Daily Top Five 4-17-08

1) Housing Wire: Double Take: JPMorgan Quietly Raising $6 Billion (Hat-tip Calculated Risk)

"Lehman sold $4 billion of preferred shares earlier this month. Citi has raised capital via preferred shares as well, paying 8.13 percent on stock it sold back in January. There are others, obviously. But none had the apparent audacity to file a preliminary prospectus only hours after an important quarterly earnings call, without so much as mentioning anything about a plan to do so during the call."

2) CapitalHD: Housing Pain

"A credit burdened consumer in a slowing economy should be reluctant to enter new housing contracts, so predicting an increase in home sales is a bit stretched."

3) Naked Capitalism: Why the Happy Talk About the Credit Crisis?

"Central bankers have thrown a lot of firepower at the problem of a money market seize-up, yet illiquidity persists. What more can they possibly do if we move into another acute phase?"

4) The Mess That Greenspan Made: Mike Norman? At Hard Assets Investor??

"What's a guy who sold his gold at $400 doing hosting a debate on "Gold as an investment class" at the Hard Assets Investor website, taking the negative side of the debate against Peter Schiff?"

5) Big Picture: What's Wrong With Billionaire Fund Managers?

"And by earned, I mean these guys earned it. They have figured out how to make money for their partners and clients. Their skill sets add value."

Had enough? If not, there's always Abnormal Returns for more links.

Until tomorrow, I leave you with some daily words of wisdom:

“We shall not grow wiser before we learn that much that we have done was very foolish”

- Friedrich August Hayek

Source: (thinkexist.com)