Personal Finance Daily: HARP 2.0 rules and who will benefit

Personal Finance Daily NOVEMBER 18, 2011 HARP 2.0 rules and who will benefit By MarketWatch Don't miss these top stories: HARP 2.0 rules, and who will benefit How Europe's debt crisis hits your wallet Regulations don't kill jobs, they create them What Nasdaq weakness is telling us The latest version of the government's Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP 2.0 as it's being called, is intended to help borrowers who are deep underwater and, therefore, unable to refinance to take advantage of the current extremely low mortgage rates because they have no equity in their properties. A magnanimous goal, to be sure, writes Lew Sichelman in today's Realty Q&A column. But, he says, the program comes with rules — and many of them. Read his explanation of who's eligible, what the benefits and restrictions are. And in his investing column today, Mark Hulbert analyzes the Nasdaq Composite's relative weakness and what it means. Should investors be worried? Not necessarily, he says. Nasdaq relative strength used to be a decent leading indicator. But not over the past two decades. Finally, there's an irony here somewhere, but we'll leave you to find it. Read Al Lewis's column on the mob museum in Las Vegas. Lewis writes: It's probably not a good idea to build a museum that venerates murderers, liars, thieves and extortionists. The museum, at the Tropicana, is bankrupt. — Anne Stanley , Managing Editor, Personal Finance HARP 2.0 rules, and who will benefit Final rules were released this week on the government's updated refinance program for underwater borrowers, and Lew Sichelman explains what they mean. Read more: HARP 2.0 rules, and who will benefit. What Nasdaq weakness is telling us How worried should you be about the Nasdaq Composite's relative weakness? On the theory that the Nasdaq is a leading indicator of the broad market, the data paint a worrisome picture, but Mark Hulbert is not so sure. Read more: What Nasdaq weakness is telling us. How Europe's debt crisis hits your wallet The European debt crisis can hit consumer's pocketbooks three ways: market volatility, bank safety and stability and by denting U.S. trade and jobs. Read more: How Europe's debt crisis hits your wallet. Mob museum is quite a racket It's probably not a good idea to build a museum that venerates murderers, liars, thieves and extortionists, but Las Vegas sports a Mob museum. Read more: Mob museum is quite a racket. ECONOMY & POLITICS Recession risks recede: Conference Board Data suggest that the risk of a U.S. recession has receded, the Conference Board says as its index of leading economic indicators grew 0.9% in October — the largest growth since February — led by gains in building permits. Read more: Recession risks recede: Conference Board. Regulations don't kill jobs, they create them Contrary to what Republican politicians say about "job-killing regulations," government rules actually are pretty good for the economy. Read more: Regulations don't kill jobs, they create them. How to steal like Wall Street Occupy Wall Street isn't going to change a thing. It's a lucky the protesters don't know the secret weapon that really terrifies the bankers. Read more: How to steal like Wall Street. INVESTING What Buffett's IBM buy says about his next move Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway surprised the markets this week by taking a large stake in IBM. MarketWatch peels back his strategy to see what other stocks the Oracle of Omaha might consider. Read more: What's Buffett's IBM buy says about his next move. Last days of the superstar mutual-fund manager The end of an era is frequently bittersweet, and certainly that's the case with Bill Miller, the philosopher-turned-investor who, for almost three decades, has run the flagship Legg Mason Value Trust fund. Read more: Last days of the superstar mutual-fund manager. Invest in women Investing in women in emerging markets is a good bet for a number of reasons. Read more: Invest in women. Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com to your list of approved senders. Sent to: kumaresan.selva.blogger@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Subscribe Copyright 2011 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (updated 6/26/07). MarketWatch - Attn: Customer Service, 201 California St., San Francisco, CA 94111