So what was it that spooked the markets… Well… The only thing I can find was the report yesterday about falling Housing Starts that Chris told you about… Did you know that about 14% of US homeowners were either delinquent on their mortgage or in some stage of foreclosure? That is the highest rate since the group started collecting the data in 1972!

But there was something else that was announced as the day went on, that I think probably spooked the markets more than anything else… And that is a key House panel approved two amendments to a sweeping financial-overhaul bill that would give federal watchdogs new authority to audit the Federal Reserve, and would establish a fund of as much as $200 billion to help dissolve large, troubled institutions. Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas) offered the amendment seeking to subject the Fed to audits.

Home sales improve…  Are we there yet…  Intervention talks…  Buying on dips… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

More tough news for U.S. jobs… what you need to know in today’s BLS employment report…Dow setting records left and right… two historic looks at just how lousy 2009 has been…Chris Mayer on the next megatrend… far bigger than the current crisis…Chuck Butler explores “a strange thing happening in currencies”…Plus, a reader exposes our “simple-minded,” “right-wing babbling” for what it is… at last…

The Feds try to reflate the world economy with $10 trillion but at what cost? As predicted in this space, the November payrolls were down a lot more than expected. Economists thought there would be 350,000 layoffs. Instead, the actual number was 200,000 more.

The US housing crisis looks sets to deepen after S&P’s/Case-Shiller Home Price index showed that home prices in 20 US cities fell almost 13% in February from a year earlier. This from AP:

“Month-to-month, it gets consistently worse,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P, noting that February also marked the sixth straight month that all 20 cities experienced declines. “The slope is one direction. There is no sign of a bottom.”

A US government home-price index has posted the sharpest decline in its 17-year history – and analysts say things won’t get better until at least 2009.

Home prices fell 3.1% in the first quarter compared with last year, according to The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. This from AP:

Declines in the government index, which focuses on less expensive properties and includes fewer houses bought with risky home loans that have gone sour over the past year, show the depth of the housing market’s troubles.

The number of foreclosures in California have sky-rocketed.

According a report in the LA Times, the number of foreclosures in the state in the first quarter this year is up a staggering 327% from year-ago levels — an average of 500 foreclosures a day.

Ominously, the paper quotes research from DataQuick warning that the widening foreclosure problem could “spread beyond the current categories of dicey mortgages, and into mainstream home loans.”

Retailers are trying to lure shoppers helped by stimulus checks, reports AP.

You may have to wait until May to see your economic stimulus check, but some retailers already have their sights set on how you will spend it.

Both Kroger Co., one of the country’s largest grocers, and department store operator Sears Holdings Corp. are already offering discounts and freebies to consumers who turn the rebate checks into gift cards.

“A full 3% of U.S. homes could go into foreclosure before the housing meltdown is over, according to a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts,” says Dave Goingam.

“That’s 1 out of every 33. In Nevada, it’ll be more like 1 out of 11.”

“The forecast is based on data from the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Center for Responsible Lending.”

For the past few weeks there’s been a lot of talk about the senate and house drafting a plan to bail out mortgage holders. The plan is to let judges change the terms of the mortgages. That means changing the amount owed and setting lower rates. Can you believe that?