In another sign that lending standards are tightening fast, starting today E*TRADE Financial Corporation (ETFC) no longer offers home equity lines of credit (HELOC) at rates below Prime regardless of a borrower’s credit rating or equity in the home. This comes just a few days after some less liquid, investment grade mortgage related securities were repriced downward, hurting some safe bond funds...

Some fund managers are the financial equivalent of rock stars - investing idols that pack their famous funds like Springsteen fills Giant Stadium. But as anyone who's ever been stuck in the nosebleeds when attending a concert at a mega-arena can tell you, sometimes smaller is better. Same goes with mutual funds. Rob Wherry at Smartmoney
points out that investors can get more intimate access to some of the biggest names in fund management by investing in their lesser-known offerings...

We can’t say we’re particularly upset about the recent drop. At the end of June we cut back on our stock allocations, increased our longer-term investment grade bond stakes, and even added some funds that short stocks. In fact, we’d like to see some more weakness in the market so we can go on a mini-buying spree.