The San Diego Union Tribune - "Banks grumbling after Fed auction" (12-20-07)

"Cash-strapped banks took the Federal Reserve up on its offer of $20 billion in short-term loans to help them overcome credit problems, but the interest rate wasn't as low as some had hoped. The central bank said yesterday that it had received bids for $61.6 billion worth of loans, more than three times the amount that was made available. The loans carried an interest rate of 4.65 percent, which is slightly less than the 4.75 percent the Fed charges banks on emergency loans through its “discount” window. Banks have been reluctant to use the Fed's discount window because of the fear that investors will believe they are having trouble getting funds in a normal manner. "

Yahoo - "Bear Stearns Posts 4Q Loss" (12-20-07)

"Bear Stearns Cos. said Thursday a bigger-than-expected writedown in its mortgage portfolio caused the nation's fifth-largest U.S. investment bank to post the first loss in its 84-year history. It took a $1.9 billion writedown in the quarter ended Nov. 30 as its mortgage-backed securities continued to lose value amid the global credit crisis. That was much larger than the $1.2 billion it expected in November."

Newsweek - "A Sequel to the Subprime Mess?" (12-20-07)

"There is a vast gap of perception and language between the real economy of production and jobs and the financial economy of loans and investments. The real economy, though weakening, is hardly in a state of collapse. In 2007, it has grown about 2 percent; since last December, payroll jobs are up by 1.3 million. Even among those economists who expect a recession, the dominant view is that it will be mild. Meanwhile, the financial economy is described in dire terms verging on hysteria. Markets are "in turmoil"; there is a 'credit crisis.'"

Bloomberg - "MBIA Bond Risk Soars on $8.1 Billion CDO Disclosure " (12-20-07)

"MBIA Inc. fell the most since 1987 in New York trading after the world's biggest bond insurer disclosed that it guarantees $8.1 billion of collateralized debt obligations that investors say have a greater chance of losses. 'We are shocked management withheld this information for as long as it did,' Ken Zerbe, an analyst with Morgan Stanley in New York, wrote in a report yesterday. 'MBIA simply did not disclose arguably the riskiest parts of its CDO portfolio to investors.'"

Bloomberg - "Rating Subprime Investment Grade Made `Joke' of Credit Experts" (12-20-07)

"As storm clouds gathered over New York on July 10, Standard & Poor's started a 10 a.m. conference call to discuss why the credit rating company was about to take its most dramatic action in more than two years. S&P analysts said they might cut ratings on $12 billion of the world's worst-performing subprime mortgage bonds, some of them less than a year after they had been given investment-grade designations. Not since 2005, when it downgraded Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., had S&P generated so much attention. "

DQNews - "Bay Area home sales stuck at two-decade low; price picture mixed" (12-20-07)

"The Bay Area's housing market remained in a bit of deep freeze in November, when sluggish demand kept sales at a two-decade low for the third straight month. Prices continued to hold up best in the region's core markets, while some outlying areas posted more double-digit annual declines, a real estate information service reported. A total of 5,127 new and resale houses and condos sold in the Bay Area in November. That was down 6.5 percent from 5,486 in October, and down 36.2 percent from 8,042 in November 2006, DataQuick Information Systems reported."

Los Angeles Times - "Leaving L.A., Leaving California" (12-20-07)

"Now, let me clarify a bit: despite this 'out-migration,' the populations of California, and L.A. County, are both growing. They are growing because of immigration and new births (Yes, the birth rate is generally higher among immigrants, so recent immigration contributes to the birth rate). In California last year, 89,000 people moved out of the state, but 200,000 new state residents either immigrated here or were born here, so the population moved higher."

Real Estate Journal - "How Hidden IncentivesDistort Home Prices" (12-20-07)

"As the housing market slump deepens, disguised discounts are making it harder to tell exactly how much people are paying for homes. Buyers, sellers and other market participants typically monitor fluctuating home values through sale records that legally have to be listed with county clerks. But incentives offered to buyers -- ranging from free cars or furniture to cash rebates -- are making those prices less reliable as a sign of what buyers actually paid, netting out the giveaways. And that may be misleading lenders and people shopping for homes, some real-estate lawyers and appraisers warn."

Real Estate Journal - "Greenspan Says Forcing LendersTo Alter Terms Would 'Tax' Economy" (12-20-07)

"Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that compelling lenders to alter mortgage contracts would be a damaging tax on the economy and it would be less harmful to simply give the homeowners money. Mr. Greenspan, clarifying remarks he made on television Sunday, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal yesterday, 'I'm saying instead of in effect 'taxing' financial institutions and giving the funds to the homeowners, we'd be far better off, as far as the future structure of our financial markets are concerned, to do it strictly with cash. Do it out in the open. Do it cleanly and with transparency, not by hidden processes.'"