New York Times - "Scramble Led to Rescue Plan on Mortgages" (7-15-08)

"Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and other top officials were warned, after Fannie and Freddie lost nearly half their stock market value on Friday morning, that any more turmoil threatened to reduce the value of trillions of dollars of the companies’ debt and other obligations, which are held by thousands of domestic and foreign banks, pension funds, mutual funds and other investors, government officials said. The warnings of a potential systemic failure led to the resulting rescue package, and one of the most striking — though unspoken — regulatory shifts in modern times."

CBIA - "Declining New-Home Sales Emphasizes Need for Action, CBIA Declares" (7-15-08)

"The monthly CBIA/Hanley Wood Market Intelligence (HWMI) New Home Sales and Pricing Report showed that new home sales in May were 51 percent below May 2007. The drop represents a worsening in the trend of year-over-year decline, which had shrunk to 44 percent in April after coming in at 49 percent in March."

Bloomberg - "Insurer Writedowns Linked to Subprime Reach $77 Billion: Table" (7-15-08)

"The following table shows $77.6 billion of assets marked down by some of the largest insurers since the beginning of 2007 as values fell in U.S. mortgage and credit markets."

Bloomberg - "SEC Targets Lenders, Investment Banks in Subprime Investigation" (7-15-08)

"U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox said the agency is pursuing more than four dozen cases into the subprime-mortgage crisis, focusing on whether lenders and investment banks misled investors."

Bloomberg - "Ackman Shorts Fannie, Freddie, Suggests Restructuring" (7-15-08)

"Hedge fund manager William Ackman, who is betting against shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, criticized any government plan to buy equity in the existing mortgage-finance companies and said shareholders should be wiped out. Ackman, 42, has his own plan that would see Fannie Mae raise about $86 billion in capital by giving investors in $750 billion of senior unsecured notes 90 cents on the dollar in debt of a new company, with the balance in equity. Investors in Fannie Mae's $11 billion of junior debt would get warrants, while common and preferred shareholders would get nothing, according to Ackman."

Bloomberg - "Fitch Ratings Lowers New Home Sales Forecast as Slump Persists" (7-15-08)

"Fitch Ratings Inc. lowered its forecast for new home sales this year as stricter mortgage lending standards reduce demand."

Bloomberg - "Safeco Gains Most Since April After Buyout Affirmed" (7-15-08)

"Safeco Corp., the property insurer that agreed in April to be acquired by Liberty Mutual Group Inc., rose the most since the deal was announced after Liberty Mutual reaffirmed its commitment to complete the $6.2 billion buyout."

Orange County Register - "Will the Fed’s new rules prevent another housing bubble?" (7-15-08)

"If these rules had been in place when we first knew that we needed them, the whole subprime crisis could have been averted. For a couple of years before the subprime market melted down, the widespread attitude in the subprime industry was that there was little reason to check whether borrowers could repay, because housing prices were always going to go up and everyone was going to make money even if the borrower had to sell the house. Prudent underwriting went out the window and there was a feeding frenzy by lenders and investors."

Orange County Register - "4 of O.C.’s 7 biggest cities lose population" (7-15-08)

"If population growth supposedly drives a healthy housing market, then recent stats from the Census Bureau — population growth for municipalities with 100,000-plus folks — shows another challenge for local real estate: Census says four of O.C.’s seven largest cities lost population in the year ended July, 1 2007. "