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While Sellers Might Be Hesitant To Accept A Below-List Price Offer, It Doesn’t Mean They Aren’t Open To Negotiating

A report from the Idaho Statesman. “There were 373 total sales in Canyon County last month, 25% lower than they were this time last year. The median price of a single-family Canyon County home last month decreased 1% to $389,990, with existing homes at $370,000 and newly built homes at $406,390. A year ago, in April 2022, the cost of a single-family home in the county was over 22% higher at $476,500. Robert Spendlove, an economist at Zions Bank who studies housing trends, said people who locked in lower mortgage rates before the sharp hikes have been reluctant to move over the past year or so. But not everyone can stay put. Some people move for a new job, for personal reasons or to downsize in retirement. ‘We’re going to start seeing that work its way back into the system again,’ he said. ‘People are resetting their expectations.'”

The American Statesman in Texas. “Austin-area home sales in April showed a decrease year-over-year compared to April 2022. Active listings in the City of Austin skyrocketed 216% to 2,357 listings this month as pending sales declined by 9.9% to 949. In Travis County, home sales decreased 28.6% to 1,167 sales last month, while the median price dipped 13.3% year over year to $537,500.”

From Vail Daily. “According to Kyle Denton, associate broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Colorado Properties’ Vail Village office, buyers should find a growing number of opportunities, particularly as the peak summer selling season approaches. Denton notes that sellers are becoming more strategic with their pricing. ‘There is some potential room for negotiation,’ Denton said. ‘While sellers might be hesitant to accept a below-list price offer as they might be perceived as being priced over the market, it doesn’t mean they aren’t open to negotiating. Valid and accurate analysis of the current market conditions relative to each property is paramount and could mean the difference between a successful sale and your property sitting on the market longer than anticipated.'”

From KSNV Las Vegas. “Home sales in Las Vegas continued to slow in April, according to an industry group, even as prices ticked up a bit from the previous month. The median price for an existing single-family home sold in Southern Nevada in April was $430,000, the group Las Vegas Realtors reported. That’s up about 1.2% from March, when the median price was $425,000, but it’s down 9.5% from April last year, when the median price was $475,000. Las Vegas Realtors reported a total of nearly 2,500 existing homes, townhomes and condos sold this April. For houses, that’s down 34.6% from April a year ago, and for condos and townhomes that’s down 31.1%. By the end of April, there were 3,737 single-family homes listed for sale without any offers, up 53.1% from the same time in 2022. The number of condos and townhomes available without an offer also jumped by nearly 90% from a year ago, up to 964.”

The Orange County Register in California. “Home prices fell in the past year in roughly three of every five Orange County neighborhoods. Countywide, the median selling price was $990,000 in March – off 3% in a year, according to CoreLogic data. Sales totaled 2,109 existing and new homes – off 34% in a year. In 51 of 84 Orange County ZIP codes, prices have fallen since March 2022. That’s 61% of the county. And 71 ZIPs saw one-year sales declines or 85% of the county.”

The San Jose Spotlight in California. “When Khanh Chung steps out of his barbershop, he wants to see dozens of San Jose workers and residents bustling down First Street, but instead it’s a ghost town. In his 18 months in business, he has seen many of his neighbors like Pizza Flora and Original Gravity close shop. ‘I was hoping for cool businesses to stay open around me, something that will give people a reason to just walk around and browse a little bit,’ Chung told San José Spotlight. ‘People are still working from home and there are a lot of empty shops.’ ‘We used to have shops for suits, baby clothes, anything you could want,’ said Nora Gonzalez, whose family has owned Acapulco Jewelers for the last 45 years. ‘So we would have families walking around. But we haven’t had that in a long time. No one walks down here during the day.'”

Bisnow New York. “Almost 30% of the multifamily loans in NYC set to mature in the next 24 months, totaling $9.39B, are ‘at-risk,’ according to an April analysis of CMBS data published by Trepp. And while office is taking most of the heat as an at-risk asset class, nationally it accounts for just 17% of at-risk loans, Trepp found. Multifamily, by comparison, accounts for 43%. Some NYC owners will still be forced to sell in the coming months as they approach maturity dates for loans in order to keep the rest of their portfolio afloat, Compass Vice Chair Adelaide Polsinelli said. ‘There’s a come-to-Jesus moment. They either have to go to their lender with a check or the keys to the property,’ she said. ‘The result of this is you’re going to see a lot of opportunity, you’re going to see buyers coming out of the woodwork — as I’m seeing now.'”

The Real Deal on Illinois. “When LaSalle Investment Management started shopping the Woodview Apartments property in Deerfield, its broker touted that leases signed last year hiked rents more than 14 percent from the previous deals. It was likely because the previous rents were uncharacteristically low. That’s reflected by the 20 percent loss in property value that the Chicago-based firm endured with its $65 million sale this month of its 248-unit asset at 15 Parkway North Boulevard, according to a person familiar with the deal. The company also never took on debt against the property, including to fund its 2016 acquisition, another individual familiar with the property informed The Real Deal, which Lake County records confirm. That means the firm may have sold because it needed to raise cash. LaSalle has been an active seller elsewhere lately. In California, LaSalle took a 55 percent loss in value this year when it sold a 217,000-square-foot office building in Orange County for $25 million.”

From CBC News in Canada. “The Victoria mortgage broker at the centre of a growing financial scandal says he’s not running a Ponzi scheme even though gloomy investors heard details Friday that their missing money is likely gone for good. In a statement emailed to CBC, Greg Martel said his company My Mortgage Auction Corp. (MMAC) has ‘… the ability to enable all investors to recoup their investments.’ ‘As you know, on May 4, My Mortgage was placed into receivership,’ he said. ‘That is regrettable, but My Mortgage is not insolvent nor, as has been alleged, is it a Ponzi scheme.'”

“In one particularly distressing detail, PwC partner Neil Bunker disclosed that to date, investigators have not found any concrete information supporting the existence of $186 million in loans receivable MMAC listed as assets in its September 2022 financial statement. ‘These are the loans investors thought they were investing in,’ said Bunker. ‘At this stage, the receiver has yet to locate any records that support the loans receivable balance. It would be ideal if Mr. Martel would provide us that information, but so far he’s chosen not to do that.’ Bunker was asked by investor Kalia Leslie if the investments were real or just a Ponzi scheme. ‘If there are no records it certainly points to the concept that this was a Ponzi scheme,’ he said.”

The South China Morning Post. “When a mystery teenager posted a video of himself playing basketball at his home earlier this year, intrigued internet users were quick to notice he lived in Wanliu House, an ultra-luxury residence in downtown Beijing behind high walls that only a few had previously glimpsed. Sitting in the heart of the Haidian district, with prestigious schools nearby, homes in the super-luxury project are a rarity on the second-hand market. But now, 75 of them are available, as a bundle that will form the collateral for a bad debt sale.”

“China Cinda Asset Management, one of the mainland’s biggest bad loan managers, is now seeking to sell the 4.7 billion yuan (US$677 million) debt of Wanliu House’s developer, Sinobo Land, with the 75 homes as collateral. That effectively makes the average price of each unit 62.6 million yuan, very much at the lower end of the market price range of 59 million yuan to 140 million yuan, according to high-end property agency Landz Realtors.”

“Shanghai is another hot market for luxury property investors looking for bargains through foreclosures. Between February and April, 28 foreclosed properties valued at over 20 million yuan were sold, leaving only five on the market. The attractive prices come with risks. ‘Buyers can find rare properties and save the hassle of negotiating with sellers,’ said Rock Shi, chief risk officer at auctions specialist Shanghai Luxury Home. Challenges can include such things as conducting thorough due diligence and risk assessments and evicting current occupants. ‘Ill-informed bidders can suffer enormous losses when issues are identified too late,’ Shi said.”

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This Post Has 69 Comments

  1. The last link is clear that foreclosures have been going on, but this is the first time IIRC that we’ve seen foreclosure auctions in Beijing and Shanghai.

  4. A reader sent these in:

    Expectations not doing what everyone expects them to do…. 😆 U.S MICHIGAN 5-YEAR INFLATION EXPECTATIONS (MAY) ACTUAL: 3.20% VS 3.00% PREVIOUS, Expected 2.9%

    https://twitter.com/INArteCarloDoss/status/1657045992364032000

    And there it is…*Hospital Tenants of Medical Properties Trust Hire Advisers To Help Refinance Debt, Sources Say — WSJ
    *Steward Health Care and Prospect Medical Holdings Are Seeking to Refinance Debt — WSJ

    https://twitter.com/valwithcatalyst/status/1657030867238125570

    Photo of a residential subdivision in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Reminds me of Sim City. Would you buy a place there?

    https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1657199414895583234

    2. I don’t know why the “experts” are surprised at increasing inflation expectations. (besides the fact we have the worst class of experts ever). Anyone who actually buys ANYTHING realizes it’s just up and up and up. Honestly 3% is way way way below what I would be replying to said survey.

    1. ‘He hoped the property will continue in its tradition of being a backdrop for artistic expression. ‘We are not just trying to make a profit. We would like to find a group of people that want to do something interesting out there,’ Bardoff said.’

  6. Another day without tents, without poo on the sidewalk, without people smoking fentanyl off tinfoil in bus stop shelters and doorways.

    I can’t wait to get back to Denver, my life feels so empty without all of the above.

    1. The Financial Times
      Oaktree Capital Management LP
      Oaktree’s Howard Marks warns of crunch time for private credit
      Billionaire investor says higher interest rates and slower growth are about to put $1.5tn market to the test
      Howard Marks, co-founder of Oaktree Capital
      Howard Marks, of Oaktree Capital: ‘Did the managers make good credit decisions, ensuring an adequate margin of safety, or did they invest fast because they could accumulate more capital? We’ll see’
      Harriet Agnew and Eric Platt in Beverly Hills 2 hours ago

      Howard Marks, the co-founder of $172bn investment group Oaktree Capital Management, has warned that the boom in private credit will soon be tested as higher interest rates and slower economic growth heap pressure on corporate America.

      The 77-year-old billionaire told the Financial Times that big asset managers had competed aggressively to lend to the largest private equity groups as money poured into their coffers in 2020 and 2021, raising questions over the due diligence the funds conducted when they agreed to provide multibillion-dollar loans.

      “[Warren] Buffett says it’s only when the tide goes out that you discover who has been swimming naked,” he said. “The tide has not gone out yet on private lending, meaning the portfolios haven’t been tested.”
      …

    1. It’s hard to argue that diners at Chili’s are being robbed of the Big Bacon BBQ burger. At a cost of $17.19, you get about 1,700 calories

      So that’s the selling point these days, calories? Not flavor or having something you wouldn’t make at home?

      1. $17 for a burger and fries?????????? That’s about 50% too much (should be $10 to $12). I see the problem. Look i do the shopping, i get that food costs are outrageous. But $17 for a burger and fries (and no shade to chili’s here, that’s about what all the restaurants are around here plus or minus) is simply not worth it. Tax, tip, you are $25 PER PERSON before drinks. You could spend half your daily wage on lunch for 2. lunch. Just a burger and fries. Restaurants are as doomed as malls at this rate.

        1. Restaurants are as doomed

          A big grilled Angus Sirloin burger is less than $4 at my house.

  9. “When Khanh Chung steps out of his barbershop, he wants to see dozens of San Jose workers and residents bustling down First Street, but instead it’s a ghost town.”

    Silicon Valley the high has worn off now its just nausea and pounding headaches.

  10. This goes back a while but I wanted to follow up as I posted here during pandemic that most people counted as dying from CVD we’re not actually dying from CVD and also eventually it would be discovered a significant number of people died by medical malpractice including the misuse of mechanical ventilators. This post was replied to by Oxide with ridicule. New study finds most of the people who died on ventilators may have died from secondary infection caused by the ventilators:

    https://www.sciencealert.com/most-covid-19-deaths-may-be-the-result-of-a-completely-different-infection

    1. The term “doctor” is only slightly more respectable than “used car salesman” at this point.

      1. That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve seen on here. I guess no doctors in your family?

          2. thought it was a good idea

            With few exceptions they all did, even though the jab:
            1) Was experimental, using a new technology with no track record.
            2) They refused to disclose the adverse effects
            3) You had to sign away your rights to redress if you were injured by it.

    2. i remember a few times while wearing the mask all day i would get hot sweat on my back, lungs would be hot, get light headed so i had to go outside and breath in all that clean NYC air to recover…..

      never again.

          1. I’ve been skipping the comments here re: AI. Are you familiar with Joe Allen?

          2. Joe Allen

            I am not, but I saw his page on The Federalist. He does seem concerned about transhumanism.

          3. Joe’s an interesting guy with a very distinctive voice. He’s been covering AI and transhumanism for some time. Freaky stuff.

    4. Ventilators Killed Nearly ALL COVID Patients — Study

      by Jamie White
      May 14th 2023, 11:22 am

      Most COVID-19 patients who died in the hospital during the early phase of the pandemic were killed as a result of being put on a ventilator, according to a new study.

      The analysis, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation last month, found the majority of COVID patients who required help from a ventilator also developed secondary bacterial pneumonia.

      “Our study highlights the importance of preventing, looking for, and aggressively treating secondary bacterial pneumonia in critically ill patients with severe pneumonia, including those with COVID-19,” says Benjamin Singer, a pulmonologist at Northwestern University in Illinois.

      From Science Alert:

      The team looked at records for 585 people admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, also in Illinois. They all had severe pneumonia and/or respiratory failure, and 190 had COVID-19.

      Using a machine learning approach to crunch through the data, the researchers grouped patients based on their condition and the amount of time they spent in intensive care.

      The findings refute the idea that a cytokine storm following COVID-19 – an overwhelming inflammation response causing organ failure – was responsible for a significant number of deaths. There was no evidence of multi-organ failure in the patients studied.

      In other words, though COVID-19 may have put these people in the hospital, the secondary infection of bacterial pneumonia after being put on a ventilator was responsible for the higher mortality rate, a condition called Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP).

      “Those who were cured of their secondary pneumonia were likely to live, while those whose pneumonia did not resolve were more likely to die,” Singer says.

      https://www.infowars.com/

      1. Ridiculous, they didn’t test for pneumonia when the symptoms were properly glaring that a secondary affection set in.
        Dr. Bartlett from Texas noticed immediately that patients were getting pneumonia following Covid and treated accordingly and had a 89% save rate, often times avoiding hospitalization.
        Lets face it, they were getting up to 300 thousand incentive for a Covid hospitalization death per person..
        And they aren’t even talking about the Dr Fauci recommended Drug that was killing 30 to 40 % by shutting down the kidneys..
        Your telling me hospitals didn’t know about VAT..
        ..And why the article , after the fact attempting to blame it on the machine.
        I’m so disgusted because they also obstructed life saving cheap drugs that were drugs that were easy cures for the Covid. .
        They should be sued for their mal practices killing spree where they were bribed by money And the Doctors and nurses that objected were booted out and fired…
        Murder on a massive , pre- planned sc scale

        1. I haven’t read of any hospital administrators meeting with a violent end in a darkened parking garage. I guess none of those murdered patients had any men in their family.

          1. Or most families really believe that nothing could be done to save their loved ones. Look at how many eagerly rolled up their sleeves for an experimental treatment.

          2. Also, FWIW, dying from medical incompetence is nothing new. A quick google shows this number has hovered over 100,000 per year for some time, yet I have never heard of anyone being offed in revenge.

            I also recall that the media used to bring this topic up regularly before the psyop, then it was radio silence.

    5. Remdesivir was also part of the treatment protocol amd it alone can account for many of the deaths.

      Many could have been saved had the hospitals done what the billion dollar Tampa Bay care hospital had done prior to mid March of 2020 which was to prescribe HCQ, zpac and a mild steroid which they did for a colleague who had the symptoms for weeks.

      See also RFK Jr’s statements around the entire episode being a .mil deep state op.

    1. I just remebered when I first heard ‘To Whom It Concerns’ and paid any attention to it, way back in the 90s when comedy wouldn’t get a person fired or doxed.

      1:57

      Darlene Connor – ‘To Whom It Concerns’

      https://youtu.be/tWf25CfjYx0

    3. Image files incoming. Beau is enjoying the day with his “cousins” Scout and Maggie. They all want some of what we are grilling.

  12. Homeless people living in RVs stretch for miles in wealthy county
    By Chuck Woodbury
    May 12, 2023

    The epidemic of “houseless” people who live on the streets in mostly old or dilapidated RVs continues to grow. In this case, they line a stretch just off U.S. 101 in Novato, California, for two miles in one of the wealthiest counties in America, where the average home price last year exceeded $1.4 million.

    Like many other communities around the USA, the price to buy or even rent a home or apartment is out of reach for many residents. An RV is increasingly the best option, short of pitching a tent alongside a freeway or on a city street.

    Low-income residents in Marin County say that they have been left with nowhere to go as a cost-of-living crisis grips the region.
    …
    https://www.rvtravel.com/homeless-people-living-rvs-stretch-miles-wealthy-county-rvt-1104b/

    1. Low-income residents in Marin County say that they have been left with nowhere to go as a cost-of-living crisis grips the region.

      Meanwhile the Brandon regime is doing nothing while millions invade the country

      1. This is the latest government scam – paying hotel and motel operators to house junkies and vagrants. It’s inflationary too, of course.

        1. “…paying hotel and motel operators…”

          They’ll also get rooms rebuilt and new furniture when it’s over.

      2. cancelled 30 rooms they booked for their wedding guests

        I can envision the state gooberment threatening the hotels to “make room” for the invaders.

  13. ‘There’s a come-to-Jesus moment. They either have to go to their lender with a check or the keys to the property’

    Cash out refi strikes again.

    ‘The result of this is you’re going to see a lot of opportunity, you’re going to see buyers coming out of the woodwork — as I’m seeing now’

    The market needs knife catchers Adelaide.

    1. A Wealth of Common Sense
      The Housing Market Lottery
      Posted May 12, 2023 by Ben Carlson

      Financial success comes from some combination of hard work, discipline, patience and luck.

      That last piece is usually the biggest wild card.

      If you started investing in the early-1980s, you experienced 20 years’ worth of phenomenal returns from both stocks and bonds.

      If you started investing in the early-1960s, you experienced 20 years’ worth of rising rates and inflation which led to muted stock and bond returns.

      Let’s say you are the best investor in the world and you can earn double the return of the U.S. stock market over the course of a decade.

      If you were invested in the 1970s, that would have been annual returns of around 12%.1

      That 12% annual return would look paltry by comparison to the 17% annual return in the 1980s and 18% annual return in the 1990s by simply earning the market’s return.

      Good or bad, luck can play a role in the magnitude of your financial success or failure.

      The 2010s and 2020s for the housing markets will lead to similar good or bad luck depending on your timing.

      If you bought at either pre-2021 prices or pre-2022 mortgage rates you should be in a fantastic financial position, relatively speaking.

      Just look at the distribution of mortgage rates by different levels from the Wall Street Journal:

      If you’re on the left side of this distribution you’re in a wonderful position. If you’re on the right side you’re praying for the ability to refinance with those people on the left side or kicking yourself for not buying sooner.

      And if you’re lucky enough to combine those low mortgage rates with the rapid price gains we saw in 2020 and 2021, you basically won the housing lottery.

      According to CoreLogic, U.S. homeowners had $270,000 more equity on average by the end of 2022 than they did at the start of the pandemic.

      One of the more underappreciated aspects of the housing market is the number of people who don’t even have to care about interest rates anymore.

      Just look at this chart that breaks down homeowners by the amount of equity they have in their home:

      Almost 40% of homeowners have their houses completely paid off!

      That’s more than the proportion of people who rent in this country (around a third).

      And when you combine that with the fact that nearly 30% of homeowners have at least 50% equity in their homes, we’re talking close to 70% of households who have more equity than debt in their houses.

      This is just a staggering number that never gets brought up when it comes to the state of consumer finances. Homeowners are richer and in better financial shape than ever when it comes to the biggest asset for most people.

      But it’s not like all of us homeowners are investing savants.

      I’ve never bought a house because I assumed it would be a wonderful investment opportunity. Our house purchases have always been for personal reasons, not financial ones.

      My guess is that’s the way it’s been for the vast majority of those who find themselves in the enviable position of having a large chunk of equity in their home or a 3% mortgage rate or both.

      Unfortunately, there are millions of people who aren’t so lucky.

      They didn’t buy a house when prices and rates were lower because of personal or financial reasons. Or the timing simply wasn’t right.

      When the Fed began raising interest rates they assumed it would bring some more balance to the housing market. Higher rates should increase the housing supply according to textbook theory.

      Instead, it’s only made things worse.

      In a normal housing market there should be somewhere between 4 and 6 months of housing supply for sale.

      Right now that number is 2.6 months after hitting a low of 1.6 months early in 2022:

      Even with mortgage rates in the 6-7% range, we’re once again seeing lines out the door for open houses:

      This has to be so deflating as a potential homebuyer.

      Housing is local so this obviously isn’t happening everywhere but I’m not sure anyone would have expected this with mortgage rates and prices so much higher than they were just a few short years ago.

      The bad news is prices and rates are up while supply is down.

      The good news is life goes on.

      People get married. They have kids. They get divorced. They die (not necessarily in that order but sometimes).

      The market will thaw eventually. It could just take some time.

      It would sting to go from a 3% mortgage to a 6% mortgage but those with a truckload of home equity can make the math work if they use that equity as a large downpayment on a new place.

      If you’re in the market, you basically have 3 options:

      (1) Hope prices or rates come down.

      (2) Keep renting.

      (3) Move somewhere more affordable.

      Lance Lambert made this cool chart that shows median home values across the country:

      If you move from a blue/purple/red area to an orange/green area your money will go further.

      I know it’s not ideal to move to a new city or state for most people what with friends, family, work and familiarity.

      But remote work has made it easier for a lot of people to work from more afforable locations.

      Short of a housing crash (don’t hold your breath), that might be the only way to find cheaper forms of housing for a while.
      …
      https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2023/05/the-housing-market-lottery/

  15. How can banks make loans when they HODL massive unrealized losses on their books?

  16. Is the ban on short selling, which many banking industry executives want, going to improve market performance?

    1. The Financial Times
      Opinion Equities
      A ban on short selling is a bad idea
      Studies show that a similar move in 2008 was counter-productive and stoked market volatility
      Jim Overdahl
      A flag outside the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C.
      The three-week ban on short selling in 2008 was a departure from the SEC’s longstanding view that the practice plays an important role in promoting market quality
      Jim Overdahl 4 hours ago
      The writer is a partner with Delta Strategy Group. He was previously chief economist at the Securities and Exchange Commission

      Following weeks of declining prices for US regional bank stocks, short selling of equity shares is once again coming under scrutiny with calls for more regulatory oversight of the practice. In a letter to clients this past week, a major Wall Street law firm argued that the Securities and Exchange Commission should impose a 15-trading day prohibition on short sales of the stock of financial institutions. Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, has also called on regulators to look into the behaviour of short sellers.

      I was the SEC’s chief economist during the 2008 financial crisis, the last time regulators banned the practice of short selling, an investment strategy in which an investor borrows shares from long-term holders with the expectation share prices will decline. Based on my experience, I believe any new regulatory intervention banning short selling would be a huge mistake.

      The SEC’s longstanding view has been that this practice plays an important role in promoting market quality and helping investors by contributing to price discovery, liquidity, risk management and by lowering the overall cost of trading and raising capital. The 2008 ban was a departure from this view.

      Emergency authority was used to ban short selling in 799 financial stocks (eventually over 900 stocks). This was part of then Treasury secretary Henry Paulson’s “shock and awe” approach to the crisis, and came amid concerns that short selling was causing sudden and excessive fluctuations in share prices of financial institutions. Paulson’s aim was to alter investor perceptions, bolster confidence, stabilise markets and prevent excessive price declines in financial shares. The ban was lifted three weeks after it was imposed.

      Its effects were extensively studied by SEC economists and by a number of academic researchers. The results of these studies paint a uniform picture of a policy that clearly failed any reasonable cost/benefit test. The ban failed to slow the decline in the price of financial stocks and many market participants were harmed without any offsetting benefit. The studies showed the ban worked in at least one way: shorting activity declined significantly for affected stocks.

      Importantly, these studies revealed that the premise for the ban — that short sales were more aggressive than the sales made by those holding shares and wishing to dispose of them — was mistaken. They also showed that short selling of financial shares was more intense in rising markets, not falling ones.

      Furthermore, the studies found the ban was counterproductive, as it led to a severe degradation in market quality by increasing intraday stock price volatility, reducing market liquidity, increasing bid-ask spreads and price impacts, reducing pricing efficiency and increasing trading costs. It led to a substitution of other instruments to gain short exposure, such as equity swaps or credit default swaps. The studies documented impaired arbitrage and hedging processes caused by the ban leading some traders to unwind their positions, resulting in additional selling pressure on financial shares.
      …

    2. Blaming the short sellers is a classic case of “killing the messenger.” It isn’t the short sellers’ faults that so many banks have deeply underwater balance sheets.

      1. $910,000,000,000 Exits US Banking System in Just One Year As Depositors Take Flight
        Daily Hodl Staff
        May 13, 2023

        New numbers from the Federal Reserve are shining a light on just how much capital has exited US banks in the last year.

        According to stats compiled by the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) system, American banks have witnessed a whopping $910 billion in deposit flight since May of 2022.
        …
        https://dailyhodl.com/2023/05/13/910000000000-exits-us-banking-system-in-just-one-year-as-depositors-take-flight/

    3. Investor’s Business Daily
      Stock Market Today
      Dow Jones Futures Fall In Dangerous Market; Watch Tesla, These Stocks
      ED CARSON 10:30 PM ET 05/14/2023

      Dow Jones futures edged lower Sunday night, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. Tesla (TSLA) and several chip stocks are worth watching.

      The stock market rally showed mixed action last week.

      The Nasdaq hit a 2023 high last week, but ended with slim gains. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones fell for the week, while market breadth remained weak.

      The stock market rally showed mixed action last week. Also, not many stocks have been offering buy signals, and some of those have quickly wobbled.

      But a choppy market rally is dangerous for investors. It’s still a time to be mostly in cash.
      …
      https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-futures-why-this-market-is-so-dangerous-what-to-do-tesla-amd/

  17. Would the entire cryptoverse collapse if regulators cracked down on illegal activities enabled by cryptocurrencies?

    What other findamental value do they have outside supporting international money laundering activity?

    1. The Financial Times
      Cryptocurrencies
      US crypto tsar promises crackdown on digital platforms
      The justice department is stepping up scrutiny of an industry wracked by scandal and volatility
      Eun Young Choi heads a new unit set up by the Biden administration to target criminal misuse of digital assets
      Stefania Palma in London 4 hours ago

      The top US cryptocurrency enforcement tsar is promising a crackdown on illicit behaviour on digital platforms, saying the scale of crypto crime has grown “significantly” in the past four years.

      The Department of Justice is targeting crypto exchanges along with the “mixers and tumblers” that obscure the trail of transactions, said Eun Young Choi, who was appointed director of the agency’s national cryptocurrency enforcement team last year. The DoJ is targeting companies that commit crimes themselves or allow them to happen, such as enabling money laundering, she said.

      “But on top of that, they’re allowing for all the other criminal actors to easily profit from their crimes and cash out in ways that are obviously problematic to us,” she added. “And so we hope that by focusing on those types of platforms, we’re going to have a multiplier effect.”

      Choi said the focus on platforms would “send a deterrent message” to businesses that are skirting anti-money laundering or client identification rules, and who were not investing in solid compliance and risk mitigation procedures.

      Choi is the DoJ’s debut crypto tsar. She heads a new unit focused on criminal misuse of digital assets as the US under the administration of Joe Biden has emerged as one of the jurisdictions with the toughest stance on crypto worldwide.

      Choi said: “We’re seeing the scale and the scope of digital assets being used in a variety of illicit ways grow significantly over the last, say, four years.”

      “I think that is concurrent with the increase of its adoption by the public writ large.”
      …

    2. Forbes Digital Assets
      Crypto Braced For ‘Stampede’ As Legendary Investor Issues $200 Trillion Warning After Wild Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, XRP, Cardano, Dogecoin, Polygon And Solana Price Swings
      Billy Bambrough
      Senior Contributor
      I write about how bitcoin, crypto and blockchain can change the world.
      May 13, 2023,07:45am EDT

      Bitcoin (BTC -1.2%), ethereum and the wider crypto market have rocketed this year though the price rally has stalled this week as a leaked memo revealed a secret Democrat plan for a U.S. crypto crackdown.

      The bitcoin price boom has been partly fueled by the U.S. banking crisis that thrust crypto back into the limelight and boosted the ethereum price along with top ten cryptocurrencies (BNB +0.9%, XRP +3.8%), cardano, dogecoin, polygon and solana.
      …

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