Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of struggling REIT iStar Financial (NYSE: SFI) were up more than 10% in intraday trading as hopes rose that the company would be able to find a solution to dealing with next year's debt maturities.

So what: At the end of last quarter, iStar showed $2.8 billion in debt coming due in 2011 and an additional $3.4 billion due in 2012 -- though it's since paid off $1 billion of the 2012 debt. The company had already hired Lazard (NYSE: LAZ) to help it explore its options -- including bankruptcy. The excitement today, however, came as Bloomberg reported that Franklin Resources (NYSE: BEN) and other major bondholders may step in and offer iStar as much as $2 billion in new financing.

Now what: Rumors, rumors, everywhere. Unfortunately, rumors can't go toward paying down debt obligations, and that is what iStar desperately needs to do. I don't doubt that the discussions are taking place, but it's important to remember that these kinds of discussions don't always end with everyone smiling and shaking hands. As it is, iStar is in pretty bad shape, so investors may want to think twice about speculating on financing rumors.

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