Tooth Ferry

My five year old daughter has her first loose tooth and she is looking forward to a visit from the tooth ferry. Apparently those investing in the stock market are also waiting for this ferry to visit. They seem to be betting that this will happen soon. I, for one, am betting this market ferry lost its wings and is going to be floundering for some time to come. In English, I am now shorting the market and have zero, and I mean zero, equity positions. We will see what strategy works.

As a wise, very experienced, pilot once said, "I would rather be on the ground wishing I were up there than to be up there wishing I were on the ground." I am right where I want to be at the moment. I see very little possibility of the market going up significantly from here and I see a lot of possibility in the other direction.

Existing Home Sales UP

Yep, that is going to last. If you did not read my earlier posts this week on option ARMs and the like, now is a good time to do so. Please also visit Calculated Risk as this site will set you straight on real estate. If you think real estate is at a bottom, you are drinking more than me. As Calculated Risk has reported on a regular basis, there is a fairly hefty shadow inventory of homes out there, i.e. homes that banks or homeowners are waiting to list when the market recovers, so official inventory numbers are a tad low.

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/08/more-on-existing-home-inventory.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aBhEOTlnxwmM

And Another One Down, Another One Bites the Dust . . .

As I mentioned last Friday, get used to multiple bank failures every Friday. This Friday does not dissapoint. Four more down:

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/08/bank-failure-81-down-goes-guaranty.html

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/08/bank-failures-79-80-capitalsouth-bank.html

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/08/bank-failure-78-ebank-atlanta-georgia.html

Disclosures: None