mortgage-backed securities

Quick history lesson: Mark-to-the-Market was a practice originally begun by futures and commodity traders in the 19th century.  Essentially, mark-to-the-market means your holdings must be "priced" every night…at the price they can be sold at. (…)

A client called me today, curious about buying shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  He said, "I'm sitting at home, watching the stock market channel and I'm amazed.  I am seeing all of the shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac changing hands.  The stock prices are so cheap.  But, Tom, I thought these two companies were gone?  Can I still buy them — and maybe make a few bucks on them? (…)

A story reported in the New York Times recently talked about the failure of Integrity Bank of Alpharetta, Georgia. The Times reported that integrity Bank was the 10th US Bank to fail so far in 2008. (…)

Let's talk about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
How could these two companies be "OK" a week ago — and now this week they seem on the brink of disaster? (…)

There was an article distributed nationwide, written by the Associated Press, and carried locally in the Asbury Park Press on March 22, 2008. (…)

All these firms hold the same investments.
There is STILL considerable risk in the group.
Why did this happen to just Bear Stearns? (…)

UPDATE: Sunday evening, 03/16/2008: Bear Stearns to be acquired by JPMorgan Chase for $2.00 in stock swap deal.
That is NOT a typo!
The stock closed at $30 on Friday. On Thursday, it was $57.00. (…)

The news surrounding Bear Stearns on Friday morning was not good! There are several important elements to this story. (…)

Most Wall Street recommendations to buy are based on projected future revenues and/or projected future earnings. Projected. Or you could say, "predicted". (…)

I've labeled this “the yikes spiral” because typically this happens when certain markets are in free fall. (…)

Market bottom? Probably not. But the Federal Reserve is awake.
The Fed stepped in a week ago, and injected liquidity in the financial system. (…)