Trader Talk

Published: Monday, 18 May 2009 | 2:08 PM ET

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Traders are talking midday:

1) The NAHB home buying survey for May is out, and is again showing some improvement, but not much. Present and Future expectations of sales--essentially a survey of builder sentiment--rose.

But traffic in prospective buyers, which is what counts, was unchanged.

This is a bit of a disappointment, given the lower mortgage rates, lower home prices and notable incentives that are out there. Peter Boockvar and others have noted that California, for example, has a $10,000 tax credit for new home buyers. There is also a federal tax credit of $8,000 for first time buyers that can be combined with the California state credit.

2) The euphoria over the Congress Party election victory in India is lifting not just Indian stocks, but many emerging market stocks in general. Some are arguing that it could add 2 percentage points to Indian GDP next year.

Maybe. But how much room will there be to enact reforms in India, given the global economic slowdown? Stratfor says it will be much less than Wall Street thinks: "the global financial crisis and the decentralized nature of India's political system will hamper the ability of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a trained economist, to implement any meaningful liberal reforms to encourage foreign investment, cut down on populist spending and manage a growing budget deficit."

3) The money raising keeps coming: State Street has announced they will be selling debt and equity, Principal Financial Group said they would be selling debt, and just a few moments ago ConocoPhillips announced a $3 billion debt offering. 

STOCKS MENTIONED HERE

STT

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PFG

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COP

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