Zero Equity
Stocks went sideways again today…. But, bonds lost what they gained yesterday, increasing interest rates again.
The Dollar lost the last 3 days gains (in a single day.) Gold went sideways, as did Oil and gasoline.
In the news today……
Mortgage Rates – are getting much better again. The 30 year fixed rate is 5.2%, down from 5.32% last week. (4.78% was the low for this year.) For any of you who were thinking about a refi, now is the time to start getting your ducks in a row.
AIG – an analyst has declared that AIG has a ZERO equity value. In other words, all those shares that YOU are holding as taxpayers are worthless. “Another fine fix you’ve got me in.”
Barney Franks – yesterday said he wanted to take all the “profits” from our TARP money, and give it ALL to ACORN. Hope that makes you as happy as it makes ACORN. Of course, there is no “profit” until ALL the principal has been repaid, but Barney doesn’t mean that definition – he wants all that “interest and dividends” given straight to ACORN. He will introduce a bill in Congress to make this happen. I guess he must be in trouble in his re-election bid, and wants ACORN to stuff the ballots in his district. What a scumbag!!!!!!!!!
Retails Sales – in same stores was basically flat in June. Luxury stores and housing related stores were down. What this means is that there are no “green shoots” as far as consumers are concerned. Consumers are NOT increasing their spending. Teens, a big spender, is not spending because they don’t have jobs this summer. You can anticipate that there will be more retail bankruptcies for luxury and/or housing related stores.
Auto Sales – were greater in China than in the USA. How about them apples???? Every day, in every way, China is getting bigger and bigger.
Here are the last numbers for today:
Dow Jones 30 Industrial – 8183 (up 5 points)
10 Year Treasury Bond – 3.41% (up 0.12%)
Euro – $1.4034
Gold – $916 (up $7)
Oil – $60.41 (up $0.27)
Gasoline $1.66 (up $0.03)