Archive - May 19, 2009 - Story

In the latest spin of the Mark Patterson saga, Joe Weisenthal of Clusterstock notes that the most interesting developments may still come. Joe states:

Just to drive in the point of what is really happening on the green shoots front, I present a housing starts and housing permits chart. Yes, those second derivative inflection points - they turned out to be smoke and mirrors. Just as will all other second derivatives, as the economy continues collapsing, albeit a little slower.

Just to drive in the point of what is really happening on the green shoots front, I present a housing starts and housing permits chart. Yes, those second derivative inflection points - they turned out to be smoke and mirrors. Just as will all other second derivatives, as the economy continues collapsing, albeit a little slower.

Just to drive in the point of what is really happening on the green shoots front, I present a housing starts and housing permits chart. Yes, those second derivative inflection points - they turned out to be smoke and mirrors. Just as will all other second derivatives, as the economy continues collapsing, albeit a little slower.

• Housing construction drops 12.8% in April, after 8.5% drop in March, to record low of 458k, CNBC, doing 180 degrees from yesterday: "This is good news as we need to hit 0 and kill excess inventory fast." (AP and Bloomberg). - Futures still positive...

Now with a hearty helping of futures manipulation (courtesy of the SLP?). None of this should be news to Zero Hedge readers. The video below from Fox Business News discusses all you need to know about how to prop a market about to crash. Fast forward to 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Tomorrow at 10am, a hearing will be held on the critical matter of financial insolvency by, none other, than the.... Committee on Science And Technology (Scientology?). Yep. If there was ever any wonder if the right people are asking the right question in Washington, this should forever put away any doubts and speculations.

As Zero Hedge has claimed on numerous occasions in the past, the ultra-expedited sale of Lehman's North American Broker Dealer operations to Barclays Capital a mere 4 days after Lehman filed for bankruptcy, was likely rife with not just impropriety and judicial incompetence, stupidity and hubris (here's looking at you

• FASB rule will force banks to move assets onto books, more pain down the road (Bloomberg)
• Local banks face big losses due to commercial real estate (WSJ hat tip IMA5U)
• In advising U.S., BlackRock thrives in uncertain times (NYT and