Stocks continue mixed. Dow & NAZ are up slightly while decliners are slightly ahead of advancers. Oil continues to slosh around 125, as macro news remains grim. Blackstone (BX) reported a loss in very tough times, down slightly. The loss relates to lower carrying value for their investments. They went public last year at 27 which doesn't look good at today's price of 19.39, maybe the smart guys weren't so smart. JC Penney (JCP) reported a profit decline of 50% & predicted "difficult" conditions for the rest of 2008, but the stock was up 40¢ as profits beat lower expectations.
Last night I went to a discussion about the credit crisis. The conclusions didn't sound good. There are 4MM homes underwater, i.e. the mortgage is larger than the value of the house & that number is expected to grow. The FED's activity bringing lower interest rates may look good in the short run, but in the long run produced the mess we are in. There still may be $2T (as in trillion) of loans which have to be worked out. This mess hurts everybody, not just home builders. For example, state & city tax revenues will take a hit. A few bad houses can harm the entire neighborhood, remember the Bronx years ago? All agreed that the rescue of Bear-Stearns was a mistake. 20 years ago Drexel Burnham was huge, but after they failed life went on.
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