Ok, I admit that was weak. But in this market one has to lookfor humor wherever one can find it. I spent two of the past fourweeks in Manhattan talking to a variety of capital providers.Needless to say, the mood on Wall Street is gloomy at best.

The new year began with a certain cautious optimism. Many marketplayers including myself had hoped that as the supply of new CMBSissuance dwindled, the supply/demand dynamic would reverse. Duringlate 2007, there were more bonds for sale than buyers. Given thefall off in CMBS production, we had hoped that at some point duringearly 2008, there would be more buyers than bonds.

Unfortunately, this scenario has not played out. No new CMBSpools went to market during January, making it the first month in18 years without new issuance. In the absence of new securities,trades in the secondary market constitute the only actualtransactional volume.