Mortgage Time

Mortgage Market News for the week ending December 16, 2011

Investors Shift to Safer Assets

Increased concerns about European debt issues and the pace of global economic growth caused investors to shift to relatively safer assets this week. As a result, mortgage rates declined a little to near the lowest levels of the year. Investors hoping for the European Central Bank (ECB) to expand its role in providing aid to euro zone countries were again disappointed. The ECB clearly indicated that it currently has no plans to introduce any major new aid programs. It appears that ECB officials believe that the appropriate next step in easing the debt issues is for tighter budgetary discipline. Along those lines, European Union officials suggested that working out the details of an agreement on fiscal integration between the many EU countries may take months. Investors responded to the lack of significant progress by selling many European stocks and bonds and purchasing relatively safer assets such as US government guaranteed Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Tuesday's Fed statement also disappointed any investors looking for a shift in policy. It contained no major changes from the last statement. According to the Fed, the economy has been "expanding moderately", which is a small upgrade from the prior statement. The Fed gave no indication of providing additional stimulus or changing its communications policies.

Compliments of

Vaughn Monagon
Pacific Residential Mortgage LLC Sr. Mortgage Banker MLO-223367 PHONE: (971) 237-8033 FAX: (877) 788-6750 www.monagon.com vaughn@monagon.com

Also Notable:
Weekly Jobless Claims fell to the lowest level since May 2008 November Core CPI was 2.2% higher than one year ago The 30-yr Treasury auction had record low yields Gold prices declined below $1,600 per ounce for the first time since September
Average 30 yr fixed rate:

4949 Meadows Road Suite 150 Lake Oswego, OR 97035 Dreams Approved Daily! NMLS #1477

Last week: This week:

-0.01% -0.05%

Stocks (weekly): Dow: NASDAQ:

Events This Week: Retail Sales Rose Inflation Tame Industrial Prod. Fell Manufacturing Mixed

11,950 -150 2,575 -75

Week Ahead
Next week, Housing Starts will be released on Tuesday. Existing Home Sales will come out on Wednesday. The final revisions to third quarter GDP and Consumer Sentiment will be released on Thursday. Friday will be the biggest day with Durable Orders, Core PCE inflation, Personal Income, and New Home Sales. In addition, there will be Treasury auctions on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Mortgage markets will close early on Friday ahead of the Christmas holiday. Also note that trading volume is generally very light during the final two weeks of the year, which means that mortgage rates may be more volatile than usual. To learn more about news impacting interest rates and mortgage markets, go to www.mbsquoteline.com To learn more about the newsletter, please call 800-627-1077 All material Copyright Ress No. 1, LTD and may not be reproduced without permission.

Events Next Week: Tues 12/19 Housing Starts 5-yr Auction Wed 12/20 Existing Sales 7-yr Auction Thur 12/21 GDP Sentiment Fri 12/22 Durable Orders Core PCE New Home Sales

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