NOTE TO EDITORS: The Following Is an Investment Opinion Being Issued by Bridgewater Equity (BWE).

As healthcare becomes more expensive, self-insured employers are ratcheting up the pressure on physicians by hiring outside collection firms to dun them for what the employers claim are past overpayments. Physicians are angry about these ex post facto demands, which often concern claims that were paid years ago, and they...

Countrywide was to subprime lending what Thornburg Mortgage was to jumbo-prime.Now both are out of business. Thornburg said it expects to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection ending a nearly 2-year struggle to fend off creditors and survive the credit crunch. The company  once the country's second largest independent mortgage lender  specialized in making jumbo loans to borrowers perceived to have little credit risk. Ever since the market for its mortgage-backed securities evaporated in the summer of 2007 however  Thornurg has been under siege. In what now seems like ancient history Countrywide nearly collapsed as its short-term commercial papers seized up and investors ...

The NYSE boots Thornburg Mortgage from its listings.

Thornburg Mortgage (TMA) was just suspended from trading on the NYSE. Its price has been below $1 for to long. It trades at $.30. Extraordinary, because it 52-week high is $140.50. Losses and fear of more losses have taken Fannie Mae (FNM) down to $.82. It traded as high as $40.45 a year ago. The situation is not much better at Freddie Mac (FRE). It sits at $.77 off its 52-week high of $37.18. Remember, these companies were the twin pillars of the US mortgage industry.

Thornburg Mortgage Suspended From NYSE For Price Fall

In January I predicted (see Notable Bankruptcies of 2009: Q1) that “major” bankruptcies in 2009 would challenge the 383 mark set in 2001 (the high-water mark after the dotcom bubble). I even suggested that it was possible that we could exceed 400 “major” bankruptcies in 2009.[More...]

In January I predicted (see Notable Bankruptcies of 2009: Q1) that “major” bankruptcies in 2009 would challenge the 383 mark set in 2001 (the high-water mark after the dotcom bubble). I even suggested that it was possible that we could exceed 400 “major” bankruptcies in 2009. According to Bankruptcydata.com, there have been 156 “major” filings thus far in 2009. Assuming that bankruptcies are equally distributed throughout the year, this puts us on pace for 312 bankruptcies. That is tracking well shy of my prediction. In fact, bankruptcies were down significantly from Q1 to Q2, as there were 90 bankruptcies in the first quarter but only 66 in the second. That stylized fact begs the question: Is that a “green shoot”[More...]

Finally some good potential plays today! Gonna be interesting considering we’ve got LiveStock today from 1-2PM EST so definitely tune in at http://www.mogulus.com/livestock and you might see me make a trade live.Here are today’s potential plays:RZ finished down 4%, but was down 10% on the day…the latest victory for shorting the first down day pattern, congrats to those who got in, just wasn’t pretty enough for me to take home.SPAR has beautifully horrific long term chart is it’s only the first up day…I pray to God this thing keeps going higher as it’s liquid and easily shortable, just needs more downside potential firstCPWM resembles SPAR, just moves slower and is less liquid, still a totally shortable stockTMA has a chart pattern that this short seller dreams[More...]

WHAT A DISASTER! The Dow dropped 777.68 points or 6.98%, the Nasdaq dropped 199.61 points or 9.14%, and the S&P 500 dropped 106.59 points or 8.79%. Today was the Dow’s largest one-day drop, EVER. Oil dropped $10.52 or 10.1% to $96.36, but not before hitting $95.04 intra-day. Wachovia’s (WB) banking operations get bought out by [...]

Schaeffer's Colleen S. King takes a look at activity on the Street after the market close

Schaeffer's Laura Houser takes a look at activity on the Street ahead of the market open

Schaeffer's Laura Houser takes a look at activity on the Street ahead of the market open

Elizabeth Harrow takes a look at today's unusual options activity.

Elizabeth Harrow takes a look back at news driving the market today.