Today's Excerpt: Home Prices

Home prices may be starting to melt up. That means that fewer homeowners will have negative equity in their homes and more of them will have less of it. That could do a lot to boost consumer confidence and spending, and boost bank profits too. The median existing single-family home price rose 10.9% y/y during December, the best performance since January 2006. This is happening because the supply of existing homes available for sale dropped last month to the lowest since January 2001.

Today's Morning Briefing: Secular Bull or Bear? (1) Is the end near for the cyclical bull, or for the secular bear? (2) Show time. (3) Fully invested bears should be happier. (4) Bear market in multiples and bull market in earnings. (5) Over a decade of dog days for the S&P 500. (6) The case for the secular bull. (7) Fiscal fight rescheduled. (8) Less negative equity in real estate. (9) Longer fuse in the Persian Gulf. (More for subscribers.)