From the category archives:

MTM

FASB Amends Fair Market Value Accounting

October 12, 2008

Governments around the world have gone on a coordinated offensive of truculent press releases in an effort to combat the growing credit crisis. Mortgage REIT prices also popped again on Friday, NCT was up over 60%, RAS and RSO were both up over 30% and NRF was up almost 40%. But this is not the [...]

More on this topic (What's this?)
Can These REITs Keep Paying Giant Dividends? (Investment Underground » Page n..., 1/13/12)
5 REITs That Are Worth A Look (Investment Underground » Page n..., 12/21/11)
Are REITs the Holy Grail of Yield? (Wall Street Sector Selector, 1/30/12)
Read more on Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) at Wikinvest
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Fair Value is Fair Value

August 7, 2008

“Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.” – Lord Acton The accounting standard known as FAS 157, otherwise known as mark-to-market accounting (see How Mark To Market Turned Mr. Market Into Mr Magoo for detail on how it works), has [...]

More on this topic (What's this?)
Is Fair Value Marking Fair When The Price Is Irrational? (Bull Bear Trader, 9/17/08)
So Who Should We Believe? (Stock Market Prognosticator, 1/5/09)
Let’s Not All Become Fundamental Indexers Just Yet (Index Universe, 12/26/08)
Read more on Fair Value at Wikinvest
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Mark to Market Losses Starting to Reverse?

June 17, 2008

In the first quarter of 2007, subprime mortgages provided the first sign of trouble in the credit markets as falling housing prices began to hit borrowers hard. But in the first quarter of 2008, home-equity lines of credit became the new canary in the coal mine. Lenders such as National City have frozen existing home [...]

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High Yield Mortgage REITs: The Perfect Storm?

April 17, 2008

Volume of Maturing Mortgages to be Low in 2008 and 2009, Reducing Refinance Risk Even Further, but Mark to Market is Discounting REITs to the Depths of Atlantis. After a couple of alarming headlines in Seeking Alpha related to commercial real estate, the most recent of which was “Commercial Real Estate Collapsing”, REIT Wrecks decided [...]

More on this topic (What's this?)
Can These REITs Keep Paying Giant Dividends? (Investment Underground » Page n..., 1/13/12)
5 REITs That Are Worth A Look (Investment Underground » Page n..., 12/21/11)
Are REITs the Holy Grail of Yield? (Wall Street Sector Selector, 1/30/12)
Read more on Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), Office REITs at Wikinvest
Read the full article →

How Markit Turned Mr. Market Into Mr. Magoo

April 8, 2008

In order to understand the answer to this question, it helps to first ask another: How could a Commercial Mortgage REIT, with absolutely no credit losses and no non-performing assets across its entire $7.4 billion portfolio, be forced to take a $180 million loss? Part of the answer lies in an earlier post I wrote [...]

More on this topic (What's this?)
Can These REITs Keep Paying Giant Dividends? (Investment Underground » Page n..., 1/13/12)
5 REITs That Are Worth A Look (Investment Underground » Page n..., 12/21/11)
Are REITs the Holy Grail of Yield? (Wall Street Sector Selector, 1/30/12)
Read more on Markit group, Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) at Wikinvest
Read the full article →

Mr Market trips on Mark to Market, Gives REITs Away

March 5, 2008

In this bountiful era of REIT wreckage, with liquidity having virtually disappeared from the mortgage market, the auction rate securities market, and last week, even the municipal bond market, it is helpful to be reminded of the irrationality that can sometimes rule daily trading gyrations. According to Warren Buffett, Ben Graham said that you should [...]

More on this topic (What's this?)
Can These REITs Keep Paying Giant Dividends? (Investment Underground » Page n..., 1/13/12)
5 REITs That Are Worth A Look (Investment Underground » Page n..., 12/21/11)
Are REITs the Holy Grail of Yield? (Wall Street Sector Selector, 1/30/12)
Read more on Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) at Wikinvest
Read the full article →