Author: Serkadis

Shares of Bank of America were down slightly today but activity in the options market indicates that long-term bulls are unshaken.

Could this be a play on the possible nomination of a new CEO tomorrow?

Phil of Phil’s Stock World (incidentally, one of the best options blogs around) reports:

Long-term Bank of America bulls are out in full force today, scooping up call options like they’re going out of style. BAC’s shares are off slightly by less than 1% to $16.19.

Plain-vanilla call buying in the January 2011 contract indicates investors expect shares to surge over the next 13 months. A large chunk of 50,000 calls were picked up at the January 25 strike for an average premium of 86 cents apiece. Shares must rally 60% from the current price to breach the $25.86 breakeven point on the trade. Twice as many calls were coveted at the higher January 30 strike where 100,000 calls were purchased for 45 cents each. The investor responsible for the massive position breaks even if shares jump 88% to $30.45 by expiration.

Finally, another BAC-optimist established a ratio call spread in the same contract. The investor purchased 20,000 calls at the January 20 strike for 1.95 apiece, spread against the sale of 40,000 calls at the higher January 30 strike for 46 cents premium each. The net cost of the spread amounts to 1.03 per contract and positions the trader to profit if shares exceed $21.03 by expiration in January of 2011. Maximum potential profits available on the transaction amount to 8.97 per contract.

Option implied volatility on Bank of America is currently 38.65% – a scant 2.93% above the 52-week volatility low of 35.77% – attained back on October 20, 2009.

Click here for Phil’s other reports on GE and the seed market.

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See Also:

• BOFA Board Member Was Against Merrill Deal, Wanted To Wait (BAC)

Filed under: Motorsports, Volkswagen

This year’s Sprint Cup was awarded this past weekend at Homestead, where Jimmie Johnson scored his record fourth consecutive championship with a fifth-place finish behind race winner Denny Hamlin. (Oh yeah, “spoiler alert”.) Anyway, on to the interesting part: the oval speedway had some unlikely German visitors for the series finale, leading the motorsport press and the fans to begin asking questions.

The Volkswagen Group’s head of motorsports Hans-Joachim Stuck was reportedly among the spectators at Homestead this past weekend, and took a few visible meetings with NASCAR officials. But Stuck was quick to dispel any rumors. Although he kvelled over the purity of the spectacle that NASCAR offers, Stuck said that convincing the bean counters back in Wolfsburg that stock car racing made sense for them would be a tough sell.

If you think it would be an even tougher sell to fans, consider that VW’s new plant in Chatanooga, Tennessee, could be only the first step in an increasing American presence for the German automaker, and that Toyota may have already prepared the ground for foreign makes to enter the series.

Meanwhile Stuck did confirm ongoing negotiations over the German auto group’s potential participation in the Grand Am sportscar series, also owned by NASCAR’s France family. According to Stuck, the Audi/Lamborghini V10 could be a perfect fit for the prototype racers, though they’d have to make it work with the spec ECU. Stuck also revealed that his company was discussing a possible entry into the IndyCar series.

The VW racing chief wasn’t the only notable German at Homestead this past weekend, though, as Red Bull flew out its star driver Sebastian Vettel to witness the spectacle as well. After watching the race and chatting with former colleague Juan Pablo Montoya, Vettel said that F1 could stand to learn a lot from NASCAR, and that while he’s committed to F1, he’d like to try out a stock car on an oval. This after his professed fascination with rallying as well. It’s worth noting that Heikki Kovalainen, now looking for a new drive since leaving McLaren, was also at the race as a guest of Penske Racing, leading to speculation over the Finnish driver’s prospects for next season.

[Source: Autosport | Image: Jason Smith/Getty]

Big Deal? VW racing chief, F1 drivers visit Homestead for NASCAR season-closer originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plenty of fiction authors base their characters on real life people. But, perhaps they need to be more careful. A jury has ruled in favor of someone who claimed libel against an author for supposedly writing a character “inspired by” a former friend. That former friend was not happy about the portrayal, in which she was a “sexually promiscuous alcoholic.” This seems like a really bad precedent. Fiction authors quite frequently take people from real life, but then exaggerate them to extremes. But if that opens them up to potential libel charges, that seems quite ridiculous.

For example, I once read a book that had a character that was based on my father, written by someone who knew him many, many years ago (in the copy the author sent my father, it was inscribed with my father’s name, followed by the character’s name in parentheses). It was entertaining, to me, to see such a character who certainly resembled the rather content, laid back, unflappable nature of my Dad… except at the end where the character went crazy and had to be locked up. That, clearly, did not happen in real life, but it never struck me as “libelous.” It was obviously just a fictional story, where the author needed the character to do something and act in a certain way. That’s why it’s fiction. Besides, for it to be defamatory, you have to be able to show the harm caused, and that’s only going to happen if a lot of people know that the character is supposed to be the real person, which seems unlikely in most cases. In the meantime, though, if you’re writing a fictional story, be careful who you base your characters on.

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We need a state income tax to fund services, spending

Editor, The Times:

The Times, in its Nov. 22 editorial “State budget shortfall requires urgent action” [Opinion], urged Gov. Chris Gregoire to call a special session to make further cuts in state spending.

The state’s economic crisis — and budget shortfall — is largely due to underemployment. How would firing more state employees help that? Having fewer people with cash to spend on housing, health care, and local goods and services doesn’t seem to be the way to go.

There are people in our state who don’t have to worry about affording those things. They have time and means to make use of well-maintained state parks, ferries, bridges and highways. They benefit from workers and neighbors having an excellent education system, physical and mental hearth, crime prevention, and rehabilitation services.

These people now pay less than their fair share of the costs of such benefits.

Washington needs a state income tax, with a progressive rate sufficient to finance improved education and needed services, while permitting a reduction in the sales tax.

Let those who don’t have to spend every dime they take in, take some load off the rest of us.

— Bruce Pringle, Normandy Park

When will new, fresh leaders emerge?

Lately there has been a lot of talk and some action by city, county, state and federal legislators, governors, commissioners and mayors about raising taxes, fees and other sources of revenue to cover budgets ravaged by the economic meltdown and protect services provided by these entities [“State’s budget hole expands,” NWFriday, Nov. 20].

Well, here’s a suggestion for all of them:

It’s about time that taxes were raised on the people and industries most responsible for causing the meltdown.

The banks, investment firms, insurance firms, Wall Street and all their executives, mortgage brokers, traders, and anyone involved in the latest swindle over the last 10 years. Not to mention the 40 U.S. senators and many U.S. representatives still in office who removed the Great Depression-era safeguards 10 years ago that gave legality to their actions.

When will these people be held accountable? When will the average taxpayer of this state and country be relieved of the burden these people have placed on them? When will we see real leaders instead of professional politicians in office at all levels who are willing to do what’s right for the country as a whole?

Probably next November when every member of the House of Representatives is up for re-election, as well as many senators.

If we, the voters across the country, would concentrate on getting rid of any incumbent of any party who has served in the Congress for more than 12 years, new leaders could emerge.

We might then have a real representative government at the national level, and we could also apply that standard to city, county and state elected officials.

We need to clean house, and until we do nothing will change.

— Bill Davis, Kingston

Timing stinks?

It’s disappointing that The Seattle Times slammed the careful work by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force because it was politically convenient [“Mammogram debate,” Opinion, editorial, Nov. 22].

On the question on when to begin screening, the task force commissioned an outside institute to research the question. It was verified by 15 outside scientists before the task force considered it. Many other countries begin routine screening at age 50, and their death rate is not much different from the U.S.

The data on how frequent women should have mammograms is more clear-cut: every other year gives the same benefit as every year.

If we cannot make objective decisions on what works and what does not, how can we possibly hope for a better health-care system?

Lastly, The Times said the “timing of the report stinks.” Should political considerations hold up important recommendations?

— Kim Riddell, Edmonds

Forgetting the payer, a key player in the health-care system

The Times’ editorial about mammograms persists in the delusion that there are only two parties to a medical decision: the patient and the doctor.

But the newspaper forgot one key player, the payer.

Since the rest of us are paying for this, we have a stake in the decision. As a payer, I’d like to know that the treatment I help pay for is medically necessary and cost effective.

The current situation, where the patient and the doctor decide what to do, and a third party — uncomplaining — pays for it all, is not sustainable. Neither of them has any incentive to reduce costs.

It’s a large part of why health costs are so high in this country. If we want to bring health-care costs under control, then we’re going to have to make tough decisions.

Saying that the patient and doctor should do whatever they want is avoiding the necessary action.

— Alan Davidoff, Bellvue

I am a breast-cancer survivor

I would not be on the planet if it were not for self-examination and mammograms [“Breast-cancer flap gets political,” News, Nov. 19].

Many of my friends would also not be here for the same reasons.

I attended three breast-cancer support groups, two where the majority of women were 30 years or younger. They all were dealing with breast cancer.

I am in shock that a panel of federal, independent so-called experts advises what is important in women’s breast-care health. I am wondering if any of these experts are women. Are these experts connected to big money in anyway?

Though I would not wish this on anyone, I wonder how these experts would feel if their daughter or young wife died of breast cancer because they knew nothing of self-breast examination, or were not covered by insurance to get a mammogram because of their age.

— Shanti Schenker-Skye, Seattle

Cable company already too controlling and costly

Prepare yourself for higher cable rates if Comcast Corp. buys part of NBC Universal [“Protect consumer choice: block NBC/Comcast deal,” Opinion, Ryan Blethen editorial column, Nov. 22].

Where I live, Normandy Park, the city gave Comcast a 75-year franchise. If they inhale NBC, Comcast will renegotiate those city franchises for a century or more.

That’s way too long for an industry that is changing every day.

The Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission should stop cold Comcast from becoming any bigger or more controlling.

— Bill Wippel, Normandy Park

Consumers are clearly shopping again. J. Crew just posted a third-quarter profit of $44 million, up more than double from $19 million last year:

Marketwatch: J. Crew Group Inc. late Tuesday reported its third-quarter net income more than doubled to $43.9 million, or 67 cents a share, from $19 million, or 30 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue increased to $414.1 million from $363.1 million a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had forecast the New York-based company to earn 58 cents a share on $406.6 million in revenue. The fashion retailer projected fourth-quarter earnings of 37 cents a share to 42 cents a share

Currently, J. Crew’s stock is up 5.4% at $43.05 a share.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Motorola Not Screwed? Surprise Profit, Strong Guidance (MOT)
• Kellogg Posts Higher Profit As Poor Americans Chow Down On Cereal (K)
• J.Crew Quietly Crowing About Obama Family Endorsement

Toxic impacts of mining endanger Pacific Northwest icon

As a longtime Seattle resident and restaurateur, I commend the efforts of fellow chefs to educate our customers on the perils of mining in the Bristol Bay area [“13 restaurants enter fray over wild Alaska salmon,” NWTuesday, Now. 17].

Wild salmon is not only an iconic symbol of the Pacific Northwest and the centerpiece of our region’s culinary heritage; it serves as a critical link in our region’s ecosystem. The sockeye salmon of Bristol Bay represent one of our region’s last remaining healthy fish runs.

The toxic impacts of mining in this pristine environment present unacceptable risks to fish and the watershed upon which they rely.

I applaud our colleagues in defending this vital resource, and encourage Seattle diners to patronize their fine establishments.

— Buzz Hofford, Shoreline

A letter to my family: the true meaning of thanks and giving

Editor, The Times:

I sent the following note to my family, and I am pleased that they have responded enthusiastically:

Dear family,

After considerable thought, I have decided to take a different approach for this Christmas. I am mindful that it is stressful for many of our fellow citizens, especially those who are unemployed, during these difficult economic times.

I have been supporting the Lake City Food Bank, and I just received a letter from them that they are very short of turkeys for Thanksgiving and are asking for help.

I have decided to confine my gift-giving at Christmas to the grandkids and use the money that I would normally spend on adult gifts to contribute to charity instead. I just made an arrangement with Safeway to buy two dozen or more turkeys to contribute to the food bank, and I plan other contributions as well.

I trust no one will be offended my decision.

I love you all dearly, but we all are so fortunate that I don’t feel right without helping others in greater need. I, of course, do not expect any presents and I urge you all to consider some similar giving.

During the holidays, and at other times, my greatest joy is to spend quality time with each of you. I hope that we can find more occasions to connect, and have the benefit of each other’s company.

With much love to all,

Dad

— Stanley Graves, Lake Forest Park

China: the real location of Santa’s workshop

As Christmas draws closer, we are bombarded with advertisements for new toys and armed with our children’s wish lists [“Charming, cheap toys are holiday must-haves,” Business, Nov. 21].

Before you buy, please stop to consider the real cost behind these toys. An estimated 70 percent of the world’s toys are made in China, but those of us buying these toys know very little — if anything — about the conditions under which they are produced.

The fact is, the migrant workers in China’s southern provinces who labor over these toys are underpaid, overworked and underrepresented. They work 16-hour shifts, seven days a week for weeks at a time. They handle toxic chemicals, glues, paints and solvents with shoddy equipment and lax safety regulations inside a factory where temperatures push 100 degrees.

Labor laws are routinely violated and poorly enforced.

Also, the Chinese government prohibits the formation of independent trade unions, so these workers have no representation to discuss labor violations. They are paid wages as little as 13 cents an hour.

We all deserve to make a living wage, work in a safe environment and be treated with fairness and dignity. Please help advocate for, and defend, the human rights of factory workers in China.

This season, shop responsibly.

— Kari Solberg, Seattle

Deck the halls with patience, courtesy and a smile?

In this holiday shopping season, let’s all be kind to each other [“For retailers, it’s a make-or-break season: What holiday shoppers can expect,” page one, Nov. 12].

Please be understanding when I ask you to check in when you enter my store. I have been instructed to do this, not with the goal of being intrusive, but of making your shopping experience as smooth as possible.

After all, you are likely used to checking in at most restaurants.

As for those who are fortunate to be working at any store or public establishment, remember that you have a job, and the person you are helping may not or may be worried about where the money is going to come from this year.

Let’s all just take a second and put ourselves in each other’s shoes.

Finally, on a busy day I easily greet more than 100 people. I am so grateful to those who stop on their way out to thank me for my assistance.

You have no idea how that really makes my day.

— Barb Paxhia, Renton

Fed up with the politically correct holiday tree? Join the club

I recently saw the picture of a holiday tree that will be on display in Seattle [“Dwarfed by neighbor,” NWSaturday, Nov. 14], and I could no longer keep quiet about this ridiculous situation.

Will somebody please explain to me why we can no longer celebrate Christmas because it is not politically correct?

For hundreds of years we celebrated Christmas, and others celebrated Hanukkah or whatever religious festivals they wished, without any of this nonsense. Let’s be honest: We have St. Patrick’s Day and St. Valentine’s Day, which believe it or not are religious, and even Easter.

I came to this country as an immigrant more than 40 years ago, with the belief that this was a free country, and I am disgusted that a small group of people have imposed their will on the majority.

I will be celebrating Christmas, with a Christmas tree, Christmas presents, Christmas decorations and sending Christmas cards to family and friends. I will also go to church and not insist that everyone has the same religion, so I will respect other people’s beliefs, which I feel is only right.

Let us accept the fact that we are all different, but let’s stop this nonsense of the minority imposing their will on the majority.

By the way, I will also be wishing my family and friends Merry Christmas, and not happy holidays.

— Janina Sierakowska, Bothell

State Liquor Board staying warm, jolly this holiday season

While reading about the State Liquor Control Board wanting to experiment with seasonal gift stores [“Holiday spirits with a twist: Malls to host liquor stores,” page one, Oct. 16], I was filled with irritation and mystification.

I, myself, am a firm believer of family traditions, gift-giving, white Christmases and holiday toasting to kick off the season. But, I must ask, has our society reached a point where we throw out the thoughtful gift-giving and settle for a fancy, overpriced bottle of wine?

An increase of $3.8 million over two years is quite a lot of money to be spending on alcohol. I am well-informed that the United States economy is in poor shape, however, is constructing holiday spirits stores really the answer to pulling our state out of a huge budget deficit?

I find it really odd to have the state be the liquor retailer; what kind of environment is this creating?

Many people in my family suffer from alcoholism, and the addition of liquor stores, all the while encouraging to make things Irish, isn’t helping. Christmas time is not specifically the time to uncork your best wine and nothing else.

There are other ways to be jolly throughout the Christmas season, without the consumption of alcohol.

— Liz Rodriques, Kirkland

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Videos, Dodge

The Dodge Viper is many things to many people. An object of unparalleled lust to some, a big-mouthed, truck-engined Corvette ripoff to others. And an ankle burner to still others. But no one ever thought of Dodge’s V10 quarter-mile thug as a serious track car. Until the Viper ACR showed up.

Lighter (especially in Hardcore Package guise) and producing ten times as much downforce as the “regular” SRT10 Viper, the ACR model set off some pretty big waves when the big-winged snake debuted (especially in the Nurburgring record community), even though most of the rippling came from the street-legal slicks. But never mind all that, the new 2010 Dodge Viper ACR is here, and it’s even better than the 2009 version.

Why? Well, it’s faster (top speed is now 202 mph) and quicker (it can reach said top speed a whole 14 seconds sooner than the 2009 model). How? Gearing, specifically 5th gear, which has been revised from 0.741 to 0.796. Also, the end caps on the giant wing have been revised, resulting in that higher top end. Some new colors, too. We have tons of videos of it rumbling/blasting around Laguna Seca for your perusal, after the jump. Hat tip to Ryan!

UPDATE: Looks like Dodge, the Viper ACR and driver Chris Winkler just broke the Laguna Seca single-lap record with a time of 1:33.944. Those of you with longish memories will remember that a Devon GTX (powered by a Viper motor) recently set the (now) old record at Laguna — 1.35.075. In other words, the new Viper ACR just beat the previous record by more than a second. Impressive. And yet another video, after the jump.

UPDATE 2: Gallery of images from the 2010 Dodge Viper ACR’s day at the track added.

UPDATE 3: Chrysler just twittered: “To honor Viper’s record-breaking lap at Laguna Seca, Dodge will rollout a Laguna Seca Special Edition Viper.” Now that’s planning product on your feet!

[Source: Red Letter Dodge]

Continue reading VIDEO: 2010 Dodge Viper ACR makes the rounds at Laguna Seca, sets track record

VIDEO: 2010 Dodge Viper ACR makes the rounds at Laguna Seca, sets track record originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Washington, Jefferson didn’t have birth certificates

Were not all the early presidents born of parents who were not American citizens [“Birther pangs,” Opinion, editorial, Nov. 20]?

Were not the parents of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison and James Monroe citizens of the British Empire when those future presidents were born?

Surely, everyone born before 1776 was originally a citizen of a country other than the United States.

— Stephen Lamphear, Burien

While professionalism has it that I reserve bashing the crap out of things, Erik Estavillo is really asking for it. Let’s face it, the guy is on a s…

 

read this – Treasury Yield Plunge Sends Warning – By RANDALL W. FORSYTH – Collapse in note yields suggests economic distress will keep Fed on hold well into 2010 or beyond. – Barron’s
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must read – The King Canute Economy – by Cynicus Economicus – What we are seeing … is the process of governments seeking to hold back and resist the fundamental change that has taken place. The change that I am referring to is that there is a massive redistribution of wealth, and that there is now a situation of hyper competition throughout the world … it is unstoppable. Nobody is going to put the 100s of millions of new workers back in a box – and there are still large reserves of labour ready to enter the market. …It is only when the economy is seen in this light that we can truly see the madness of government policies – whether the policy of China, the US or the UK. Each country is seeking to maintain an equlibrium that never actually existed. …  

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Read this – about hedge funds and principal reduction of mortgages – Wall St. Finds Profits by Reducing Mortgages – By LOUISE STORY – thanks Ira Artman – NY Times

The Touch2 has received an update in the form of a patch that speeds up resumes after sleep, so you use your phone as soon as its turned on rather than having to wait for some time…

"HTC Touch2 brings you the added value of being able to unlock your device with a convenient way. Your device will be more responsive to resume after “sleeping” to conserve power".

It’s availible for devices with WM6.5 builds between 21849 and 21874 (Settings->System->About Ex: “CE OS 5.2.21869 (Build 21869.5.0.82). The AKU version is 21869", so if it applies to you, head on over to HTC, and install it. (Note, it’s misnamed on the page).

In Washington, DC, the prevailing view these days is that unemployment is now the leading driver of mortgage defaults. This is one reason you can expect to see the next stage of the government’s attempt to rescue the housing market focus on saving jobs.

But a new study out of Amherst Securities indicates that negative equity is by far the best default predictor of defaults. If that view is correct, the fact that we are still producing mortgages that quickly slip into negative equity should be terrifying. And, in fact, much of the recovery in the housing market appears to be built on thinly capitalized mortgages subsidized by low loan-to-value FHA guaranteed mortgages and the home-buyer tax credit.

As the chart below shows, even home buyers who took out mortgages as late as this year are finding themselves with negative equity at historically high rates. We’ve come down from the worst levels of the housing boom but we are still well above healthy levels.

In short, we may be witnessing a policy mistake of stunning proportions as lawmakers and regulators focus on job creation while ignoring the still problematic loan-to-value ratios in the housing market.

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Internet has become a transfer medium for a lot of new business models, some of which have failed and others which are thriving. In this environment, there is new service called GenApple, which boasts to be the ‘first information brokerage in the world’

With a business model similar to E-bay, GenApple facilitates the selling and buying of information. A seller of information offers some information either at a fixed price or a via an auction. The difference from E-bay is that GenApple will act as an Escrow – a third impartial party trusted by both seller and buyer:

1. GenApple will hold the offered information in a special ‘vault’ until the trade is concluded, and then let the buyer obtain it from the ‘vault’.
2. Similarly, GenApple will hold the payment money for the seller until the dispute period has passed, in order to facilitate refund in case of a dispute.

This new service opens a whole set of questions and possible security issues – since it deals with a commodity with different characteristics that physical objects:

1. Information can be abstracted from physical location
2. Information can be ideally copied many times without any loss and without any evidence that it has been copied
3. Information can be sniffed during transfer
4. Information can be accessed/destroyed/corrupted by a malicious attacker
5. Information can be instrumental to performing illegal activities while never physically being part of the illegal activity
6. The quality of information can be disputed or misunderstood

GenApple is still in beta, and is currently available for registration only for US based users – an interesting choice which may or may not have to do with US law enforcement agencies being fully capable of prosecuting users in case of trading of confidential information.

Still, the Pandora’s box of trading in information is open, and the security community needs to follow the development of this and other similar services with great attention.

GenApple has scheduled it’s launch for Monday – 30Th of November 2009. Just before the scheduled launch – on Sunday I’ll be talking to Mark Hanson – the founder and CEO of GenApple.

So while GenApple launches, tune in to Shortinfosec for the full transcript of the interview which will be focusing on fraud, encryption and external security!

Talkback and comments are most welcome

Related posts
Interview with GenApple founder
Whisperbot – No thanks, I’ll use e-mail
No Privacy – Saw You Cheating on Image Search

 

Morgan Stanley expects 10-year yields to rise 220 bps in 2010 – Posted by Edward Harrison – … Realistically, if rates spike to 5.5%, it would be a blood bath for insurers, and probably for pension funds (and hence municipalities as well). Mortgage rates would skyrocket and this would stop any housing recovery dead in its tracks. That sounds like double dip and depression to me; this is not an early 1990s economic environment.   Ironically, 5.5% rates would sow the seeds of future 3.3% rates or lower. … –
Credit Writedowns 

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What the U.S. Long Bond Market Is Telling Us… – Brad DeLong summarizes Krugman on UST 10 year rates and comes to this conclusion of risks – … Bear in mind that this whole story requires that the demand curve slope the wrong way for a while–that if the prices for Treasury bonds fall carry traders lose their shirts and exit the market, and so a small fall in Treasury bond prices turns into a crash until someone else steps in to hold the stock… – J. Bradford DeLong Blog 

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Bills Yielding Zero as Stocks Soar Make Bernanke’s 1938 Moment – by Liz Capo McCormick and Daniel Kruger – … more on zero rates and appreciating stocks – lots of quotes – Bloomberg

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MBS Spreads to Widen, Rates to Rise in 2010: Smith Breeden – By DIANA GOLOBAY – Although demand should keep asset-backed securities (ABS) spreads tight into Q110, wider spreads in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) will follow the Federal Reserve’s exit of a major MBS purchase program in 2010, according to bi-monthly commentary by global asset management firm Smith Breeden Associates. … – HousingWire