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YIELDS UP/ Bonds down

Today, bond yields broke out on the upside, or another way of saying it; bond prices broke out on the downside. This is very significant, as stock traders HAVE been guessing for months, when this readjustment would start. Stocks held up rather well, considering the action in the bond market.

Equity Loss

The working poor got another jab in the mouth today, as the US Supreme Court ruled that homeowners can’t get rid of 2nd mortgages by filing bankruptcies.

Because second mortgages are based entirely on the amount of equity you possess in your home, taking out a second mortgage causes you to lose that equity. In the event that your home’s value decreases, this leaves you stuck owing more money on your home than the house is worth. If your financial situation changes and you find yourself unable to pay your primary mortgage payment and your second mortgage payment, you’re unlikely to sell the home for enough money to cover both mortgages.

As reported in the Wall Street Journal:

In a win for banks, the U.S.’s top court Monday ruled that underwater homeowners can’t get rid of a second mortgage by filing for bankruptcy protection.All nine Supreme Court justices agreed that filing for chapter 7 bankruptcy protection doesn’t give homeowners the power to cancel a second mortgage when their properties aren’t even worth the value of the first mortgage.

The case involved two Florida homeowners who tried to cancel their second mortgages from Bank of America, arguing that because a second mortgage gets paid after the first, it is essentially worthless. Lenders, however, fought to keep the second mortgage liens, arguing that the debt could someday be fully paid once property values rise.

In Monday’s opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said the court’s decision took into consideration “the constantly shifting” value of real estate.

“Sometimes a dollar’s difference will have a significant impact on bankruptcy proceedings,” he wrote in the nine-page decision.

Consumer advocates said the ruling will make it harder for bankrupt homeowners to get a fresh start.“Some consumers may be forced to catch up on thousands of dollars of [payments] or lose their homes,” said Carol Colliersmith, an Atlanta bankruptcy lawyer.Bank of America declined to comment Monday on the ruling. But the bank’s lawyers had argued that the dispute “may be the single most important unresolved issue in consumer bankruptcy.”

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld bankruptcy court decisions that stripped Bank of America of its liens. The bank appealed.The dispute pitted homeowners, who saw property values plummet during the housing crisis, against mortgage lenders and their allies. Lending groups, including the Loan Syndications and Trading Association and American Bankers Association, backed Bank of America.

The AARP Inc. fought for loan cancellation, saying in a brief that it is “far more difficult for older people to bounce back from enormous financial setbacks” like bankruptcy or medical problems.”Monday’s opinion clarifies the rules for bankruptcy judges who have disagreed on this issue. In 1992, Supreme Court justices determined that a bankrupt homeowner doesn’t have the power to cancel the lien on an underwater first mortgage, but it is less clear what power a bank with an underwater second mortgage has in bankruptcy.

Second mortgages were far less common at the time of the U.S. bankruptcy code’s last major overhaul in 1978.Amid the confusion, some consumer experts argued that despite the sticking power of a lender’s lien after bankruptcy, bankruptcy should also give struggling homeowners a way to fix their housing-related financial problems.

Last year, more than 700,000 individuals and couples filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy, the most popular type of consumer bankruptcy, which enables a court-appointed trustee to sell a person’s property to repay debts and then cancel the rest.Manhattan bankruptcy lawyer William Waldner said he still sees people who are underwater on both their first and second mortgages.

“I don’t think we have as big of a housing recovery as we think,” Mr. Waldner said.

About 2.1 million underwater homeowners had second liens at the end of the second quarter of 2014, said lawyers for Bank of America, citing a CoreLogic report.

KEEP AN EYE ON THE CHART BELOW FOR BREAK OUT POINTS BELOW RESISTANCE OR ABOVE SUPPORT AREAS. Particularly  watch for a breakout below Dow 17,147/17,000, NASDAQ 4605/4545, S&P 500   1991/1973. That would change the Intermediate trend to DOWN

 Current  Dow NASDAQ S&P 500
18,107 5,088 2,116
Short Term DOWN DOWN DOWN
Int. Term SIDEWAYS SIDEWAYS SIDEWAYS
Long Term UP UP UP
ForecastedTrendd  DJIA NASDAQ S&P 500
Short Term Down Down Down
Int. Term ? ? ?
Long Term Sideways? Sideways? Sideways?
Breakout Points DJIA NASDAQ S&P 500
Short Term Up (Resistance) 18,076 5,099 2,114
Short Term Down (Support) 17,147/17,0000 4605/4,5455     1,991/1,9733
Int. Term Up (Resistance) 18,974 See Fibonacci Projections above 5,002 See Fibonacci Projections above 2,486 See Fibonacci Projections above
Int. Term Down (Support)  15,855         /15,356 /14,688 4,166 3,986/3294 1,820 /1,560
Long Term Up (Resistance) 18,974 5,132 3,044
Long Term Down Fibonacci Support 50%12,000  62% 10,750       50%2,958  62% 2,555 50%1,390 62% 1,177
 10 yr Treasury 2.37 Gold 1,185 Oil 59.57