Washington Mutual Inc. (WM)

All Comments on WM

  • commenter
    Inzight
    Sep 30 05:45 PM
    My Website
    Hey, Congress, Guess What? WaMu's Toast [view article]
    insightful posts

    for all the wamu shareholders take a look at this blog

    mining101.blogspot.com     Reply
  • commenter
    Inzight
    Sep 30 05:44 PM
    My Website
    Hey, Congress, Guess What? WaMu's Toast [view article]
    insightful comments about Wamu daily

    mining101.blogspot.com     Reply
  • commenter
    Inzight
    Sep 30 05:44 PM
    My Website
    Hey, Congress, Guess What? WaMu's Toast [view article]
    insightful comments about Wamu daily

    mining101.blogspot.com     Reply
  • commenter
    billddrummer
    Sep 30 05:35 PM
    Billion $ Question: What Will Mortgage Backed Securities Be Worth? [Housing Tracker] [view article]
    Hi Judy,

    Great data. Thanks for keeping up on everything!!!

    Although I think your headline may be missing some zeroes. This might be a trillion dollar question. I've seen numbers as high as $5 trillion in counterparty risk related to mortgage backed securities, derivatives, and default swap exposure.

    But as with all paired trades, the risk is essentially half that number, or $2.5 trillion. And the vast majority of mortgages will ultimately pay out. So the further loss risk is probably in the $1,000,000,000,000 range (boy that's a lot of zeroes!).

    Time to keep the powder ready, and dry.

    Thanks again for all your hard work!!     Reply
  • commenter
    Peter Fritz
    Sep 30 04:38 PM
    Financial Landscape: Writedowns, Losses and Capital Raised [view article]
    I saw this list on bloomberg.com, updated through 9-20-08. does anybody have the link to it, or know where on bloomberg i can get a refreshed list? thanks Reply
  • commenter
    Poor Jim
    Sep 30 03:40 PM
    It Did Happen! - Cramer's Mad Money (9/29/08) [view article]

    It should seem obvious that Jim Cramer's shhtick is aimed at college kids, rather than adults. He packs 'em in at his college tour stops. Little kids love him, with all the shouting and sounds effects.

    But why would any grown-up pay attention to what he thinks about a particular stock? Much of his advice -- about diversification, etc., is quite sound, and his knowledge and total recall of thousands of stocks is absolutely amazing.

    But his judgment is often flawed, his emotional age is that of a child (I can't recall exactly which age has temper tantrums), and his presentation is, by design and perhaps also by nature, that of an insecure teenager doing whatever it takes to get attention -- Rule No. One. being, "When in doubt, SHOUT!"

    Questions:

    As far as character goes, did you notice how he kept saying. "I let you down," but then transferring all the blame to Steel by adding, "I let you down because I believed Steel."

    Questions:

    * Is that what you call a stand-up guy?

    * I wonder how he behaves in a restaurant when he doesn't like the service or the food?

    * Would you invite this man to your house for dinner?

    Poor Jim (Getting poorer and wiser day by day)     Reply
  • commenter
    Curbs-In
    Sep 30 02:30 PM
    It Did Happen! - Cramer's Mad Money (9/29/08) [view article]
    orange2tango, Where do you think a few $billion of this bail-out bill are going? Lifetime security details for these clowns and their families, multi-million bribes for some of the Representatives to change their votes and building a giant reinforced concrete cave they will all live in when this falls apart and anarchy comes. I doubt the security details will be enough or bunkers dug deep enough. Reply
  • commenter
    billddrummer
    Sep 30 01:17 PM
    Subprime, Alt-A Mortgage Performance Continues To Decline [Housing Tracker] [view article]
    Hi Judy,

    Great compilation. Thanks!

    To flashrob,

    First of all, the investors who purchased the mortgage backed securities weren't interested in the houses at all. All they wanted was yield on their investment, which was represented by the value of the cash stream (interest and principal payments) generated by the underlying notes. As long as people made their payments on time, that cash stream was predictable, measurable, and could be valued. But when mortgage companies began making loans to borrowers who couldn't afford them, default rates spiked. What that did to the markets is twofold: First, the payment streams were less predictable; and second, their market value become questionable because of the subsequent unpredictibility.

    That, in my view, is why the credit markets for collateralized debt securities has frozen up.

    Adding insult to injury is this: The tranches of mortgages that were bundled and sold were insured with credit default swaps, to protect the investor from default. Those swaps were also sold in the secondary market. And as long as default rates remained low, the swap market stayed liquid--if few people defaulted, then your swap was safe. And many companies pledged the values of the swaps for commercial paper, that was also sold in the secondary market. But as more loans went into default, swap values dropped. The lower swap values forced commercial paper issuers to come up with more collateral to back the outstanding commercial paper. But with the markets frozen, dealers couldn't raise the cash necessary. And you ended up with bankruptcies of Lehman, a fire sale of Wamu, the collapse of Merriill Lynch, and so on.

    But that has nothing at all to do with the value of the property. Instead, the markets for the securities created from the mortgages written is what collapsed, mainly because the payment streams couldn't be predicted with as much certainty.

    And that's why we're here, in my opinion.

    I've said this many times on this forum and others: Until prices for homes reach a level where a local household can afford to purchase, housing prices will continue to fall. This is a local phenomenon, driven by prevailing incomes in the local area. Which is why it's so instructive to read this thread--Judy gets information from all over the world, and presents it to us to provide a macro-view of the real estate markets.

    Locally (northern NV), I look for home prices to correct another 15-20%. That would put the median home price at $192,000, which is affordable for a household with the median income for this area. In higher income areas, prices will tend to correct at a higher level. But don't expected outsized appreciation after the median price stops falling. There's still more inventory to absorb before appreciation starts.
    Reply
  • commenter
    orange2tango
    Sep 30 01:10 PM
    It Did Happen! - Cramer's Mad Money (9/29/08) [view article]
    Auditors of these firms should be hanged !!! these big four should be dismantled ! Reply
  • commenter
    User 69935
    Sep 30 01:09 PM
    It Did Happen! - Cramer's Mad Money (9/29/08) [view article]
    Mr. Steel ought to revisit cramer's program and profess the truth about WB's financial condition if he provided misinfo. I believed the presentation and purchased 3000 WB shares. Not a word from him regarding the transfer of assets to C. Don't you think Mr Steel owes us that much? Reply
  • commenter
    orange2tango
    Sep 30 01:07 PM
    It Did Happen! - Cramer's Mad Money (9/29/08) [view article]
    I removed "Mad money" from my DVR record list, Cramer is not good for market, where was he when Gold was @ 72 , he is askiing to buy gold @ 92!!!!!!! Reply
  • commenter
    FastEddy
    Sep 30 01:01 PM
    It Did Happen! - Cramer's Mad Money (9/29/08) [view article]
    Cramer is a tool of the wall street greedheads ... too bad, he occasionally does have insight into the inner workings of a few investment possibilities.

    Cramer crying "run for the hills, its the Great Depression II" because the public let congress know how it felt about bailing out his buddies, is not conducive to better, freer markets, just government controlled markets.

    Jim, get your head straightened out and we will check back next week.     Reply
  • commenter
    Ishortyou
    Sep 30 10:47 AM
    It Did Happen! - Cramer's Mad Money (9/29/08) [view article]
    Looks like Wachovia can start from scratch to build a new banking subsidiary with safe practice together with its remaining good outstanding subsidiaries. The current subsidiaries of Wachovia make it look like "Merrill Lynch without the toxic risky waste", Wachovia will keep the valuable human resources and the talent that have expirience in the banking business saving them for the new banking subsidiary. Reply
  • commenter
    Norman
    Lepoff, M.D.
    Sep 30 10:21 AM
    It Did Happen! - Cramer's Mad Money (9/29/08) [view article]
    Cramer has been praising WB sice it was at 50. There are so many of his recomendations like this one that it is absurd. He is as bad as his CEO friends that have caused this whole mess. Reply
  • commenter
    Freemarketee
    r
    Sep 30 10:17 AM
    It Did Happen! - Cramer's Mad Money (9/29/08) [view article]
    If insiders like Cramer and analysts cannot get it right, who can? People should stop watching his show, invest in ETF's and Mutual funds and hope for the best. Anything else is gambling. Diversify! Diversify! Diversify! Reply
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