Archive for June, 2009
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Fannie Mae, the mortgage goliath taken under government control last September, yesterday announced that its portfolio expanded by an annual rate of 35.1% in May, marking a stark contrast to the 19.2% decline in April. In its summary of monthly highlights...(read more)
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Contrary to expectations, the rapid decline of home prices showed signs of stabilization in April, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, the most influential recorder of prices. The 10-city composite index, which looks at ten major metropolitan...(read more)
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, June 29th, 2009
The transition from June to July offers a packed schedule for investors. No data comes out Monday and Friday is a holiday, but the three days in between present key data and numerous speeches covering all fronts of the economy. The S&P 500 has gained...(read more)
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, June 26th, 2009
Despite reports of higher income and improving consumer confidence, markets are off to a rough start on Friday morning with all three indexes in the red an hour into the trading session. Leading the decline is the 0.36% drop in the Dow to 8442, while...(read more)
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
News was mixed for the real estate market this morning. Sales of new single-family homes fell 0.6% in May, in contrast to expectations of a 2.3% increase. By itself, that would be awful news, but revisions to April told the opposite story: the original...(read more)
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Loan applications for mortgages increased last week for the first time in a month, as average rates for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage edged downwards, a weekly report said Wednesday. Demand for applications advanced 6.6% in the week ending June 19, according...(read more)
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released first quarter foreclosure prevention data for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Total foreclosure prevention actions (including loan modifications) totaled 86,600, 20 percent more than the previous quarter...(read more)
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
Stocks have been extremely volatile Tuesday morning, and after opening higher all indexes are negative 90 minutes into the trading session. The Dow is leading the decline with a 0.53% drop to 8294, while the Nasdaq is 0.50% lower at 1757, and the S&P...(read more)
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
Sales of existing homes saw their first back-to-back increase in nearly four years last month, but while the percentage gain in May was encouraging, the actual level of sales was lower than expected due to downward revisions. The pace of all existing...(read more)
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
In its monthly mortgage finance forecast, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) lowered its forecast for mortgage originations in 2009 to $2.03 trillion today. This is the fourth consecutive month the MBA has reduced its outlook for total mortgage originations...(read more)
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »