MBS OPEN: Sideways Start. Searching for Guidance

Posted To: MBS Commentary

Good Morning. Congrats to the Saints. Here is a recap of my weekend.... We had a blizzard...32 inches of THUNDER SNOW . The driveway was defeated with snowblowers. This is only the first half of the driveway by the way.... The CAPS came from behind to beat the pens. Ovie had a the trick plus the game winning assist in OT. Thats 14 in a row for the C-A-P-S CAPS CAPS CAPS. Troy saw his shadow. AH! Six more weeks of football. The Saints won....then my milkaholic ex-gf Lindsay came over. Phew. I am zonked. What a weekend. Stocks sold off in a panicky fashion last week as sovereign debt concerns grew over Greece, Portugal, and Spain's ballooning budget deficit and rising borrowing costs. If a coordinated global recovery is to remain on course, one has to assume some sort of financial intervention...(read more)

The Week Ahead: Treasury Auctions, Retail Sales, Consumer...

Posted To: MND NewsWire

The week ahead is a particularly slow one. The only major releases are the Trade Balance on Wednesday and Retail Sales report on Thursday. Plus, Friday will see February’s first measure of consumer confidence. With little fresh data to anticipate, the fear is that markets will continue on their downward path this week. Since January 19 the Dow has shed 5.6% while the S&P 500 has lost 6.9%. One hour before the opening bell, however, equity markets are looking stable. Dow futures are up 10 points to 10,012 and S&P 500 futures are up 3.08 points to 1,066. Meantime, WTI Crude oil is starting the week 15 cents higher at $71.34 per barrel and Spot Gold is up $1.90 to $1,068.20. The US dollar, by contrast, is lower against the majors after hitting the highest level since the summer of...(read more)

MBS CLOSE: On The Doorstep Of A Brave "Old" World

Posted To: MBS Commentary

When something is on a doorstep--any doorstep--there are only two places it can be going: either back inside the metaphorical house, or back to the world outside. Bonds, as represented not by our namesake MBS, but by the 10yr Treasury note, find themselves in just such a dualistic state this evening. They too, are on a doorstep, their location being most perfectly defined neither by the "outside" or the "inside." when we are talking about outside versus inside, it's in reference to the range in which the 10 year treasury was trading between August 21 and December 14, 2009, "the brave old world." These four months represent a unique time in the economic history surrounding the financial crisis. it was a unique time in and of itself in that we were neither rising...(read more)

Preparing and Staging a House for Sale

Banish the clutter! Trim the bushes! Hide your Star Wars collection! Take down the family pictures! What things can you do to prepare a house for sale? You'll find tips, hints, thoughts and ideas for sprucing up, cleaning out, decorating, staging, creating a great first impression and making a house appealing to buyers in this Updated Field Guide.

New Books in the Library (February 2010)

What's new in the Information Central library collection? This month you'll find books on urbanism, real estate investment, vacation homes, remodeling and many more. Interested in borrowing any of these titles from the library? Simply click on the title to make your request right over the web!