Wed, Dec 2 2009, 12:37 PM
In this week's release, which reported on the holiday shortened week ending November 27, new loan application activity increased 2.1%. The refinance i...
Wed, Dec 2 2009, 8:26 AM
Equity futures are looking down ahead of key labor data for the month and the Federal Reserve’s latest assessment of the economy. Two hours before the...
Wed, Dec 2 2009, 1:56 PM
The FHA is taking steps to tighten its lending standards through measures that will impact both borrowers and lenders according to remarks made to con...
Tue, Dec 1 2009, 10:31 AM
The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in October, increased 3.7 percent to 114.1 from 110.0 in September...
Tue, Dec 1 2009, 10:01 AM
Construction spending in October was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $910.8 billion, nearly the same as the sharply revised for the ...
Tue, Dec 1 2009, 8:21 AM
As of 7:15, equities are firmly higher. The Dow looks to open 76 points higher at 10,410 while futures on the S&P 500 are up 8.75 points to 1,104. Spo...
Mon, Nov 30 2009, 12:29 PM
The Federal Housing Administration is moving to reduce risks to its single-family insurance fund. Today it introduced proposed new rules that include...
Mon, Nov 30 2009, 8:37 AM
Across the board investors are worried. Equities are down, Treasuries are soft, crude oil is flat, the dollar is weaker and even gold is in sell-off.
...
Mon, Nov 30 2009, 2:38 PM
The Treasury Department is reportedly going to announce plans to move more aggressively against servicers and lenders who fail to move borrowers out o...
Wed, Nov 25 2009, 11:52 AM
Sales of new single family houses rose 6.2% to a rate of 430,000 annual transactions, much better than the market's expectation for 410,000 annual sal...
Wed, Nov 25 2009, 11:16 AM
In the week ending November 20, 2009, new loan application activity decreased 4.5% as the Refinance Index fell 9.5% from the previous week. Offsettin...
Wed, Nov 25 2009, 11:08 AM
Fannie Mae's activity slowed during October according to data released on Tuesday. Delinquencies, however, continue to rise in all categories and hav...
Wed, Nov 25 2009, 8:09 AM
Two hours before the opening bell and one hour before three major data points hit the markets, stocks are looking to recovery from yesterday’s modest ...
Tue, Nov 24 2009, 10:51 AM
U.S. home prices, as measured by the 20 city index rose by 0.3% on a month over month basis, less than the anticipated 0.8% gain. The 10-city index r...
Tue, Nov 24 2009, 8:15 AM
With stocks falling across Asia ― the Nikkei closed down 1%, the Hang Seng lost 1.5%, and China’s CSI shed 3.2% ― one should be pretty optimistic that...
Tue, Nov 24 2009, 2:31 PM
Freddie Mac released its October activity report Tuesday morning. The total portfolio increased by 0.7 percent - the third month in a row that the po...
Mon, Nov 23 2009, 8:09 AM
The US dollar is weaker, equities are higher, and gold is soaring. That’s how the Thanksgiving-shortened week is beginning after markets slid back lat...
Mon, Nov 23 2009, 2:14 PM
Existing-home sales surged 10.1 percent to an annual rate of 6.10 million units in October from a downwardly revised pace of 5.54 million in September...
Fri, Nov 20 2009, 8:10 AM
In line with weak global markets, US equities are looking to open lower this morning. Two hours before the bell sounds S&P 500 futures are down 8.2 po...
Thu, Nov 19 2009, 8:19 AM
New 13-month peaks early in the week and now . . .hesitation. Ninety minutes before the opening bell, S&P 500 futures are off 10 points to 1,098 and D...
Thu, Nov 19 2009, 4:34 PM
The Fed's weekly net MBS purchases totaled $16.00 billion, $2.5 more than the previous, holiday shortened week. The majority of Fed purchases were in ...
Thu, Nov 19 2009, 4:06 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that delinquency rates during the third quarter hit all time highs. Prime mortgages and FHA mortgages appea...
Thu, Nov 19 2009, 1:00 PM
Almost all short and long term mortgage interest rates fell during the most recent week with the 15-year FRM reported by Freddie Mac hitting an all-ti...
Wed, Nov 18 2009, 11:25 AM
While we anticipated housing starts and permits would fall in October, today's data was a big surprise to most market participants as economists were...
Wed, Nov 18 2009, 10:09 AM
In this week's release, which reports on loan application activity for the week ending November 13, 2009, new loan application fell 2.5%, even as the ...
Wed, Nov 18 2009, 8:00 AM
Sitting comfortably at 13-month highs, equities are beginning the day moving sideways ahead of data on inflation and the housing market.
The Dow lo...
Tue, Nov 17 2009, 8:08 AM
Equity markets are looking down before the bell but the losses are modest compared to the Monday rally.
S&P 500 futures are off 2.1 points to 1,10...
Tue, Nov 17 2009, 4:36 PM
Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the formation of an interagency task force to investigate and prosecute financial fraud. The group will ...
Tue, Nov 17 2009, 1:29 PM
The November Housing Market Index was unchanged from October's downwardly revised level of 17. The component gauging current sales conditions and the...
Tue, Nov 17 2009, 1:17 PM
National credit agency TransUnion reported today that, while mortgage delinquency rates continue to rise and have reached record levels, the rate of i...
Mon, Nov 16 2009, 7:59 AM
The week begins with a bang but ends with a whimper. A storm of data hits markets on Monday with retail sales an hour before the opening bell, plus th...
Mon, Nov 16 2009, 5:14 PM
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke today spoke at the Economic Club of New York. The topic of his speech was the Outlook for the Economy and Policy...
Fri, Nov 13 2009, 8:10 AM
With the Dow climbing for six consecutive days and breaking fresh 13-month highs, the 0.91% sell-off yesterday was prompted more by timely profit-taki...
Thu, Nov 12 2009, 8:48 AM
In this week's release, which reports on loan application activity for the week ending November 6, 2009, demand for new mortgage loans increased 3.2% ...
Thu, Nov 12 2009, 8:28 AM
In terms of data releases the week is only beginning now. Stocks have been rising this week led by the Dow hitting a 13-month high Tuesday and continu...
Thu, Nov 12 2009, 5:15 PM
The Federal Reserve today reported on their weekly purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS). In the four trading days between November 5 a...
Thu, Nov 12 2009, 2:02 PM
The annual independent audit report of FHA capital reserves published today shows that, while the reserve ratio has dropped below the level mandated b...
Thu, Nov 12 2009, 2:01 PM
Mortgages continued to hold firm with average rates below 5 percent for both long and short term loans. The 30-year FRM has now been below 5 percent ...
Tue, Nov 10 2009, 10:01 AM
The Federal Reserve's Senior Loan Officer Survey for October shows that banks are still tightening their lending standards, although not with the freq...
Tue, Nov 10 2009, 8:09 AM
Investors look hesitant to keep the rally going. The S&P 500 has climbed 5.5% on six straight days of gains and the Dow hit a 13-month yesterday at 10...
Tue, Nov 10 2009, 4:42 PM
The Treasury Department announced Tuesday morning that its Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP) now has more than 650,000 mortgage modifications unde...
Tue, Nov 10 2009, 2:02 PM
We've been getting a lot of questions about the particulars of the Home Buyer Tax Credit Extension. While I wish we could take credit for the abundanc...
Mon, Nov 9 2009, 8:11 AM
The week ahead is extremely light on new data, with virtually nothing from the US hitting markets until the jobless claims report on Thursday morning....
Fri, Nov 6 2009, 12:31 PM
Fannie Mae reported a loss of nearly $19 billion in the third quarter due largely to credit-related expenses. The resulting deficit has prompted FHFA...
Fri, Nov 6 2009, 7:59 AM
Trading is cautious ahead of the month’s most important indicator. Equities jumped more than 2% on Thursday on optimism for the labor market and posit...
Fri, Nov 6 2009, 1:43 PM
President Barack Obama signed into law this morning legislation extending the $8,000 tax credit beyond its current November 30 expiration date. The b...
Thu, Nov 5 2009, 10:25 AM
In the week ending October 31, 2009, jobless claims fell to 512,000 from 532,000 in the previous week, which was revised higher from 530,000. Economis...
Thu, Nov 5 2009, 8:08 AM
The US Senate OK’d an extension of the first-time home-buyer tax credit that was to expire at the end of this month. The incentive will now expire six...
Thu, Nov 5 2009, 5:04 PM
In the five trading days between October 29 and November 4, the Federal Reserve purchased a total of $16.00 billion agency MBS. A gradual slowdown in ...
Thu, Nov 5 2009, 2:57 PM
The House of Representatives has voted to pass legislation extending the first time home tax credit until April 30, 2010.
Last night the Senate vot...
