CNNMoney: Home prices dip 4.5%

Home prices dip 4.5%
By Les Christie July 26, 2011: 11:39 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- May home prices in 20 major cities dipped 4.5% from one year ago, marking a continued decline in the already battered housing market.

Bloomberg: U.S. June New-Home Sales Fall More Than Estimated to 312,000 Annual Pace

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U.S. June New-Home Sales Fall More Than Estimated to 312,000 Annual Pace

Sales of new U.S. homes unexpectedly fell for a second month and a gauge of property values also dropped, showing the industry that sparked the recession is stagnating.

Greece: Improved Debt Sustainability

Greece: Improved Debt Sustainability

The EU Summit agreed a maturity extension and a reduction in the interest rates on both existing and new loans provided by the EFSF.

European Summit: A Yorktown Moment?

European Summit: A Yorktown Moment?

The EU summit may be a significant turning point in the eurozone crisis.

Bloomberg: Societe Generale Undermined by Greek Debt Crisis in Recovery from Kerviel

Related News: Finance, Europe, France, Executive, Markets Magazine
Societe Generale Undermined by Greek Debt Crisis in Recovery from Kerviel
By Richard Tomlinson and Fabio Benedetti-Valentini - Jul 26, 2011 6:15 AM GMT+0900
Bloomberg Markets Magazine

In a locked room on the 33rd floor of Societe Generale (GLE) SA’s 36-story headquarters in western Paris, members of the bank’s fraud control team peer at their computers, scrutinizing the trades being executed by dealers in eight trading rooms on the floors below.

WSJ: Forget About Black Swans, the One Floating Ahead is Neon

THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR JULY 23, 2011
Forget About Black Swans, the One Floating Ahead is Neon
By JASON ZWEIG

You've heard of black swans—events that are unthinkably rare, immensely important, and as unpredictable in advance as they are inevitable in hindsight. Now, with no one ruling out a default or downgrade of U.S. Treasury debt, investors face a new kind of threat: what we will call the neon swan, an event that is unthinkably rare, immensely important and blindingly obvious.

For Blackstone, Real Estate Now Giveth

http://online.wsj.com/

EARNINGS
July 22, 2011

For Blackstone, Real Estate Now Giveth

By GREGORY ZUCKERMAN And AMY OR

Blackstone Group LP, (BX) like many of its private-equity peers, suffered paper losses from the collapse of the property market. Now, surging real-estate profits are helping to drive gains for the private-equity powerhouse.

Colliers: German office leasing market sees vacancies decline (DE)

Colliers: German office leasing market sees vacancies decline (DE)
Thursday 21 July 2011

The German office leasing market showed its most positive side in the first half of 2011 in terms of take-up of space.

Just under 1.42 million m² of space was taken up in the six most important centers of office activity, an increase of almost 19% from the previous year. At the same time, this is the second best half-year result since 2005,” emphasizes Andreas Trumpp, Head of Research at Colliers International in Germany.

http://www.europe-re.com/system/main.php?pageid=2616&articleid=18515

WSJ: Europe Launches a Massive Greek Bailout

MARKETS JULY 22, 2011
Europe Launches a Massive Greek Bailout
Plan to Contain Crisis Likely Means First Euro-Zone Default

By CHARLES FORELLE, PATRICIA KOWSMANN and COSTAS PARIS

BRUSSELS—Euro-zone leaders agreed Thursday on a new €109 billion ($157 billion) bailout for Greece and new steps to prevent its debt crisis from metastasizing across the Continent—in a plan expected to trigger the first debt default by a nation using the common currency.

US Existing Home Sales: A minor disappointment (B. Jones)

Dip in June resales likely will prove temporary.

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing dwellings retreated by 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.77 million in June the slowest selling pace since last November.