Expect more pain in the housing market next year, says Don Miller. Rising unemployment will keep the foreclosures coming. And as the backlog of inventories swells, Don says homebuilders still look ripe for shorting in this environment.

This from Money Morning:

The U.S. housing market is already being pounded by the “perfect storm.” And the outlook for the New Year is for the stormy weather to continue – and probably to get worse.

As if a locked-up credit market and tidal waves of foreclosures weren’t already enough, we’re now watching unemployment climb and consumer confidence plunge.

But even when the housing market is taking on water, there are ways to stay afloat. Indeed, investors nimble enough to maneuver can even make money.

The watchword on this market, though, is caution.  If an investor decides to test the waters, beware of the extraordinary financial undertow.

Here’s a look at what’s happening now, and

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Consumer Confidence at All-Time Low; Home Prices Continue Collapse; OPEC Still Not Satisfied; Whirlpool Circles the Drain; Optimistic Wall Street; Banks Balk on Buyout; Stop the Presses?

* The Conference Board said yesterday (Tuesday) that its consumer confidence index fell to 38 – the lowest level since the Conference Board began tracking consumer sentiment in 1967. The index registered a revised 61.4 in September, which makes this month’s drop the third-steepest drop on record. A year ago, the index stood at 95.2.

* The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city housing index dropped a record 16.6% from August last year – the largest drop since its inception in 2000, The Associated Press reported. Prices in the 20-city index have plummeted more than 20% since peaking in July 2006, the group reported. The 10-city index tumbled 17.7% — the biggest decline in its 21-year history.

* The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said yesterday (Tuesday)

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Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE:WHR) announced it would cut 5,000 jobs by the end of 2009. America’s largest home appliance maker also lowered its earnings outlook after a 7% fall in Q3. This from Associated Press:

Whirlpool said the drop in profit reflects significantly higher material and oil-related costs and lower industry demand. U.S. industry unit shipments of major appliances declined 11 percent in the quarter.

Whirlpool said it now expects a profit of $5.75 to $6 per share for 2008, compared with its previous estimate of $7 to $7.50 per share.

Based upon its revised earnings expectations and the glum industry outlook, the company said it now expects to generate free cash flow of $50 million or less for the full year, well down from its previous estimate of $500 to $550 million.

Because of

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Hmm... here I thought we were positioned well for a big up day, having cut back our short exposure and getting quite long Friday. How very wrong. Always interested on days like this when we are trailing the market so badly to see what is winning and what is losing - below are the best and worst performers of the S&P 500 Best - Banks & Homebuilders - and home related (Masco/Lowes/Whirlpool) Symbol Company Name % Price Change Today STI SunTrust Banks Inc 7.8 KBH KB Home 7.7...