Money News - "Hussman: Mortgage Crisis Just Beginning" (4-18-08)

"The subprime mortgage crisis is far from over and may still only be in its early stages, says money fund guru John Hussman, who manages the $3.18 billion Hussman Strategic Growth Fund. Hussman reckons the U.S. economy is just starting the game of mortgage defaults and has many more innings to go. He points to the number of adjustable mortgages yet to reset to higher rates — so high that many more foreclosures are inevitable."

Times Online - "Morgan Stanley predicts one in ten homeowners ‘facing negative equity’" (4-18-08)

"House prices will fall by 15 per cent in the next two years, pushing one in ten homeowners into negative equity, a leading investment bank has forecast. Morgan Stanley predicts that 1.2 million people will be in negative equity, owing more money on their mortgage than their home is worth — levels not seen since the early 1990s."

Yahoo - "Is It Time to Buy Real Estate?" (4-18-08)

"Representatives of the NAR say that this makes it the best buyer's market in a long time. Prices are down, interest rates are near a 45-year low and the supply of houses is high."

CNN - "Momentum builds for foreclosure relief" (4-18-08)

"Congress isn't done debating how best to stem the foreclosure crisis, but one near-certainty has emerged: Lawmakers will pull together a housing bill that expands Washington's role in helping troubled borrowers. Key legislators, Bush administration officials, banking regulators and the presidential candidates have lined up behind the idea of letting the Federal Housing Administration back new loans for homeowners at risk of foreclosure."

Bloomberg - "Citigroup Reports Loss on Writedowns, Credit Costs" (4-18-08)

"Citigroup, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, reported almost $16 billion of trading writedowns and increased bad loan reserves as customers fell behind on home, car and credit-card payments. The New York-based company's net loss of $1.02 a share compared with an estimate of $1.66 by Merrill Lynch & Co.'s Guy Moszkowski, Institutional Investor's top-rated brokerage analyst, who had predicted an $18 billion writedown."

Bloomberg - "Two-Year Treasury Notes Post Biggest Weekly Decline Since 2001" (4-18-08)

"U.S. two-year Treasury notes posted their biggest weekly decline since 2001 as better-than-forecast revenue from Citigroup Inc. spurred gains in stocks and decreased demand for government debt."

Bloomberg - "Auction-Bond Probes Widen as Cuomo Subpoenas 18 Firms" (4-18-08)

"Regulators are widening their probes into the collapse of the auction-rate securities market as states from New York to Washington scrutinize how Wall Street peddled the bonds to investors and issuers. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo subpoenaed 18 banks and securities firms including UBS AG and Merrill Lynch & Co. in an investigation that could lead to criminal charges, a person familiar with the probe said yesterday. Officials from nine other states formed a task force to determine whether brokers misrepresented the debt as an alternative to money-market investments when they sold it to individuals."

Bloomberg - "Bush Names SBA Head Preston as Housing Secretary" (4-18-08)

"President George W. Bush today named Steven C. Preston secretary of U.S. Housing and Urban Development, replacing Alphonso Jackson, who resigned amid a federal criminal probe into contracts awarded by the agency. Preston, head of the Small Business Administration, would be the nation's 14th HUD secretary. Jackson announced his resignation March 31 amid calls by lawmakers for him to step down. His last day on the job was today."

Bloomberg - "Former Fannie Mae Executives to Pay $31.4 Million" (4-18-08)

"Former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Officer Franklin Raines and two deputies agreed to a $31.4 million settlement with the government over allegations they inflated earnings at the largest U.S. mortgage-finance company. Raines is paying $24.7 million, including a $2 million penalty and the forfeiture of stock options, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said in a statement today. Former Chief Financial Officer Timothy Howard will surrender $6.4 million, and Leanne Spencer, who was the Washington-based company's controller, was fined $275,000."

Orange County Register - "Foreclosure rate in central O.C. 10 times that of coast" (4-18-08)

"DataQuick’s math shows that in the first quarter ‘08 in Orange County there were more than 10 foreclosures per 1,000 houses and condos in a couple of ZIP codes in Santa Ana, while some areas along the coast had less than 1 foreclosure per 1,000. I have a story and big map running in Sunday’s newspaper, but wanted to give you a preview of the map. Dark green is less than 1 per 1,000 and dark red is 6 per 1,000 and higher."

Orange County Register - "K. Hovnanian closing Irvine office" (4-18-08)

"New Jersey-based builder K. Hovnanian Homes has filed a report with the state indicating that it plans to close its Southern California Coastal Region office in Irvine, consolidating its Orange County operations with the Southern California Inland Region in Ontario. As many as 60 positions are being eliminated in the two offices as well as in K. Hovnanian’s field offices from San Diego to the lower central valley, said Nicholas Pappas, the Coastal Region president in Irvine. About 30 of the employees based in Irvine will be jobless when the office closes by May 23, about a dozen of them because they are unwilling to commute to the Ontario office."