| Spooked: Credit Market Concerns Haunt Commercial Mortgages
Market conditions are like walking through a haunted house these days, with a new scare waiting around every corner. Lately the commercial mortgage market appears to be spooked as the market for commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) - one of the primary commercial mortgage investment vehicles - has all but dried up since last August. New CMBS issuance has declined from $61.2 billion in the first quarter of last year to $5.1 billion so this year. And there have been no commercial real estate collateralized debt obligation (CDO) issuances this quarter compared to $8.1 billion in the quarter a year ago. With nowhere to sell loans, lenders have followed suit and have also virtually turned off the spigot for new commercial real estate loans. With reduced availability of credit and concern about the vulnerability of commercial real estate properties in an economic downturn, CMBS yields have increased sharply.
Painting the town purple
Purple potties are being plopped on lawns around town. The porcelain thrones serve as reminders of the upcoming Coppell Relay for Life fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.To get the potty off a yard, the homeowners pay a $20 donation paid directly to the American Cancer Society and can choose to pay extra to send it to someone else and buy insurance so it never comes back to them.Although the idea has circulated for the past two years, this is the first year of the potty emergence, said Mike Dunn, Coppell Relay for Life chair and the person placing potties on people's yards.The idea is not original to Coppell, but residents are responding well to the fundraising attempt, he said.Just in the past week since putting the first potty on a yard, the ploy has already raised more than $500, Dunn said."I plan on raising about $2,000 to $3,000 from the purple potties," he said.
China Stocks May Sink Even Further
(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in three of its last four sessions, sinking to an 11-month low in the process, and analysts expect the Shanghai Composite Index to further test support under additional selling pressure on Thursday. The month of March has been anything but kind to Shanghai as the market has lost more than 650 points or 14 percent in that time. Now, regional sentiment suggests that most of the Asian markets will decline in Thursday's trade, thanks in part to weak economic data out of the United States and the ensuing poor session on Wall Street. The market was moderately lower on Wednesday, dragged to the downside by profit taking in the airline sector. The SCI was actually up by as much as 1.9 percent in the morning session before it plummeted to its worst finish since April 20.
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