General Growth Properties
Stocks went up again on news that there are some “bright linings” in those economic clouds, and things will get better, or at least things are bottoming.
Treasuries lost value (increased interest rate) on the stock movement.
The Dollar, oil and gasoline went sideways.
Gold fell $14, and is now poised to test the $850 to $860 level.
In the news today…..
Jobless Claims were down to 610,000 claims last week. This is still very high, and will result in increased unemployment.
Housing Starts were down 10.8% in March to 510,000 units/year. The number of Housing Permits was also the same annual number. People are interpreting this that the housing market is at the bottom.
General Growth Properties – the 2nd Biggest Mall owner in the US – declared bankruptcy. It has $27B in debts. This is a sure sign that Commercial Real Estate is hurting out there.
JPMorgan announced great profits for the first Quarter 2009, and announced it wants to repay its TARP loan of $25B tomorrow. Yesterday, Goldman Sachs did the same with its TARP loan of $10B. These announcements could be PR efforts.
Foreclosures are starting up again. Some banks held back on foreclosures during 1Q 2009, but they can’t hold off forever. Naturally, a new batch of foreclosures will have downward pressure on housing prices, and this just makes our overall recession that much worse.
Here are the last numbers for today:
Dow Jones 30 Industrial – 8125 (up 96 points)
10 Year Treasury Bond – 2.83% (up 0.07%)
Euro – $1.3178
Gold – $880 (down $14)
Oil – $49.98 (up $0.72)
Gasoline – $1.47 (up $0.03)