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Stocks of Mortgage Insurers Rising

Nikhil Hutheesing — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Hilary On Stocks, Bargain Stocks

Mortgage insurers such as Radian Group (RDN) and PMI Group (PMI) have been suffering from rising mortgage defaults. But the group could be turning the corner. On Tuesday, the largest U.S. mortgage insurer, MGIC Investment Corp. (MTG), posted a quarterly profit of $24.6 million compared to a loss of nearly $340 million in the year-ago quarter. That good news comes after three years of losses.

MGIC's results should bode well for Radian, which will announce its second quarter results on August 3, and PMI Group, which will release its second quarter results on July 29.

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Stocks of Mortgage Insurers Rising originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cramer on BloggingStocks: The mortgage insurers created this mess

Jim Cramer — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:38:00 EST

Filed under: Major Movement, Bad News, Market Matters, Bank of America (BAC), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Washington Mutual (WM), Headline News, Housing, Cramer on BloggingStocks, MBIA Inc (MBI)

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says Fannie and Freddie aren't the true culprits here.

The blowhards and bluff artists and the Gang of Four -- Ambac (NYSE: ABK) (Cramer's Take), MBIA (NYSE: MBI) (Cramer's Take), MGIC (NYSE: MTG) (Cramer's Take) and PMI (NYSE: PMI) (Cramer's Take) -- truly have blood on their hands for this moment. So do the ratings agencies, the mortgage insurers and the salespeople who packaged undocumented loans and pushed buying homes with no money down.

The whole apparatus stinks and we are now seeing the unwinding, but I think that the false assurances created by the Gang of Four and their insistence to not worry made everyone way too complacent. Their glib promises as well as the incredibly lax work of the ratings agencies, S&P and Moody's, enabled the whole edifice to be propped up.

And once it was clear to them that they needed more capital, they chose to forgo the window and attack the shorts. Had they raised the capital they needed and had the ratings agencies said they can't bless any more of this junk, we might have never been in this spot.

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: The mortgage insurers created this mess

Cramer on BloggingStocks: The mortgage insurers created this mess originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Societe Generale trader scandal unlikely to deflect Fed off easing course

Joseph Lazzaro — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:50:00 EST

Filed under: International Markets, Forecasts, Other Issues, Federal Reserve, Recession

As criticism mounted Friday that the U.S Federal Reserve may have at least partially 'jumped the gun' with a large 75-basis-point rate increase after U.S. stock markets plunged early Tuesday, economists and analysts say the Fed is unlikely to deviate from its easing monetary policy path, even though some evidence suggests Societe Generale's unwinding of a rogue bank trader's unauthorized trades may have contributed to Tuesday's plunge.

The Dow plunged more than 400 points in the first hours of trading Tuesday, following massive sell-offs in Asia in Europe on Monday, and the Fed, concerned about the impact of potential market crash on an already weakened U.S. economy and financial system, responded with an emergency-meeting, 75-basis-point rate cut for both the Fed Funds rate, to 3.50%, and the discount rate, to 4%.

Societe Generale factor

However, on Thursday Societe Generale, France's second largest bank, announced that on Monday and Tuesday it had unwound trades of a rogue trader's unauthorized -- and losing -- trades, which cost the bank almost $7.2 billion, The Associated Press reported.

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Societe Generale trader scandal unlikely to deflect Fed off easing course originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cramer on BloggingStocks: Don't ignore the mortgage insurers

Jim Cramer — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:01:00 EST

Filed under: CIT Group (CIT), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Countrywide Financial (CFC), Lennar Corp'A' (LEN), Washington Mutual (WM), IndyMac Bancorp (IMB), Housing, Cramer on BloggingStocks

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says most people -- including the Fed governors -- haven't spotted this market Achilles heel.

Round up the usual suspects: Radian (NYSE: RDN) (Cramer's Take) - MBIA (NYSE: MBI) (Cramer's Take) - MGIC (NYSE: MTG) (Cramer's Take) - Ambac (NYSE: ABK) (Cramer's Take) - PMI (NYSE: PMI) (Cramer's Take).

Throw in walking dead ACA Capital (NYSE: ACA) (Cramer's Take) and Security Capital (NYSE: SCA) (Cramer's Take), and I think you produce what is really wrong with this market.

Anybody who takes even a casual look at the October delinquencies knows that these companies are going to be severely capital-challenged. Meanwhile, value guys like Third Avenue Management (Radian) and fellow travelers (Old Republic and PMI) make Pyrrhic stands and engender short squeezes that are mistakenly not used to recapitalize. And outfits from E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC) (Cramer's Take) to Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) (Cramer's Take) are left holding the bag on this stuff.

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Cramer on BloggingStocks: Don't ignore the mortgage insurers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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