Speaking at an economic forum in Mexico City, Mexico, Former
Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said that while he has seen a
pronounced turnaround in March, the market turmoil may get worse before a
recovery sets in.
Greenspan said that he still sees downward pressures from housing,
adding that "prices may only clarify themselves by the end of 2008."
Greenspan said that any regulation of the markets would be...
U.S home foreclosures grew by 7% percent in May and
increased by 48% annually, according to a report released by RealtyTrac.
That is the highest rate since the firm began tracking foreclosures in
2005.
There were 261,255 foreclosure filings in May as one in every 483 U.S.
households received a foreclosure notice during the month.
"May was the third straight month where we've seen a month-to-month
increase in foreclosure activity and the...
At 10 a.m. EDT, Reuters and the University of Michigan will release
the preliminary consumer sentiment report for June. The headline index is
expected to decline to 59.0 compared to May's final 59.8.
At noon EDT, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan will
speak at an economic forum in Mexico City...
Core inflation continued to be benign in May, rising 0.2% in the month
and 2.3% in the year, but the Fed will likely put more focus on total
inflation as that figure came in higher than anticipated, economists said
on Friday after the CPI report.
TD Securities expects "continued hawkishness on
inflation by Federal Reserve officials, which suggests that the Fed
is...
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) presently claims 1.2
million members. We figure those are figures from 2007, pre-dating the
worst of the housing free fall and that there have been many dropouts
since then.
Even in the best of times the division of wealth among
agents is lop- sided. According the Federal job outlook, the median
annual income of agents in 2004 was $35,670.
But, if you were
among those earning $35,000 in 2004, you are probably hurting now.
You want to stay in the business until the market
improves, but you have to eat, so may we offer two suggestions
for modifying your business model in order to increase listings and
sales...
Speaking in an interview with CNBC, Philadelphia Fed President
Charles Plosser said the inflation threat was "serious", and
called it an "insidious tax on consumers".
Turning towards the credit crunch, the Philadelphia
Fed President warned that financial markets were not out of the woods
yet, adding that, "We're going to see some ups and down and bumps along
the way." Nevertheless, he noted that things appeared to have improved
over the last couple of months.
Economic conditions across the United States remain "generally
weak" in the Fed's Beige Book covering April and May, yet only
seven of the 12 districts describe conditions as "sluggish" or "soft,"
compared to nine in the previous report, while the remaining five
described conditions as "stable" or "little changed."
Speaking at the Cleveland Fed's 2008 Community Development Policy
Summit on consumer credit markets, Fed Governor Randall
Kroszner said that more disclosures on some credit products may not be
sufficient to protect consumers.
"There are challenges in ensuring
that the appropriate information is provided to help markets function
efficiently," said Kroszner. "Product suppliers may not always
provide...
The Fed's Beige Book and some Fed speakers will top the
economic data menu for the United States on Wednesday as
Canadian markets receive first-quarter capacity utilization data. In
Europe, markets will also be preparing to hear from J?Stark of the
European Central Bank speaking at a Boston Fed Conference on Inflation,
and with oil prices surging, the Department of Energy's oil inventories
will draw much attention.
