Archive for July, 2009
Monday, July 27th, 2009
Housing data and Treasury auctions totaling $115 billion dominate the calendar between Monday and Thursday, but the big news this week will be the first official estimate of second-quarter GDP, which comes out Friday. Analysts look for a quarterly drop of 0.7%, a significant improvement following a -5.5% drop in ...
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Friday, July 24th, 2009
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke made it clear earlier in the week that the central bank wouldn’t be taking the punch bowl away any time soon, but more talk of increased regulation from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner appears to be scaring off investors from drinking the punch anyway following a ...
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Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
The goal of the Federal Reserve's agency MBS program is to provide support to mortgage and housing markets and to foster improved conditions in financial markets more generally. Only fixed-rate agency MBS securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae are eligible assets for the program. The program ...
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Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
Home buyers and refinancers waiting and hoping for a return of record low rates suffered a setback this week as fixed rates reversed a three-week downward trend. Only the short-term adjustable rate mortgage was lower than the previous week.
...(read more)
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Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
First-time homebuyers and the sales of distressed properties helped drive the pace of Existing Home Sales up for the third consecutive month in June. Sales advanced 3.6% in the month, in line with estimates, to an annual rate of 4.89 million units.
“The increase in existing-home sales occurred in all major ...
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Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
The value of homes rose nearly 1 percent over April figures in the May Housing Price Index released on Wednesday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. House values for April, however, was downgraded from figures released last month....(read more)
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Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
With Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke singing the same tune to the Senate that investors heard from the House yesterday, market attention is focussed on mixed earnings reports. Poor earnings from Yahoo! and AMD put the direction of futures on a downward slope, but after mixed earnings from the financial ...
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Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
Mortgage rates climbed in the week ending July 17, yet the demand for loans still managed to increase during the week, according to a weekly industry survey.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said average rates for a 30-year mortgage rebounded from 5.05% to 5.31% last week, erasing the improvement seen in the ...
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Monday, July 20th, 2009
Markets opened higher Monday morning following a five-day rally in the major indexes last week. The S&P 500 has now gained 39.5% since its nadir in early March, pushing the index to its highest level since November.
Three hours into the Monday session the S&P 500 is trading 0.75% higher at ...
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Friday, July 17th, 2009
Markets are in the red on Friday as investors snatch profits after four days of rapid gains. Earnings reports from Citigroup and Bank of America were better than expected, but the former was boosted by its sale of Smith Barney, and the latter was lifted from selling its large stake ...
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