From the monthly archives: March 2008

Mortgage Market Update – March 31, 2008

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Mortgage Bonds are trading higher this morning following through on Friday’s rally.

The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for March came in better than expected this morning, but bonds had no negative reaction to the news.

Fed President Yellen, of the San Francisco Fed, will be addressing foreclosures and the housing market. Her statements [...]

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Mortgage Market Update – March 28, 2008

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Mortgage backed securities are in the positive column today fueled by a few factors. The highly important statistic favored by the Fed is the year-over-year Core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) Index came in at 2%. This is within the Fed’s tolerance of 1-2%. This number had been creeping higher so this moderate level of inflation [...]

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IHDA Rates Released – March 28, 2008

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Effective March 28, 2008, the Illinois Housing Development Authority will change itsinterest rates for the First-Time Homebuyer Program. The new rates for both “nontargeted”and “targeted” properties are as follows:

6.40% – 0 Points6.25% – 1 Points6.10% – 2 Points5.95% – 3 Points

This change is for new reservations and does not effect loans already [...]

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Mortgage Market Update – March 27, 2008

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Today’s opening news included a Fourth Quarter GDP figure at .6%. Jobless claims came in slightly better than last week, but still within ranges that we say heading into each of the last two recessions.

Bonds are currently down. Prices move opposite of rates so this would mean that rates are slightly higher. However, [...]

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Mortgage Market Update – March 26,2008

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The Durable Goods Report this morning was unexpectedly lower than expected. This was largely driven by very low demand for machinery. This isn’t great economic news so mortgage bonds were up a little bit earlier today.

The Dow, S&P, and NASDAQ are all trading lower on the day and mortgage securities have given up [...]

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Mortgage Market Update – March 25, 2008

On March 25, 2008 By

Traders put on their happy faces today.

After a nasty, ugly two-day run for the worse, traders have today reversed the trend on an awful Consumer Confidence reading of 64.5. This is not only lower than the 73.4 that was expected, but actually the lowest reading in 35 years.

We lost 120 points [...]

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Mortgage Market Update – March 24, 2008 (Day in Review)

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On the heels of last week’s Bear Stearns offer from JP Morgan Chase, many investors felt they were “getting ripped off.”

This offer has been boosted from $2 per share to $10. Additionally, Existing Home Sales rose 2.9% in February. The Federal Housing Finance Board issued approval to the Federal Home Loan Banks to [...]

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Mortgage Market Update – March 24, 2008

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Stocks are currently trading up by more than 250 points, pulling money out of the mortgage backed securities market.

The financial sector is receiving a boost as it looks like the buyout price of Bear Stearns will be increased five-fold to $10 from $20.

Existing Home Sales for February came in better than [...]

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Mortgage Market Update – March 21, 2008

On March 21, 2008 By

The markets are closed today.

With the long weekend in place, here are a couple of articles that we’ve recently read.

Savvy readers of the Luett Mortgage Group Daily Updates will immediately recognize a massive mistake in this article from CNNMoney, republished by Yahoo!. There are some very accurate items, [...]

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Mortgage Market Update – March 20, 2008

On March 20, 2008 By

Mortgage Bonds Closed off slightly today. The markets closed at 1:00pm CT today and will be closed Friday.

Initial Jobless Claims came in at 378,000. This level suggests a recession and was higher than estimates of 360,000. The four-week average rose to 365,250. This is more closely watched and is also within readings that [...]

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