Archive for March 4th, 2009
Continue Reading March 4th, 2009
Today’s Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 close of 7,235.62 is up 171.93 points, or 2.43 percent.
· This represents a paper gain for the day of approximately $200 billion.
· Although the overall index was up, the DJ Wilshire U.S. Banks Index is down -5.01 percent today.
· For the year the DJ Wilshire 5000 index is down -20.38 percent or approximately $2.2 trillion.
· Since Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009, the DJ Wilshire 5000 is down –11.04 percent or $1.1 trillion.
· Since the original stimulus package passed the House on January 28, 2009, the DJ Wilshire 5000 is down –17.91 percent or $1.9 trillion.
· Since the Lehman Brothers file bankruptcy the morning of September 15, 2008, the DJ Wilshire 5000 is down –43.32 percent or $6.6 trillion and the DJ Wilshire U.S. Banks Index is down -69.93 percent.
· Since October 9, 2007 market high, the DJ Wilshire 5000 index is down –54.22 percent or $10.7 trillion.
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Continue Reading March 4th, 2009
Toll Brothers, the big luxury home builder headquartered in Philadelphia, announced a surprising shrinking of its losses today. It reported losses of $88 million in this fiscal year’s first quarter versus $99 million in the same period last year. Excluding write downs, the company actually earned $9.6 million in the quarter. Sales were down 51% to $400 million but the company also enters the new year with debt as a percent of total capital at just 14%, it’s lowest level ever, the company said.
CEO Bruce Toll attributed the relatively good results to incentives the company has put in place for home buyers. “Our recent 3.99% mortgage promotion had a dramatic effect on our website activity; visitors to our mortgage company website, www.tbimortgage.com, grew from 84 a day to 1,617 a day.”
Still, Toll was not calling any kind of turnaround yet. “We believe weak buyer confidence still impedes the market,” he said. “We have not yet seen a pick-up in activity at our communities other than ordinary seasonal increases for this time of year.”
The stock rose 3% on the news to $14.
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Continue Reading March 4th, 2009
Details on President Obama’s eagerly anticipated foreclosure prevention program were released on Wednesday. It targets 9 million borrowers for help - are you one of them?
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Continue Reading March 4th, 2009
The dramatic decline in the housing market has hit Americans hard: 20% of people with mortgages owe more than their home is worth, according to a report released Wednesday.
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