A historical Friday (three huge annoucements that will change financial markets around the world), 30 Great Websites to share with your clients

A historical Friday (three huge annoucements that will change financial markets around the world), 30 Great Websites to share with your clients As you read this, I am in Washington DC attending a HUD round table for a couple of days. I promise that I will do my best to straighten them out :). I am excited-seriously - however, of being able to "have an ear" with HUD and will let you know at the end of the week how it went. In the meantime, my team is at the office to assist you when you need us. As you may know, every person on my team (including myself) holds their DE Underwriting designation and would love the opportunity to work with your buyers or answer any questions that you have. Let us know when we can be of assistance. Linda A historical week was capped off last Friday with an incredible day of three news events, all with an enormous impact. Thank goodness the economic calendar was quiet on Friday, as government announcements took center stage. These three huge announcements Friday will change the financial markets around the world. First, we have been talking about the fear over the safety of money in savings for many Americans. Banks are either folding or on the brink of collapse, bonds are losing some or all of their value, and stocks are dropping at an alarming rate, all causing tremendous fear and anxiety for investors. This fear caused a flight to quality of such magnitude that the return on Treasuries was actually negative. People were actually willing to pay money in order not to lose money...forgetting all about any type of return for their investment. This panic lead to a modern day "run on the bank". There was $180 Billion taken out of money market funds due to a lack of confidence. This resulted in a "breaking of the buck", which means that the Net Asset Value or NAV of some money market funds dropped below $1. Virtually all investors consider money market funds very safe and do not expect any change in the principal value, so a $1 invested will always result in a $1 balance plus any interest. But once the $1 valuation was broken investors panicked and the flood gates opened. This caused the Treasury to step in. Friday morning, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson announced that the US government will guarantee money market funds. It should be noted that this does not include high yield, enhanced type, or riskier money market funds. This action is helping settle the markets and as a result stocks around the world are marching higher. Another big announcement that is helping to calm the global markets and regain confidence is the Fed's decision to create a market place for illiquid mortgage debt. As we know, the mortgage mess has buried many companies, some were previous giants with long histories like Lehman, Bear Stearns, Fannie & Freddie. The big problem is that there are no buyers for this debt in the current marketplace. So the Fed is stepping in to create a vehicle to make these purchases of mortgage debt and provide a liquid marketplace. This is a brilliant move which has been very well received and should do a lot of long term good to help the housing and lending environment. Stocks around the world responded very favorably to this on Friday. But wait... there was more J...As a student of the market I can tell you first hand that there is a very dark side to stock shorting. The amount of greed is incredible. Many short sellers have used currently illegal tactics such as "naked" short selling. This means they are shorting a stock without the required step of first borrowing it. This has exacerbated the problem in financial stocks as they get unmercifully beaten down. This in turn hurts their balance sheet which also limits their ability to take on credit. And this is the vicious cycle we have been witnessing. Worse yet are the short sellers who sent armies of individuals to use scare tactics on message boards to convince people the sky is falling. The SEC has placed a ban on short selling in 799 financially related stocks. This ban will last through October 2nd and can be extended if needed in 30 day increments. Some other countries around the globe are also instituting similar bans. There are some very foolish politicians and others who are commenting on what a negative move this is, as well as saying there are legitimate short sellers. The problem is that they have failed miserably in policing this problem for a very long time. It is the equivalent of an electronic store saying, "pay for what you take with the honor system". While some will actually pay what is due, there is no doubt that the store will wiped out in a short period of time. The SEC did the right thing here and hopefully this will add another level of calm to the current financial crisis. These 3 steps will not fix everything, but it sure looks like a step in the right direction. The health of our financial system and confidence that our hard earned savings will not be wiped out is far more important. What good is earning a paycheck if there is no place to safely save that money. Prices will undoubtedly continue their volatile ride..... Forecast for the Week ...and the ride isn't over...the coming week may see more wild movement in the markets, as the financial sector responds to all the recent action, along with several reports due in the latter part of the week. We'll get a read on the housing market with Wednesday's Existing Home Sales Report and Thursday's New Home Sales Report. And we will get a read on the economy with Friday's Gross Domestic Product Report (GDP is the broadest measure of economic activity) and Thursday's Durable Goods Report. What are "durable goods"? Simply put, they are items that are durable (i.e. cars, furniture, appliances, games, cameras, business equipment, etc), and are made to last longer than three years. This report shows a good measure of consumer and business consumption and buying behavior, and depending on the health of the report, could add to the volatility we have seen. The Mortgage Market View Five Fantastic Freebies These days, many people are looking for new ways to cut costs and save money. Here are five great ideas from the editors of Kiplinger: Free TV & Movies: Full episodes of more than 300 shows from NBC Universal and Fox stations are available on www.hulu.com. The site also offers over 165 free full-length movies in a variety of genres. In addition, other networks like ABC and CBS are also starting to post full episodes of various shows on their Web sites. Free College Savings: Sign up at www.Upromise.com and you can turn everyday purchases into college savings. You'll earn cash rewards for eligible purchases of groceries, gas, dining out, travel, and online shopping. The money is then automatically transferred to your child's 529 account. In addition, your family and friends can help, too, by linking their rewards to your Upromise account. Free Directory Assistance: The next time you need to call 411, dial 1-800-FREE-411 instead for free directory assistance for both residential and business listings. While you may have to listen to a short advertisement after the voice prompts, you will still save a few dollars. Free Credit Report: By law, you can receive one free credit report once a year from each of the three main credit bureaus. Visit www.annualcreditreport.com to request your report. Free Recipes: Need some inspiration in the kitchen? Check out www.allrecipes.com and www.Epicurious.com where you can access over 100,000 recipes for all kinds of meals...no matter your level of expertise. You can search by meal, occasion, or ingredient, and there are plenty of user reviews and cooking demonstration videos to help. For twenty-five more great freebies, visit www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/2007/08/free.html. These are awesome to send to your clients to let them know and give you a reason to follow up.