of the recession and of lenders playing catch-up after a temporary lull in foreclosure activity, a real estate information service reported.
Similar message from RealtyTrac at Bloomberg:
April 22 (Bloomberg) -- California and Florida metropolitan areas led the U.S. in foreclosures in the first quarter as unemployment and falling property values deepened the housing recession, RealtyTrac Inc. said.
This is a bit strange, but who cares? Also to be found at Bloomberg:

April 22 (Bloomberg) -- Freddie Mac Acting Chief Financial Officer David Kellermann, 41, was found dead early today in the basement of his home in a Washington suburb, police said.

Is it not obvious that credit markets are improving and consumer is in good shape?

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