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RealtyTrac Reports 308,524 Foreclosure Filings In February, 2% Decline From January, Snow Slows Down Foreclosure Activity

RealtyTrac has reported February foreclosure activity, which at 308,524 units, was a 2% decline from January, and a 6% increase year over year. This equates to one in 418 housing units.

European Commission To Back CDS Trading Ban As Second Round Of Strikes Cripples Greece; Greek GDP Now Expected To Miss Worst Case Scenario

The Washington Post reports that the next "Lehman-sized" event may be just around the corner , as the European Commission is now supporting a ban on trading sovereign CDS. While we are in process of tracking down whether this is actual news or just some exaggeration based on semantics, we will caution, once again, that the consequences of a CDS trading ban will be severe and very likely result in the opposite of what the EC intends on achieving. Keep in mind that everyone expected the Lehman bankruptcy to be contained as it was at best a fringe cog in the financial system

Guest Post: Stocks Up…. So Is Risk Aversion

Submitted by Credit Trader Stocks Up BUT Risk Aversion Up S&P Futures managed to test the Jan 11th highs but risk aversion in credit remains significantly shifted since then which we find intriguing. VIX is slightly higher than at 1/11, 10Y TSY 10bps lower in yield with a notable duration extension into the 5-7Y region of the curve and away from 2Y and 30Y, DXY is up 4.5% but oil is a smidge lower while Gold is -$44. All of these changes as equities reach 2010 highs once again

PIMCO’s El-Erian On The Inability To Grasp The Seismic Changes Currently Occurring In The Developed World

We have now reached a point when a Senator has to write a well-intentioned letter to the very administration he serves, (whose sworn duty is to preserve the wealth of all of its constituents, not just Goldman Sachs), with a cautionary tale that continued lying to the general population combined with a culture of opacity and persistent fraud, will lead to a disastrous effect to the economy and to the very fabric of American society.

Guest Post: It’s 2010: What Should Investors, Traders and More Importantly What Should We as Americans Do Now?

It’s 2010: What Should Investors, Traders and More Importantly What Should We as Americans Do Now? Submitted by John Bougearel of The Commodity Trading Advisor

Measured Move ABCD Example in Mar 10 SPY Intraday

I love highlighting Measured Move Patterns (very similar to flags) in the markets due to the price pattern symmetry and structure - each one serves as a great educational reference of this not-so-common pattern. Fewer people know what an AB=CD pattern is than do a bull or bear flag - though the two patterns are similar

Senator Brown Warns Summers And Geithner Not To Fill Fed Vacancies With Yet More Administration Puppets And/Or Idiots

In a letter to Larry Summers and Tim Geithner, Senator Sherrod Brown warns the administration to not simply place more Wall Street cronies in filling the three vacancies at the Federal Reserve, which will open up once Fed vice chairman Donald Kohn leaves this coming June. Instead of mere" maximum liquidity" automatons, Brown wants the new Fed members to be "committed to transparency, consumer protection and lowering the unemployment rate." Furthermore, Brown demands that "we need economic policy makers who possess the foresight to identify harmful economic trends, the courage to speak out about the necessity of addressing these practices before they inflict lasting damage to our economy, and the wisdom to listen even if their views are challenged." Alas, as transparency and rationa thought, coupled with proactive defensive actions means game over for the Fed, these conditions are an immediate deal killer, with the result being that the only affirmative criteria for new Fed membership is the endorsement of Lloyd Blankfein and current Fed Director Jamie Dimon. With the yield curve merely at record wides, there is certainly enough room for the current 2s10s spread of 282 to at least double as the American middle class still has a little money that can be stolen, in space or time, by Wall Street, with the Fed's endless blessings

A Modest Amendment Proposal To The "Move Your Money" Campaign: Increase Your Withholding Exemptions

Over the past few months, Arianna Huffington has initiated a grass roots campaign called " Move your money " whose purpose is to forcefully shift an allocation of the deposit base from the TBTFs which have captured the government via the Wall Street-D.C. lobby complex. While we hope this campaign succeeds, we are somewhat skeptical that it will achieve its goal.

Another Record: Treasury-Mortgage Spread Just Took Out 60 bps Support

The 10 Year Treasury To Mortgage spread just broke the 60 bps barrier, and is now trading at a record tight 59.61 bps, after dropping as low as 58 bps earlier. Is the Fed now launching a short squeeze in MBS as well? Pretty soon Mortgages will be trading at negative rates, when the Fed realizes that the only way to get house prices higher is to pay Americans to take out a mortgage

As Budget Deficit Hits Record High, Interest On US Public Debt Hits Record Low

What is wrong with this picture: the MTS just announced that the February budget deficit was $220.9 billion , after receipts of just $107.5 billion with vastly surpassed by outlays of $328.4 billion. This is a record.