Mortgage Bankers Association - "OFHEO, Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac Announce Initiative To Increase Mortgage Market Liquidity" (3-19-08)

"OFHEO, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced a major initiative to increase liquidity in support of the U.S. mortgage market. The initiative is expected to provide up to $200 billion of immediate liquidity to the mortgage-backed securities market."

Bloomberg - "Subprime Mortgage Meltdown Renews Urban Blight" (3-19-08)

"There is no shortage of regret over the failure of regulators and the Bush administration to heed the warning signs about the extent of the subprime housing crisis. A new regret is on the horizon: The failure to take action to prevent the descent into disrepair, economic distress and crime of revitalized urban neighborhoods across the nation."

Business Week - "The Fed's Too Easy on Wall Street" (3-19-08)

"Think about what the Fed has done in recent months: cut its benchmark interest rate by 3 percentage points (including a 75-basis-point easing on Mar. 18), injected massive amounts of liquidity into the financial system, set up an alphabet soup of funding mechanisms for big U.S. banks (a Term Auction Facility, or TAF; a Term Security Lending Facility, or TSLF; and a Primary Dealer Credit Facility, or PDCF), and wielded extraordinary powers to engineer the rescue of investment bank Bear Stearns (BSC)."

Bloomberg - "Dollar Falls on Speculation Housing Slump to Swell Bank Losses" (3-19-08)

"The dollar fell against the euro, erasing most of yesterday's gains, on speculation the worst U.S. housing slump in a quarter of a century will swell credit-market losses. The currency weakened against the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc after Bank of America Corp. predicted the Federal Reserve will lower its target rate by another 75 basis points this year following a reduction to 2.25 percent yesterday. Reports this week on U.S. mortgage demand and manufacturing will probably show the economy is slowing."

CNN - "Forex - Dollar sheds post Fed gains" (3-19-08)

"The dollar has shed most of yesterday's gains in the wake of Wall Street's sharp rally following the US Federal Reserve's decision to lower its benchmark interest rate by three quarters of a percentage point to 2.25 pct. After the Fed's rate cut, which was slightly less than the market consensus for a full 100 basis point reduction, the Dow Jones index of leading US shares enjoyed its best day in five years, helping the US currency to rally too. The euro fell down towards the 1.56 usd mark while the dollar climbed back above 100 yen."

The Arizona Republic - "Lower rates can hurt savers, thrifty retirees" (3-19-08)

"Falling interest rates may be a boon to borrowers, but they can be hard on savers and retirees on fixed incomes. The Federal Reserve on Tuesday cut its key short-term interest rate three-quarters of a percentage point to 2.25 percent - a move designed to spur banks, credit-card issuers and other financial institutions to lower their rates as well."

Orange County Register - "Lumber prices half of ‘04 peak" (3-19-08)

"Want to see how housing weakness ripples through the economy? A key benchmark of lumber prices fell again last week, putting the Random Lengths Framing Lumber Composite price off 13% already this year and at virtually half its 2004 peak. Typical framing lumber went for $238 per 1,000 board feet as of Friday, the Random Lengths newsletter reports. That’s a far cry from August 2004, as the national building boom was nearing its zenith. Then, the same lumber was going for $474 for the same amount."