Stocks surge; Hewlett-Packard leads Dow higher

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By MATTHEW CRAFT

NEW YORK (AP) - Encouraging signs from two of the most important zones of the world economy, the powerhouse of China and the debt-burdened countries of Europe, drove the Dow Jones industrial average up 181 points Thursday, its second-biggest gain this year.

China's central bank reported a surprising jump in loans in March. That eased concerns about a sudden slowdown in the Chinese economy, whose growth has helped pull the globe out of recession.

Italy's government easily sold $6.4 billion in bonds to investors. After the auction, borrowing rates for Italy fell, European stock indexes reversed earlier declines and worries about the continental debt crisis eased, at least for the day.

"European governments have a mountain of debt coming due early this year," said John Canally, investment strategist at LPL Financial in Boston. "Some of what you're seeing today in markets is a bit of relief that they're working through it."


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120412/D9U3JUA03.html

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In a Feb. 17, 2012 photo trader Anthony Satriale, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York. U.S. stocks were poised to rise Thursday April 12, 2012. withDow futures up 0.5 percent and S&P 500 futures up 0.5 percent. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

[snappyturtle]

1. Even though the surge in the market may signal positive signs in the global

economy, there's something about seeing Wall Street succeed after what
I feel they cost this country that makes me want to puke. I know I probably
shouldn't feel this way but I I do. Of course, imho.

[xtraxritical]

2. Wall St. did not tank the housing market fraudulent loan applications did.

Liar loans tanked the housing market. All the people that were willing to lie on their loan applications tanked the economy. Banks just processed the public's lies. Banks were smart enough to sell this fraudulent crap to suckers.

[RBInMaine]

3. Hogwash. It was a combination of bad lending by banks, over-borrowing, and bad Wall St. spec-

ulation using chopped up mortgage money on the secondary markets. To say Wall. St. had nothing to do with it is utter crap.

[JoePhilly]

5. Once you allow banks to make bad loans, chop them into tiny pieces, repackage them,

And then sell the resulting sausage as if it were filet mignon ... your economy is screwed. The banks then sell the sausage back and forth as if the sausage they made had some value.

By deregulating the banking industry and allowing this specific behavior, you get banks instructing their mortgage brokers, to make riskier and riskier loans because the banks plans to pass off the risk of these loans to other investors. Soon, you have all of the banks passing this junk around as if it was a stable investment.

Meanwhile, mortgage brokers are paid on commission based on the size of the loan. So those brokers have an incentive to advise you, the borrower, to take a larger loan than you can afford. After all, they get paid NOW regardless of whether you default down the road. And then the bank chops up your loan and sells the pieces. For a profit.

The borrower believes that they are getting good advice from the mortgage broker. But they are not. They are being misled and lied to.

I have a good friend who quit being a mortgage broker because she was pressured by bank management to "encourage" borrowers to take loans she knew they could not afford. She was passed over for promotions because she was unwilling to do it.

That's what happened. Read up on what's know as the Gramm-Leach-Bililey Act of 1999. That's the act which deregulated the financial industry to allow and foster this behavior.

[greiner3]

4. HP screwed me;

BWO not honoring its warranty. I took them to small claims court;


AND WON! Take your claims against Corporate America screw ups to small claims. There's only a small filing charge and even if you don't win, it's only a small price to pay.

Besides, think of the cost of those lawyers and their 'hourly' fees to the corps!