March 12, 2009
March 12, 2009 by admin
The stock market is looking to extend its rally to three days and get back above the 7,000 point level. Freddie Mac, the nations second largest loan servicer reported that rates on fixed rate thirty year loan terms are now just above five percent and have moved lower over the past week. The agency lender on Tuesday reported grim financial results as they lost over twenty three billion dollars in their latest quarter, in large part due to foreclosures and derivatives. The company has indicated they will go back to the Treasury and request and additional thirty billion dollars worth of capital to restore its balance sheet.
The market is focussing today on a few monumental stories, including the admission of guilt by Bernie Madoff who is pleading guilty to 11 counts of financial fraud and his estimated ponzi scheme could total sixty billion in fraud losses. The weekly job report this morning showed that job loss claims ticked up by 9,000 to over 650,000. The yield on the ten year bond, often a leading indicator of mortgage rates, was trading at 2.89% on Thursday, relatively flat for the week.