domsam

The Real Cost of the Agency Guarantee

<A lower interest rate will increase the amount I have to pay for my house; it won't decrease the amount I pay on my mortgage each month.>

Not so!

A smart buyer would go for a higher quality house if he has more money to put in the purchase(with the same monthly payment). Or he would very well go for the same house without increasing the offer price and save on the monthly payments(the subsidy will be saved).

Is Citi's Vikram Pandit a Robot?

I do not think that the writing is diffult to read and comprehend for the readers of wsj.

And we have to admire Pandit for calling for a robust regulatory structure instead of opposing regulatory reforms based on free markets dogma,

And it is inappropriate for the CEO of a bank to go into specifics of the reforms through media.

It is particularly unfair to place responsibility on Pandit for the drop in prices of Citi shares.

Are not the share price drops a result of the actual and anticipated write-offs ?

And the write-offs were the result of bad investment decisions that were made before Pandit became CEO .

Is the share price drop is only unique to Citi ?

Are We Facing a New Wave of Sovereign Bond Defaults?

_And default is a state of affairs, not a state of mind: you can't say that Argentina is in default just because it is deliberately manipulating its statistics._

If the manipulation is real, the bondholder in effect is being paid a lower coupon rate. than the contractual coupon rate.
In essence there is a restructuring of the bond which I think is a default. And it is the state of affairs.

Alesco Financial: Gem in the Garbage Pile

Roger, would not the situation for Alesco get tougher if one or more of the trust preferreds in its portifolio, other than the IMB trust preferreds defer dividend payments ?

Is there a good probability that such a scenario could occur ?

Canfor and Nortel: Stocks Up Despite Increasing Losses

Canfor corp’s Q1 2008 results were better than those of Q4 2007 which may partly explain the rise in share price.

< After adjusting for significant items that affect comparability with prior periods, the Company's adjusted net loss for the first quarter of 2008 was $60.5 million ($0.42 per share). Comparable adjusted net losses for the fourth and first quarters of 2007 were $69.6 million ($0.49 per share) and $40.7 million ($0.28 per share), respectively.>

Alesco Financial: Gem in the Garbage Pile

Is there a significant risk that Alesco may lose REIT staus in 2008 ?