Welcome Back Foreclosures
Posted On Monday, October 18, 2010 at at 1:12 PM by Finance FanaticOnce again, I apologize for my limited updates to the site, as times continue to be busy. As we can see, there has definitely been upward movements in stock prices. In fact, with my last post, the Dow was lingering around the 10000 mark at which I said that I expected a "rubber bottom" at around that point and expected to see a rather steep jump from there. As of now, we can clearly see that has been the case. Now the question is how much is left as we begin to head near the always interesting "end of year" times.
One luxury that the housing market has enjoyed throughout most of the summer months was the lack of foreclosing from banks. Hundreds of thousands of potential foreclosed homes have been delayed due to a variety of reasons. Now, we are starting to see the banks move forward more aggressively. In fact, Bank of America announced today that it plans to resume paperwork for over 100,000 cases of foreclosures in 23 different states. Not only will the housing market now have to endure the off season, they will also have to do it while competing with a fresh load of foreclosed homes. Let the auctions begin!
The housing market will not be the only sector to get affected by the change. For several months now, hundreds of thousands (if not millions) have enjoyed the extra disposable income that has been generated from not having to pay their mortgage. This can be quite significant. As banks begin to foreclose more aggressively, this means that more and more people will be forced to pay occupancy costs again (duh!), which in turn will affect several other sectors. We have seen in recent studies that much of the recent economic activity is a result from government stimulus. If these go away, market growth goes away with it. So now the decision is, when do we make the decision to pay the bill of this party we have been enjoying for the last year and a half.
As of now, I believe we are nearing a rather aggressive pullback. November is known for the massive hedge fund redemptions that take place before year end as well as other year end pressures begin to pile up. Shorts should perform well during the end of October/beginning of November. Happy Trading.