Hashemian Blog Web Tools, Financial Markets, Technology Saturday, February 28, 2009 Housing Market  The stock market is going through tough times. Look at your battered 401k statement, if you dare, and you'll know how bad things are. Yesterday the DJIA barely hovered above the 7,000 mark. That's a 12-year low and some are still calling for more, a lot more, pain ahead. Short positions are now firmly in command. The housing market is having its own reversal of fortunes to grapple with. Some markets in California, Nevada, and Florida are just dumping properties as fast as they can find reluctant buyers. Others, such as the northeast, are less severly stricken for now, but trending downward nevertheless. There are a few obvious reasons behind this condition: Banks are afraid. They are unable or unwilling to loan money to anyone but the cream of the crop of creditworthiness. That leaves many out of luck in securing a mortgage. People are afraid. Many with investment properties just want to cut their losses and sell, therefore flooding the market. High unemployment rates have caused many people to fall behind or stop making their mortgage payments causing many properties to be at or near foreclosure. Buyers are waiting for better bargains. As far as the home prices have fallen, many believe there's still plenty more froth to be erased. Money is scarce. People's investments have been decimated in the downturn, leaving little money or confidence to buy properties. So what we have is a double-whammy of inflated supplies and shrinking demand and that's the basic pricing determinant for anything bought or sold. Inherently, the housing market's response to economic conditions is slow. Unlike stocks, futures, or precious metals, it takes time to close the paperwork-heavy deals. But is it possible that the lagging housing market will also experience its own 12-year lows in the near future? If the stock and credit markets continue their deterioration, there's little else the housing market can do but to follow suit. And the bargain hunters keep waiting. Illogical and irrational as things may be, no segment of the market is completely insulated from the rest. stock market,housing market,dow jones,recession Labels: financial <Housing Market> // posted by rh 0 comments Thursday, February 19, 2009 Berkshire Hathaway, Cheap Again?  Back on Nov. 20, 2008 when the stock market was touching multi-year low points, Berkshire Hathaway (headed by the famed Warren Buffett) was touching its own low of $75,000/share. A number of notable sites/publications jumped to the defense of the stock, marveling at the opportunity of owning a share of this company at a bargain price. This one from US News and its follow-up article couldn't hold back the excitement, even claiming that the BRK.A stock (based on some arbitrary metric) should really be valued at $136,000. Were they right or wrong? Well, both. The share price did indeed shoot back up to about $108,000 within 3 weeks. That would have been a good spot to sell. From there it started to fizzle a bit every week and today it once again tested the Nov 2008 lows, some 3 months later. At this point it's anyone's guess where it's headed. The fact is that BRK is invested in some of the same companies that are facing severe financial issues these days. If those companies are ailing, what justification is there for BRK to be healthy? BRK is not insulated from the global economic events that has gripped all industries. Nor is it attractively positioned to profit handsomely from economic hardships. As I have mentioned before, BRK also faces one other big risk and that is the age of its CEO, Warren Buffett. Admittedly that risk is most likely priced in, but one must still wonder, where would this company be without its star leader? So considering everything, is BRK once again at a bargain price or is it over-priced? Only time will tell. berkshire hathaway,brk,warren buffett,stock market Labels: financial <Berkshire Hathaway, Cheap Again?> // posted by rh 0 comments Thursday, February 12, 2009 Darwin  For all the flack Darwin gets from the creationist/intelligent design crowd, none has been able to put forth any credible evidence of a divine force running the show. Sure, they have their books and their myths and their Pascal wagers. They attack and vilify Darwin for having dared question his contemporary beliefs and engage in scientific experiments to understand the true nature of life. Darwin and many like him have had the courage to challenge deep-rooted beliefs, no for the sake of defying them, but because of their unquenchable quest for knowledge and the truth. We should all salute them for opening their eyes and their minds and risking much in search of the real answers. No, we don't have all the answers, and we may never do. But where would we be without these noble people? Happy 200th, Charles Darwin. darwin,evolution Labels: religion <Darwin> // posted by rh 0 comments

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