From the monthly archives:

July 2008

Poof! The Two Decades That Didn’t Happen

July 31, 2008

The collapse of the housing bubble is likely to eliminate most, if not all, of the gains that families had made in accumulating wealth over the last two decades, according to a new study from the Center for Economic Policy & Research in Washington, DC. In the report, entitled The Impact of the Housing Crash […]

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SFI Taking 2009 to the Bank

July 31, 2008

Where did THAT banana come from? IStar announced earnings today, along with an estimated 50% cut in the dividend. The cut was signaled pretty clearly in a pre-announcement on July 18th. IStar set aside $217 million noncash for bad loans, which thankfully was much less that the high end of the $275 range they estimated […]

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Fed Extends Emergency Measures

July 30, 2008

Gonna be alright… Everything is under control The WSJ Remember FDR’s alphabet soup? It consisted of a series of government programs intended to end the Great Depression. It gave birth to the WPA (the Works Progress Administration), the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp), and household names such as the TVA, the FDIC and the SSA – […]

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Gonna Be Alright

July 29, 2008

No, but it’s different this time, really. And by finger printing (see below) those crooked mortgage brokers, we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again! With the Fed’s bailout of Bear Stearns, the Treasury’s blank check rescue of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, Merrill Lynch having just sold its “super senior” ABS CDO assets at only […]

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Retail Woes To Ripple Through CMBS

July 29, 2008

One Less CRE Lilly Pad In The Real Estate Swamp The Wall Street Journal is reporting that lawyers for Mervyn’s LLC are telling creditors that the regional department-store chain will file for bankruptcy protection in the next few days, barring a last-minute cash infusion. Mervyn’s, which operates 177 stores, mostly in California, has been struggling […]

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Makeovers Coming Soon To Mortgage REITs

July 27, 2008

“If you can take advantage of a situation in some way, it’s your duty as an American to do it.” C. Mongtomery Burns, the oligarchical CEO in television’s “The Simpsons” Could Re-Remics break the liquidity logjam in Mortgage REITs? It’s a distinct possibility, and quants all over Wall Street are dutifully burning up their computer […]

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Wrecked REITs: Don’t Quote Me On It!

July 26, 2008

Alesco Financial in the land of the living dead May 7, 2007: “As of the end of the first quarter, we had fully invested stuffed ourselves silly with dodgy Trups all of the capital raised in 2006 manic bubble mania! in asset classes which have exhibited historically low default rates and which we believe will […]

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Fitch: RAS’s Toxic Taberna CDOs Getting Even More Toxic

July 22, 2008

Taberna To Take Yet Another Hit? Maybe, But The Bad News in This Brew is Already Baked In. Man, what I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall at dinner time in the Cohen house. Betsy and her husband, whom I shall refer to as Laius for purposes of these frivolous first two […]

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High Yield Northstar To Set Dividend

July 21, 2008

Here is the dividend history (below). The announcement should be out after the market closes tomorrow, 7/22 or perhaps 7/23. What will it be, .36/share, or maybe something else? The recapitalization of Wakefield should provide some downside protection, but there has been virtually no new investment activity at Northstar since Q1 ’07. Consequently, Northstar is […]

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IStar Dividend Appears to be in Jeopardy

July 18, 2008

Is IStar the Canary in the Coal Mine, or is this Just Fremont Coming Home to Roost?IStar saw the need to issue interim estimated earnings estimates for the second quarter today, and it wasn’t encouraging. As a result of loan losses and impairments uncovered during the Company’s quarterly risk review process, IStar said it now […]

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