TREND Technical Trader's blog

Residential real estate prices fell more than forecast in November, showing distressed properties are hampering improvement in the U.S. housing market.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities declined 3.7 percent from November 2010 after decreasing 3.4 percent in the year ended in October, the group said today in New York. Economists projected a 3.3 percent drop, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.

A New Issue of the TREND Technical Trader has been sent to subscribers this morning.  Please let us know if it does not appear in your e-mail inbox.

Here's the 2nd interview we've posted this week with someone predicting an imminent major crash in equities. 

Joe Granville's record is good, but we're not sure about David White.  In any case, it's an interesting interview.

(MarketWatch) - The U.S. economy grew 2.8% in the final three months of 2011, propelled by increases in consumer spending and business inventories, according to a preliminary government estimate. The increase in gross domestic product was the fastest in a year and a half. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch projected GDP would rise 3.0%.

(MarketWatch) — Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on Friday stripped France of its coveted triple-A credit rating and reduced Portugal’s debt status to junk as part of a broad reassessment of Europe’s financial soundness that highlights the severity of the euro zone’s persistent sovereign debt crisis and complicates efforts to resolve it.

Germany escaped S&P’s scrutiny unharmed. It’s triple-A credit rating was left unchanged and given a stable outlook.

(MarketWatch) -- Ratings agency Standard & Poor's is set to announce later on Friday that it has cut France's coveted triple-A rating, undermining euro-zone efforts to solve a persistent sovereign debt crisis, according to media reports on Friday.

French news agency Agence France Presse, citing an unnamed government source, reported on its website that S&P had already informed the French government of the move. Neither the rating agency nor the French finance ministry would comment, AFP reported.

(MarketWatch) - The number of Americans who filed requests for jobless benefits rose by 24,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 399,000, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. Claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 375,000 from 372,000. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had projected claims would rise to 380,000 in the week ended Jan. 7.

The foreclosure process went into a relative remission last year, with just under two million households receiving some kind of foreclosure notice. But RealtyTrac is expecting a relapse in 2012.

TTT comment : Let's hope it's true, as it's very good and very necessary for housing specifically and the economy in general in the long run.  There can't be a true recovery without it.

Elliot Spitzer was the last so-called "Sheriff of Wall Street". 

(MarketWatch) -- Morgan Stanley analysts on Tuesday said they expect the S&P 500 to fall 7% in 2012 to end the new year at 1,167. Headwinds include a global economic slowdown and weak company results; also, a stronger U.S. dollar will put a damper on corporate profits. Morgan Stanley downgraded the energy sector to underweight from market-weight, and upgraded industrials to market-weight from underweight.