Bloomberg - "Treasury 10-Year Note Yields Rise to Year High on Retail Sales" (6-13-08)

"Treasuries fell, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to the highest level this year, after a larger-than-expected gain in retail sales bolstered the case for the Federal Reserve to boost interest rates."

Bloomberg - "Moody's Set to Change Municipal Bond Rating Scale" (6-13-08)

"Moody's Investors Service, under pressure from regulators and state finance officials, will change the way it rates municipal bonds and rank them on the same scale it uses for corporate and sovereign debt. Moody's said today it is asking investors and public officials to comment on changing the municipal scale it has used for decades, and will detail the transition to a new measure by July 31. Gail Sussman, managing director for public finance at the New York-based company, said the change will eventually lead to upgrades of some of its 78,000 municipal ratings."

CNN - "Housing: It'll get worse" (6-13-08)

"With home prices plunging by more than 30% in some markets, bargain-hunters are ready to pounce. But it may pay for buyers to wait. Many housing experts say that the worst-hit metro areas have even farther to fall, and could see total drops of as much as 50%."

Market Watch - "SEC proposes new rules for credit-rating firms" (6-13-08)

"The Securities and Exchange Commission voted Wednesday to propose tightening rules for credit-rating firms, calling for restrictions to attack conflicts of interest and expanded disclosure, including on ratings of structured finance products."

Bloomberg - "FBI Halts Some Cases to Investigate Mortgage Frauds" (6-13-08)

"U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, confronting a surge in mortgage fraud, has ordered more than two dozen of its field offices to stop probing some financial crimes so agents can focus on the subprime crisis."

Market Watch - "Thornburg swings to $3.3 bln loss" (6-13-08)

"Thornburg Mortgage Inc. on Thursday reported a quarterly loss of more than $3 billion as the company was hit hard by falling market values in its mortgage and loan portfolios."

Bloomberg - "Foreclosures Rise 48% in May as Repossessions Double" (6-13-08)

"Banks repossessed twice as many homes in May and foreclosure filings rose 48 percent from a year ago as falling house prices trapped borrowers in mortgages they couldn't afford, RealtyTrac Inc. said in a report today. One in every 483 U.S. households either lost the home to foreclosure, received a default notice or was warned of a pending auction, RealtyTrac said. That was the highest rate since the Irvine, California-based company began reporting in January 2005 and the 29th consecutive month of year-over-year increases. Nevada, California and Arizona posted the highest rates in the U.S. and New Jersey entered the top 10."

Bloomberg - "Cook Pine Buys Distressed Debt After Beating Peers" (6-13-08)

"Cook Pine is boosting allocations to hedge funds that invest in companies that are struggling to repay debt, Kuwana said. Companies with high-yield, high-risk debt defaulted at an annual rate of 2 percent worldwide in May, compared with 1.7 percent in April, the sixth consecutive month of increases, according to Moody's Investors Service. The rate may climb to 5 percent by the end of 2008, Moody's said."

Orange County Register - "Cheapest O.C. homes selling best in late-May" (6-13-08)

"DataQuick’s late-May homeselling stats show that O.C. sales are destined to be below their year-ago pace for the 32nd consecutive month when full-month figures are out early next week. And May’s median selling price will be under a half-million bucks for the first time since early 2004."

Orange County Register - "Even ‘The Chamber’ knows housing’s killing state economy" (6-13-08)

"As in the resale market, many new home builders have large inventories of mostly-completed-but-not-yet-sold homes. Construction of new homes is dropping fast and effective prices are falling, both of which will help to clear out the unsold inventories. However, this process will take a while. Industry observers do not expect any significant improvement before 2009, with some areas not reaching bottom until a year later."

Realty Times - "Investor Report: Downsides of Short Sales" (6-13-08)

"Are short sales all they're cracked up to be for real estate investors? Absolutely not -- as few as 10 percent of all attempts to buy them actually go to closing in some local markets, says Alexis McGee, California investor and founder and president of Foreclosures.com."

Realty Times - "Market Conditions: Inland Empire and High Desert, California" (6-13-08)

"Smart Move Realty's broker Joshua Beauchamp believes prices will continue their downward trend, but warns that as interest rates rise, monthly payments will be affected. Joshua says now may be a great time for buyers to see what's out there."