November 26, 2008
November 26, 2008 by admin
The stock market looks to extend a rally into the holiday shortened week. Despite a number of economic reports indicating weakness in the overall economy. Consumer spending and durable good orders both were off much higher than most economists had predicted. The silver lining in today’s economic news was that jobless claims dropped by 14,000 over the past week. The stock market has received a boost over the past week from President elect Obama, news out of Citigroup as well as a new government program aimed at purchasing mortgage backed loan securities from agency lenders.
Mortgage rates have moved lower each of the past four weeks. Homeowners who are refinancing are benefiting from the downturn of the stock market. Mortgage rates could also benefit from the new government program aimed at buying mortgage backed securities from the agency lenders. This move could help trim the margins on mortgage loans and help to ease the secondary marketplace for these loan programs. The government is also pressuring lenders to begin lending more to consumers on business, personal and mortgage loans as they are looking to jump start the economy and want proof that the banks are utilizing the funds they received from the TARP program effectively. The ten year bond opened dipped below 3% and fixed rate mortgage loans are now in the high five percent range.