I don’t know why all the wires are leading with the quote from Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY today, that “The commercial real estate time bomb is ticking.” I’d venture to say it’s exploding all over the place. She made the comment at a hearing she chaired of Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.    Read More

Weekly jobless claims and June's chain store sales reports will compete Thursday with whatever positive effect remains from Alcoa's narrower-than-expected loss.   Read More

Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe in that whole supply and demand thing; that’s why I’m slightly obsessed with the inventory of existing homes floating around the nation’s local MLS’s and more importantly those not floating around the MLS’s. I’m talking about the inventory of foreclosed properties that banks are holding onto, refusing to unleash onto the sales market.    Read More

Here comes the corporate earnings season, and there's no doubt it will be more important than most. Alcoa's after-the-bell report Wednesday signals the start of the second quarter reporting period, which traders say could be a turning point for a very tentative stock market.    Read More

Despite the anxiety around the June employment report Friday, traders say the market's reaction could be muted.   Read More

The best quarter in 10 years is now history, as investors quickly shift their focus to the promise of a bumpy road for stocks in July.   Read More

A lot of folks are parsing the latest S&P Case Shiller home price report out today, and debating whether some month-to-month increases are proof of home price stabilization nationwide. I frankly think it’s impossible to say anything nationwide, because a lot of different markets are reacting very differently. That may seem an incredibly prosaic thing to say, but I think an awful lot of smart folks often lose sight of that.    Read More

An interesting aside in the interview I did today with Michael Barr, the Treasury Department’s Asst. Secretary for Financial Institutions. Barr is the architect of the Administration’s Making Home Affordable program, i.e. the housing bailout, and this was his first on-camera interview since he was sworn in as a Treasury official.    Read More

Stocks declined on Friday as investors shrugged off a surge in consumer sentiment, instead focusing on the fact that consumers are saving their money at a feverish pace. In another encouraging sign for the economy, KB Home reported a wider-than-expected loss but said that the housing decline is moderating. So are the “green shoots” back? Experts discussed the above and more…    Read More

Stocks had their best day in three weeks as markets enter the home stretch to the quarter end.   Read More