By Alex Daley, Senior Editor, Casey Research Talk of a double-dip recession is seemingly increasing these days. Home sales have dropped like a brick since the end of the special tax breaks for buyers. Weekly job reports are showing much larger rises in unemployment claims than previously expected by whoever it is that decides what exactly is...

CalculatedRisk The comments on the economy were slightly more negative than last meeting. The Fed noted the financial issues in Europe, and also commented that “underlying inflation has trended lower”. Each statements was slightly less positive … From the Fed: Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met...

Courtesy of Vincent Fernando, Clusterstock May new residential home sales were just 300,000 vs. 423,000 expected according to Fact Set consensus. It’s actually the worst number we’ve seen yet: Census Bureau: Sales of new single-family houses in May 2010 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 300,000, according to estimates released...

by Karl Denninger What sort of abject bullshit have the folks on Tout TV been running? June 23 (Bloomberg) — Purchases of new homes in the U.S. fell in May to a record low as a tax credit expired, showing the market remains dependent on government support. The entire economy is dependent on government support. But the government has no money. ...

Moving averages are one of the most widely followed indicator in technical analysis. Simply put, when the price of an index or stock stays above a particular price moving average line on a chart, that price level serves as support — a level where buyers reside. If the price falls below a moving average line and “can’t”...

Tim Iacono The Commerce Department reported(.pdf) that new home sales plunged 33 percent to an all-time low in May following the expiration of the government’s homebuyer tax credit in April. If not for the massive downward revision to the April sales total, from an annual rate of 504,000 to 446,000, the monthly decline would have been more...

By Nico Isaac After 40 years of marriage, one of the most iconic couples of the 20th and 21st centuries has called it quits. And no, we’re not talking about Al and Tipper Gore. On June 16, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced plans to voluntarily delist their shares from the New York Stock Exchange, ending a union that began in 1968 and...

CalculatedRisk Here is an interactive market graph from Doug Short of dshort.com (financial planner). Click on graph for interactive version in new window. The graph has tabs to look at the different bear markets – “now” shows the current market – and there is also a tab for the “four bears”. Tomorrow the Census...

Tyler Durden House Democrat leader Steny Hoyer will today announce that the US will not pass a budget in 2010 as “It isn’t possible to debate and pass a realistic, long-term budget until we’ve considered the bipartisan commission’s deficit-reduction plan, which is expected in December.” Yet “the House has never failed to pass...

Tim Iacono Much to the surprise of those who thought the U.S. housing market would enjoy another buying surge during the final two months of the homebuyer tax credit, the National Association of Realtors reported that home sales fell last month and remain far below the levels reached late last year when the first round of tax credits expired. Of...

Courtesy of David Brown, at Sabrient H/T Ilene at Phil’s Stock World Last week was a good week for the market from a technical standpoint, with the S&P 500 moving ahead about 2% and pushing through two important layers of resistance.  It broke above its 200-day moving average, which had been providing stiff resistance for weeks, and also...

OUCH, existing home sales came in at just a seasonally-adjusted 5.66 million vs. 6.1 million expected. NAR: Existing-home sales remained at elevated levels in May on buyer response to the tax credit, characterized by stabilizing home prices and historically low mortgage interest rates, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Gains in...

The Market Ticker As I noted last night on Blogtalk in response to a question (the last 15 minutes or so of the show) the Feral Government is increasingly being exposed as a pack of animals – cornered animals. Recognition that The Feral Government has run the ship not aground but rather into an iceberg is rapidly spreading throughout the ...

The Mess That Greenspan Made Based on the excerpts that appeared in this Wall Street Journal item over the weekend, a new book by Anatole Kaletsky titled “Capitalism 4.0” looks to a sure hit, if for no other reason than the stinging critique of the economics profession during the financial crisis. The greatest embarrassment for academic economics...

MISH Over a third of HAMP participants have exited the program and another batch is coming up. Those leaving the program will likely end up in foreclosure. Moreover, 4 million delinquent borrowers are not even eligible for the program. Please consider Borrowers exit troubled Obama mortgage program. The Obama administration’s flagship effort...