Archive for February 2012
Case Shiller numbers for February (the Dec 2011 index) were generally in line with expectations. Index results for all regions (with the exception of Miami) were lower than the prior month. Actual CS numbers were inside the bid/ask quotes of … Read More
Today (Feb 27) is the last trading in the Feb ’12 CME home price futures contracts before the Case Shiller index numbers are released tomorrow morning (as always the last Tuesday of every month). As the settlement value for the … Read More
I thought that the long holiday weekend might be a good opportunity to revisit a powerful tool -the use of calendar spreads. (The table and graph of hypothetical numbers will be used for illustration.)
Calendar spreads allow a traders … Read More
Following the two LAX trades on Thursday, it appears that traders have sharpened their pencils and have taken a critical look at LAX prices. Bids are higher, and offers are lower resulting in a curve that is historically tight by … Read More
As a long-time viewer of Case Shiller forward curves I have to admit that the first quoted prices on the RPX contracts startled me. I had always known that different real estate indices had different degrees of seasonality, but the … Read More
(Edited Fri Feb 17: It appears that open interest numbers are updated later than I had assumed, or that one traders’ positions may have been netted across two accounts. Actual open interest dropped by more than I mentioned below, … Read More
They say that if your only tool is a hammer that you see every problem as a nail. A version of that has been true my entire career in that traders can find an implication on their markets for any … Read More
Yesterday’s 5 trades in the LAVX12 contract give me a reason to reflect on, and highlight the differences in the LAV contract versus the other nine regional contracts. One can’t generalize LAV much like the three east coast areas (OK … Read More
The November 2012 contracts are a focus for today’s trading. Here’s a snapshot of prices earlier this morning. (These are not live). Bid/Ask spreads range from 1.8 (CUS) to 5.0 (SDG) and average 3.3. Based on these futures prices, the … Read More
I had a recent question worth sharing (that I’ll post in the Basics section) when a reader asked – “OK, I understand that there’s a Case Shiller index for LA. What areas (counties) does the index actually cover?”
MacroMarkets did … Read More
