Lennar

• Cyprus works on Plan B to stave off bankruptcy (AP)
• Cyprus seeks Russian bailout aid, EU threatens cutoff (Reuters)
• Freddie Mac Sues Multiple Banks Over Libor Manipulation (BBG)
• Bernanke Seen Keeping Up Pace of QE Until Fourth Quarter (Bloomberg)
• Italian president seeks way out of political stalemate (Reuters)
• Chinese factories struggle to keep staff (FT)
• South Korean banks, media report network crash (CBC)
• BlackBerry Inventor Starts Fund to Make Star Trek Device Reality (Bloomberg)
• Osborne Should Be Fired, Voters Say in Pre-Budget Poll (Bloomberg)
• Obama Begins First Visit to Israel as President (WSJ)
• Anadarko finds ‘potentially giant’ oilfield (FT)
• Britain's Osborne boxed in by austerity on budget day (Reuters)
• MF Global reaches agreement with JPMorgan (FT)

If it ain't broke, how do you fix it? Here are a variety of solutions from practictioners, academics and investors.

• White House delays 2014 budget after "fiscal cliff" standoff (Reuters) - And Senate will pass this... never?
• Amari Signals Limits to Abe’s Campaign to Weaken Yen (BBG)
• Draghi’s Bond Rally Masks Debt Doom Loop Trapping Spain (BBG)
• Obama backs gun limits, concedes tough fight ahead (AP)
• Bernanke to Weigh QE Costs as Fed Assets Approach Record (BBG)
• Japan to Sell Debt Worth 7.8 Trillion Yen to Pay for Stimulus (BBG)
• France more than doubles forces in Mali (FT) and yet...
• Malian Rebels Take Town and Vow to Avenge French Attack (NYT)
• China’s Li Calls for Patience as Government Works to Reduce Smog (BBG)
• EU berates China over steel subsidies (BBG)
• Number of working poor families grows as wealth gap widens (Reuters)

• China carrier a show of force as Japan tension festers (Reuters)
• Draghi Rally Lets Skeptics Dump Spain for Bunds (Bloomberg)
• China’s Central Bank Injects Record Funds to Ease Cash Crunch (Bloomberg)
• Obama warns Iran on nuclear bid, containment 'no option' (Reuters)
• When Would Bernanke’s Successor Raise Rates? (WSJ) that's easy - never
• Italy's Monti Downplays Sovereignty Risk (WSJ)
• Portugal swaps pay cuts for tax rises (FT)
• Madrid faces regional funding backlash (FT)
• Berlin Seeks to Push Back New Euro-Crisis Aid Requests (WSJ)
• Race Focuses on Foreign Policy (WSJ)
• China Speeds Up Approvals of Foreigners’ Stock Investment (Bloomberg)

• World on track for record food prices 'within a year' due to US drought (Telegraph)
• Foxconn halts production at plant after mass brawl (BBC)
• Germany Losing Patience With Spain as EU Warns on Crisis Effort (Bloomberg)
• Fed Recovery Doubts Spur Investor Bid for Treasuries (Bloomberg)
• Japan protests as Chinese ships enter disputed waters (Reuters)
• In Shark-Infested Waters, Resolve of Two Giants Is Tested (NYT)
• China jails Wang Lijun for 15 years (FT)
• China closes in on Bo Xilai after jailing ex-police chief (Reuters)
• European Leaders Struggle to Overcome Crisis Stalemate (Bloomberg)
• Politicians 1: Austerity 0 - Portugal Gives Ground on Worker Contributions (WSJ)
• Obama Controls Most of His Money as Republicans Have More (Bloomberg)
• Coeure Says Not Clear That Further ECB Interest-Rate Cut Needed (Bloomberg)
• France Seeks Labour Overhaul (WSJ)

Here come the facts!!! Warning, if you get your feelings hurt over hearing the truth, simply move on. You may have a couple of quarters lefft.

In the past 24 hours, some readers have been surprised to learn that as Jeff Reeves of InvestorPlace states, total Q2 CNBC viewership as calculated by Nielsen, has tumbled to to the lowest it has been since Q3 2005. This merely confirms that the trendline in our periodic observations of CNBC traffic was more than merely seasonal or VIX-related: it has been one long secular decline, peaking in the quarter of Lehman's demise and down hill ever since.

• On the continuing fraud that is Liebor: Libor Guardians Said to Resist Changes to Broken Rate (Bloomberg)
• Bank bailout to spark firesale of corporate Spain (Reuters) with Goldman and China just waiting
• EU Could Rewrite Eurozone Budgets (FT) but it won't because Germany will just say Nein again
• Congress Said to Delay Automatic Budget Cuts Until March (Bloomberg)
• China Says June Trade Improving in Sign Slowdown Stabilizing (Bloomberg)
• Biggest U.S. Banks Curb Loans as Regional Firms Fill Gap (Bloomberg)
• New York Fed Sells $4bn in Mortgage Debt (FT)
• Julian Assange’s fall from the heavens (Reuters)
• Wheeler to Lead N.Z. Central Bank as Kiwi Hits Exports: Economy (Bloomberg)
• Japan Lower House Passes Sales Tax Bill as Vote Divides DPJ (Bloomberg)

...Add all these charts up and we get a snapshot of a housing recovery that seems to have stalled or rolled over. The reasons why are apparent: mortgage debt remains elevated, a vast "shadow inventory" of underwater or foreclosed homes remains off the market and household income has stagnated or declined, as reported in What If Housing Is Done for a Generation?.

Many still fail to understand the typical Wall Street bank business model! I have laid it bare in BoomBustBlog many a time, which is probably the reason why my blog is banned from more than half of the big bank intranets!!!

This post, in and of itself, should demonstrate to the entire Sell Side of Wall Street, the MSM/pop media outlets and all who may follow them that BoomBustBlog forensic research and analysis is simply superior to much of what is available and significantly overpaid for in terms of investment advice and opinion.

All you need to read.

Some investment and trading tidbits about the Squid that somehow have miracurously escaped both the pop media and sell side Wall Street... Hmmm....

There was some good news for the home sector after Case Shiller the first sequential increase in home prices in almost a year, with the Composite 10 increasing 0.8% in April, and a 0.7% increase in the Composite 20 on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. On a SA basis prices fell again, this time by 0.1%, slightly better than consensus which was looking for a 0.2% drop (and lest anyone believes revisionism is contained to the BLS, the February/March decline was revised even more from -0.23% to -0.26%) and in line with Goldman's expectation noted earlier. But before Toll and Lennar go ahead and prebuild another 10,000 empty units, there were some caveats: "In a welcome shift from recent months, this month is better than last - April’s numbers beat March,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices. “However, the seasonally adjusted numbers show that much of the improvement reflects the beginning of the Spring-Summer home buying season. It is much too early to tell if this is a turning point or simply due to some warmer weather...“Other housing statistics show the same trends. Single-family housing starts were up in May, but still well below their 2010 levels and still very close to their 30-year low. Existing home sales rose in May, but are still about 15% below last year’s pace and about 35% below their 2005 pace. While foreclosures remain a large factor in most parts of the country, the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default indices show a small decline in the pace of new defaults since last November. Other reports confirm that banks have tightened lending standards in the past year making it harder to qualify for a mortgage despite very low interest rates." Lastly, and perhaps most important, is that this is data that was relevant back in April... and that 6 out of 20 MSA just hit new lows. America is increasingly becoming a story of two polar opposites.

Indeed, this 2009-2011 recovery and cyclical bull market has been as artificial as the 2003-07 expansion. That last one was fuelled by financial engineering in the financial sector. This one is being underpinned by unprecedented government intrusion in the credit markets. As of this quarter, your government has replaced the private sector as the largest source of outstanding mortgage market and consumer-related credit (see front page of the Investor's Business Daily). So not only is the U.S.A. turning Japanese in many respects, it is also now resembling China where the government also redirects the flow of private sector credit. When we said capitalism went on a sabbatical three years ago, we didn't expect this to be a permanent vacation.