Mortgage Rates





Anthony Hood
Equity Investment Capital
Office: 949-891-0067
Email: tony@equityinvestmentcapital.com
website: www.equityinvestmentcapital.com


Building Strong, Lasting Relationships; One Client at a Time.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Treasuries and mortgages opened better this morning after Treasury auctions. The 10 yr note continues to imp[rove after the spike up in rates last week, mortgages also tracking better. Not much driving news this morning, most talk is about Egypt but in terms of market impacts there hasn't been any. Mubarak didn't resign yesterday as media reported he would, demonstrators still there. Mubarak apparently has left Cairo and will continue as leader in name only but Egyptians still wanting him to resign now.

Economic data this morning had Dec wholesale trade balance at 8:30, the deficit was as expected, -$40.58B. The US imported that much more than we exported; no news there, it has been that way for years and will not change. The only significance to the report is the amount of deficit; less is good as a measurement of US competitiveness.

At 9:55 the morning the U. of Michigan consumer sentiment index, expected at 75 from 74.2, was 75.1. The current conditions component at 86.8 frm 81.8, expectations index at 67.7 frm 69.3 and the 10 month outlook at 78 frm 87. Treasuries and mortgages improved a little on the data with a less positive outlook. The sentiment index is volatile, we don't place a lot of emphasis on it but today's weaker current conditions, expectations and 12 month outlook will need to be monitored.

Foreclosure filings in the U.S. fell 17 percent in January from a year earlier, the fourth straight month of declines, as legal scrutiny of lender practices slowed actions against delinquent homeowners, RealtyTrac Inc. said. A total of 261,333 U.S. properties received notices of default, auction or seizure, the Irvine, California-based data seller said today in a statement. One in every 497 households got a filing. It was the third consecutive month with fewer than 300,000 filings, following 20 straight months above that mark. “Unfortunately, this is less a sign of a robust housing recovery and more a sign that lenders have become bogged down in reviewing procedures, resubmitting paperwork and formulating legal arguments related to accusations of improper foreclosure processing,” James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s chief executive officer, said in the statement. (Bloomberg News)

Treasury Sec Geithner and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan presented three approaches for a future housing finance system. It also calls for the government to shrink “and ultimately wind down” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the bailed-out government-sponsored enterprise companies that helped fuel the housing bubble before being felled by investments in subprime mortgages. We won't take time now to go over the three plans, none of which will be fully implemented as presented, it is however going to happen. The time frame is long, possibly as soon as five years, more likely longer than that. At this time it isn't something to be focused on other than following the process over the next year or two.