Existing Home Sales Continue Dropping, Hit 5.05 Million In January, Miss Estimate By Nearly 10%, Down From 6.5 Million In November

January National Association of Realtors existing home sales came in at consensus busting (to the downside) SAAR of 5.05 million, a 7.2% drop from December's 5.44 million, which in turn was 16% lower than November 6.49 million. January consensus was for 5.5 million. Other data: the biggest deterioration was in the northeast (-10.9% sequentially), total houses sold (-11.1% seq), the months of supply (from 7 to 8), and the decline in both median and average price, coming in at -3.4% and -3.1%, respectively.

The Short And Sweet On The Upcoming Foreclosure Ban: "Lenders Now Have No Rights"

In March 2008, I published a report titled “Capitalism Takes a Sabbatical.” If only that were the case. I really can’t believe what I just read on Bloomberg News (Obama May Prohibit Home Loan Foreclosures Without HAMP Review). In a nutshell, the White House is considering a tactic that would prevent banks from foreclosing on defaulted homeowners unless they have been screened and rejected by the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). George Orwell must be rolling over in his grave. - David Rosenberg

Greece Cancels US/China Bond Roadshow

As the roadshow was initially scheduled for the second half of February, this implies that the Greek bond offering is, for now, history. Furthermore, no new roadshow data has been set. It is unknown whether this is due to the massive deterioration in Greek financial perceptions over the past week, or if because the government has managed to arrange a private loan with Deutsche Bank (which hopefully does not have a downgrade put trigger as that would be the shortest loan in history).

Daily Highlights: 2.26.10

• Asia stocks, Emerging currencies, metals climb on Asia economic optimism.
• Bernanke says Fed is reviewing Goldman Sachs's arrangements with Greece.
• India's Finance Minister pledges to shrink budget gap as economic growth quickens.
• Obama may ban all foreclosures without review by loan-modification program.
• OPEC output reaches 14-month high in February on Saudi gain, survey shows.
• Sales of previously owned US homes probably rose on tax credit extension.
• Treasuries head for monthly gain on Greece debt concerns, Fed rate outlook.
• Yen declines versus Dollar, Euro amid speculation importers sold currency.

Primary Dealer Short Treasury Bill Positions Rise To Lehman Crisis Levels

The New York Fed has released this week's Primary Dealer net holdings update. While the data indicates that PD's were aggressive sellers of virtually everything (USTs, Corps, Agency, except MBS) in the prior week, the one category that stood out was Treasury Bills, in which net short exposure reached levels last seen during the Lehman bankruptcy. Last week's net short exposure of ($15) billion compares to the ($26) billion two year low seen on September 17, 2008. The Lehman collapse period was very curious as during it PDs saw both a record selling in Bills followed by a record buying of Bills, all within a month: whereas in the week ended 9/17 $41 billion of Bills were sold/shorted, the week of October 22, saw a covering/buying spree of over $51 billion. We have not seen this kind of amplitude in the past two years. Over the past 5 weeks, PDs have sold a total of $29 billion in Bills, starting with a net long exposure of $13.8 billion in the week ended January 13, and culminating with a net short of ($15) billion on February 17.

Federal Reserve Balance Sheet Update: Week Of February 25 - Just $45 Billion Left In Quantitative Easing

The Federal Reserve's assets were at $2.27 trillion as of February 25, jumping by $6 billion sequentially. Securities held outright: $1,975 billion (an increase of $62.6 billion MoM, resulting from $59 billion increase in MBS and $3 billion in Agency Debt), or $8 billion increase sequentially. The fed has completed $169.1 billion of $175 billion in the agency MBS program, or a 97% completion, and 96% complete with purchases of Agencies. The Fed has completed $1.21 billion of its $1.25 billion MBS debt purchase program, or 97%, through February 25. There is just $45 billion left in QE. Net borrowings: $103 billion. The monetary base increased by $81 billion in the past fortnight to $2.14 trillion. The ratio of total assets to Monetary Base declined slightly to 1.06x. Float, liquidity swaps, Maiden Lane and other assets: $191 billion. The CPFF program was at $7.7 billion. FX liquidity swaps are now at zero: we are carefully keeping an eye on this metric as any increase presently would indicate banks are again experiencing a dollar funding shortage. Maiden Lane I and Maiden Lane II increased and were $27.2 and $15.5 billion, while Maiden Lane III as always continues pretending it has value and came flat at $22.4 billion.

Postcards From Greece

For all those who wish CNBC would actually focus on the real problem areas of discussion, such as, oh, say Greece, and do some reporting instead of pandering to mutual fund managers puimping their books, here is a clip of what is really going on in this southeast European hotbed of IMF bailout activity.