Stocks enter the final hour mixed. Since Monday the DOW has slid about 125 points or a little over 1% while the NASDAQ has gained some 10 points or almost ½%. Mass layoffs slipped to 1,609 in July involving 143,703 workers.
The ECRI Weekly Leading Index improved to 120.8 as the smoothed annualized growth rate advanced to –10%, this marks the 5th consecutive week at recessionary levels as the previous weeks reading of –9.8% was revised away to –10.2%.
There has been considerable discussion about next weeks Existing Home Sales Report. Substantial anecdotal evidence and the general consensus expects a significant jump in inventory for sale, a new record high is expected and the figure could exceed 12-months supply. As sales plunge post tax credit, prices are expected to slip, not dramatically as there is a bit of a lag following sales and inventory data, but I would imagine that going into winter the downward price pressure will be quite noticeable.
Moody’s reports that Commercial Real Estate prices fell 4% in June as their Index hit 112.51. Following large declines last year, commercial prices seem to be bouncing along the bottom so far in 2010. That said the wave of refinancing in process and dreadful market fundamentals are all but certain to push prices lower going forward.
NY AG Andrew Cuomo has filled fraud charges against former Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis alleging that Mr. Lewis misled shareholders regarding the purchase of Merrill Lynch. I said at the time that they were dumb (Countrywide) and dumber (Merrill Lynch) purchase’s. B of A grossly overpaid for Merrill and in fact their seems to be quite a bit of evidence suggesting that either Hank Paulson (former Treasury Secretary), Ben Bernanke (current Fed Chairman) or both colluded to force Ken Lewis to go through with the shotgun wedding as Merrill was about to go under just like Lehman and Bear Stearns. Mr. Lewis apparently got cold feet at the alter and tried to invoke a MAC (Material Adverse Circumstances) clause and back out of the deal, at which point he was apparently threatened with unemployment and or litigation. Perhaps Mr. Cuomo should look into that as well because just like the AIG deal, their both dirty and quite probably involved the breaking of more than a few laws.
Hi and welcome to The Profit Motive, I’m your host Caleb Lawrence. Once upon a time in America the media acted as the watchdog of the corporations and the state. In the modern era it’s all about ratings and profits, opinion has been substituted for news and frequently is presented as fact. 
