SP 500 and Nasdaq 100 September Futures; Gold Daily Chart at Week's End

Sleepy trade despite the almost 20 point range on the SP futures, and on a Friday the 13th no less.

Light volumes and trader's games.

SP 500



NDX



Gold

GM IPO Timed to Complete Just Before the November Elections

It will be a wonder if the stock market remains favorable to an IPO of this size by October.

ABC News
GM IPO Filing Delayed Until Early Next Week
By Soyoung Kim
August 13, 2010

NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Motors Co has delayed its IPO filing until early next week as it updates its prospectus with the recent CEO change and a management risk factor, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.

The filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was originally scheduled for Friday, sources said previously.

GM Chief Executive Ed Whitacre said on Thursday he would step down and Dan Akerson would take over, effective in September.

The source who said the filing had been delayed declined to be named because preparations for the IPO are not public.

GM's several-hundred-page prospectus will not provide the number of shares to be sold or the pricing range. It will cite the company's bankruptcy, steps completed in restructuring, financial projections, details of ownership, and a large set of risk factors, sources have said.

GM is now adding a new risk factor regarding the departure of Whitacre and increased uncertainty about the automaker's long-term leadership and the change is expected to take more than a day, the source said.

By filing initial paperwork with the SEC next week, GM is aiming to complete its IPO between late October and the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, another source familiar with the matter said.

A successful GM IPO, which could be the largest ever for the U.S. market, would hand the Obama administration an important political win against critics of its controversial $50 billion bailout of the top U.S. automaker, analysts have said.

The automaker secured a $5 billion credit facility this week, two sources briefed on the deal told Reuters on Wednesday, clearing the last remaining hurdle toward an initial public offering of stock expected to make the U.S. government a minority shareholder.

Ten major banks have signed on to the $5 billion credit facility, committing up to $500 million each, but the individual commitments would be cut as GM adds more banks in other countries and emerging markets as part of its efforts to attract global investors, sources said...

Lair of the Pigmen: FHA to Extend Government Loan Subsidy Benefits to NYC Luxury Condo Market

Weren't FHA loans supposed to be a form a welfare for 'poor people?' Not since the Expanding America Home Ownership Act of 2007.

And it appears this is one 'reform' that can't be blamed on 'the liberals' and Obama. Crony Capitalism is not a political party, it's a way of life in which power and greed are the measure of all things.

Well, some of the New York real estate developers are poor, relatively speaking, compared to an investment banker or a trader pulling down a fifty million dollar annual bonus for packaging fraudulent financial instruments. But they are all rich in their well connected friends in the government.

The kleptocracy never sleeps; crony capitalism knows no bounds...

NBC New York
Luxury Condos Asking the Feds For Help
By JUAN DEJESUS
Fri, Aug 13, 2010

Seek FHA insurance to drive condo sales

The federal government may soon come to the rescue of stalled luxury condominiums in Manhattan.

Manhattan luxury condominiums known for posh amenities and high price tags are beginning to apply for Federal Housing Administration backing.

Condominium developers hope to open financing opportunities for their purchasers as well as guarantee a little protection for themselves. Not only will lending institutions be more willing to lend to purchasers with FHA backing, but the FHA will pay the mortgage should a home buyer default.

The FHA loosened the condo rules because of “market conditions,” Lemar Wooley, an agency spokesman told Bloomberg.com

The administration recently agreed to insure mortgages for apartments at the 98-unit Gramercy Park development, known as Tempo in Match, according to Bloomberg. That deal allowed buyers to make a down payment of as low as 3.5 percent in a complex where apartments run up to $3 million...