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FNM is a GSE.  And it has a lot of Alt A or Liar Loans. We discussed Fannie Mae in Intermed II Tuesday. The hyperlink takes you to an excellent analysis of the FNM balance sheet.  We are about to study the equity side of the balance sheet. Such ‘equity’ only has meaning if the…

Do you read Barrons?  This is a good article on technical analysis, the use of chart patterns to divine market direction, and where we are now.  Barrons.com is another good page to add to your bookmarks for business reading.

Consumers are slacking off at Starbucks.  The WSJ reports that gasoline consumption is down for the first time in 16 years.  No wonder the price just went to an all time inflation adjusted high.  The market will take care of this inflation.  Which is to say that consumers are aware of the increased cost of…

Jack Kemp makes some observations about the US Dollar and our tax policy.  He comes down for big time tax changes and a stronger dollar.  Steve Forbes also has a column on the danger of a weak dollar. (see forbes.com under opinions) Steve points out that it may take another stock market crash to convince…

The last post about the information on car sales just got me thinking. And what I am thinking about is information.  There is a lot of it out there, what of it is useful?  Before we go further, read the last blog post about horizontal analysis and car sales around the world. Suppose you were…

We study horizontal analysis in managerial accounting. Here is a good example. One can readily see the fall in sales of specific lines.  Flint argues that eliminating choices will eliminate sales, less offerings is well less sales. He suggests Chrysler wil go from 13 % to 8% of the market, I imagine he is right.…

Do you know the meaning of the term margin call? When an investor buys an investment with borrowed money, he or she is said to be buying on margin, margin is the credit extended as a loan. Let’s suppose the buyer puts up $50 and borrows the rest, $50, to purchase $100 of  a sub…

Auto repos hit a ten year high. This is a sort of first derivative of the housing sub prime crisis.  Can’t pay for the house, hand in the keys, can’t pay for the over priced car, do the same.  It is clear reading the article that too many people jump for the virtually nothing down…

Ford Workers face the their last decision, at least the last one they will get to make.  Ford is offering a final buy out package.  Take it and they  walk away with enough to start over in another line of work, re training, all that. Stay and they  gamble on Ford turning a profit.  Reading…