On Monday it was announced that Homebuilder Sentiment rose again in April, marking the eight-straight month of increases. Yesterday the April Building Permit and Housing Start reports came out, and they both woefully missed estimates.

Foreclosures rise…  Green Shoots, no so green!  Getting on a bus…  Losing a triple A rating? And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

More bad news for housing… one chart shows the bottom could still be far away…Credit crunch slams entitlements… demise of Social Security, Medicare now years closer…Stocks suffer… Bill Jenkins on the “surprise” data behind today’s sell-off…Jim Nelson shares one of “the world’s most exciting growth industries”…Plus, Byron King’s taking profits… a sector worth selling, right now

This could get ugly. Another month, another 600k+ jobs expected to be lost. This would mark the 16th straight month of job losses, just one month short of the longest streak in history.

Has the housing market hit an absolute bottom yet? Perhaps, but probably not. But there are at least indications however that things could start turning around.

The rampant increase in home-ownership was government-driven and credit-enabled. Adrian Ash tells us why we shouldn’t be surprised at the results.

Unless we see a recovery in the housing market, we won’t really see a recovery in the economy.  But is the housing market approaching a bottom? Or does it still have a ways to go?

Real estate prices are down substantially and many foreclosures and short sale opportunities are out there for the picking.

A quick glance at the calendar this week and an instant case of nausea should set in. The week is not only overloaded with reports, but only a few are expected to show improvement.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are to America’s great empire what the East India Company was to the British Empire in the 19th century…and the Louisiana Company was to France in the 18th. Huge, stupid, and probably fatal.