- Hopeful Sign: If Selloff Stays Shallow
- Pitting Wall Street vs Auto Makers: Is It Fair?
- Europe Banks in Huge Rate Cuts; U.S. Earnings Glum
- Winner Today? Home Builder Stocks
- Exxon's Amazing Stat: Market Cap Of $400 Billion
- So, One Government Rescue Program Working?
- A Bottom Or Not? Pick Your Analyst
- There's No Sign Of A Bottom Yet
- Traders "Betting" Big 3 Get Bailout Money
- "Volatility Trade" Biggest Factor In Sell-Off?
- GM Drags Down Dow
- Want an Amazon Kindle? Too Bad—So Sad!
- Countrywide Threatens to Countersue Investor
- Got 99 Cents?
- Christopher Cox's Monty Python Move
- Did Someone Leak Treasury 4.5% Mortgage 'Plan'?
- Trading the Housing Bottom
- Happy Birthday CNBC.com!
- BEHIND THE MONEY: Buying On Bad News, Everybody's Doing It
- Pros Say: Bear Market Rallies = New Reality
- CEOs Sound Off: Budget Deficit, Bailouts & More
- Bernanke: 'More Needs To Be Done' on Foreclosures
- Bernanke's Speech on Housing and Foreclosures
- With Saturn, G.M. Failed a Makeover
- Toll Loss Narrows, but Warns on Revenue
- Factory Orders Drop More Than Expected in October
- Long-Dated Notes Up on Monetary Easing
- Happy Holidays? Economy Goes From Bad to Worse
More Videos
Text Size 
Weakness in financials -- particularly over concern that the equity in Fannie Mae [FNM
Loading...
()
] and Freddie Mac [FRE
Loading...
()
] could go to zero -- was the primary driver of today's activity.
Traders in tech stocks -- the market leader -- took advantage of the market weakness to lighten up on their positions.
Finally, even energy stocks saw a late-day selloff. The Amex Oil Index [.XOI
Loading...
()
] closed at a new low.
The housing news from southern California is illustrative of the elusive nature of this housing crisis: a little good news, but still mostly bad.
The good news, according to AP, is that bargain hunters are out: sales hit a 16-month high.
The bad news:
1) Prices keep dropping: to a median of $348,000, down from $355,000 in June and a peak of $505,000 in July 2007 (down 30 percent from peak);
2) Foreclosures were still huge, at 43.6 percent of all sales, up from 41.8 percent in June, and 7.9 percent in July 2007. Most of these distressed sales were in newer neighborhoods.
Questions? Comments?
Del.icio.us
Digg It
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes