May 22: WHITNEY TILSON on mortgage losses

Whitney Tilson, managing partner of T2 Partners and well-known as a value investor and shareholder of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, expects another wave of losses in the US mortgage market. As described in his new book New Mortgage Meltdown, he says the first wave of losses - which have reached over $1,300bn - was concentrated on mortgage-backed securities owned by banks and financial institutions. The second wave will hit mortgages still held on banks' balance sheets, and losses end up being double or triple the current figure. With such losses looming, he says the strong rally, particularly in the financial sector, is "overdone".