It's been about 4-5 months since I last talked about Case-Shiller CPI (CS-CPI). Case-Shiller CPI is formulated by substituting the Case-Shiller housing index for Owner's Equivalent Rent (OER) in the CPI for all urban consumers (CPI-U) index, commonly shortened to CPI. ... Read the full post ... Read more

Before I start with this morning’s article, I want to ask you to vote for me in the Free Money Finance March Madness contest. The best personal finance article will win the right to give $1,000 (generously provided by FMM) to a charity of your choice. ... Read the full post ... Read more

The GSEs no longer buy or insure interest-only loans; the last vestige of Ponzi financing washes away. Today's property features excellent photography, and of course, too high a price.   Irvine Home Address ... 4 LOCUST Irvine, CA 92604 Resale Home Price ...... $499, ... Read th ... Read more

Salmasius pointed out that moneylending was a business like any other, and thereby entitled to charge a market price. Competition lowers the price. If one doesn't like high interest rates, the more usurers the better! ... Read the full post ... Read more

It's summertime and the livin' is... (fill with adjective best describing your situation.) The European Central Bank (ECB) has gone into a wait and see mode, leaving main interest rates unchanged and forecasting a return to mild inflation after Eurostat had issued a 0.1% deflation figure for June ... Read more

After depreciating consistently over the past few weeks, the USD is now traded over 1.41 against the EUR, and over 1.62 against the GBP. This week on Thursday, at 11.45 GMT, the ECB will deliver its periodical Interest Rates statement. Forecasts show that the number is expected to ... Read the f ... Read more

As we've discussed before, it is much easier to predict a company's operating earnings than it is its net income, due to changes in debt levels, interest rates, non-operating earnings, and one-time tax items which all affect the latter but not the former. When attempting to value a ... Read the ... Read more

I do believe the market is telling us that the USD will fail the [back] test. If today finishes positive, this tells us that Hope '09 may finally be kicking off and the pump is on. How long it will last is another question. I have picked up a couple bull equities in the last couple days in sector ... Read more

The Fed is using all the tools it has available including a threat to buy long dated treasuries to break the downward spiral of the economy. The Federal Open Market Committee kept its interest rate target in a range of zero to 0.25%, as expected. Rates will need to stay close to zero for ... Re ... Read more