Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktVital Statistics:
| Last | Change | Percent | |
| S&P Futures | 1688.5 | -0.3 | -0.02% |
| Eurostoxx Index | 2863.1 | -0.3 | -0.01% |
| Oil (WTI) | 108.4 | 0.8 | 0.78% |
| LIBOR | 0.254 | 0.000 | 0.00% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 81.64 | 0.126 | 0.15% |
| 10 Year Govt Bond Yield | 2.89% | -0.03% | |
| Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA | 103.8 | 0.1 | |
| Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA | 102.5 | 0.1 | |
| RPX Composite Real Estate Index | 200.7 | -0.2 | |
| BankRate 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage | 4.56 |
Markets are flat this morning on no real news. Initial Jobless Claims printed below 300,000 for the first time since May 2007 on a technical glitch. Bonds and MBS are up small.
CFPB Chairman Richard Cordray spoke to a conference of mortgage lenders yesterday and told them that the new QM rules will give responsible lenders an advantage. One of the things he pointed out was that the CFPB intended to level the playing field between banks and non-banks (the banks are more highly regulated). Cordray stressed that the QM rules were intended to provide legal protection for lenders: “You should keep this perspective in mind if you hear people dreaming up hypothetical factual disputes in an effort to sow anxiety about potential litigation,” he said.
Now that Richmond, CA has decided to go the eminent domain route, the court challenges begin. Blackrock, PIMCO, and other bondholders have asked a federal judge to halt the city’s plans to force bondholders to sell their mortgages at a discount to appraised value to a hedge fund that will modify and refinance the borrowers. The city will have to run the table on court challenges.
As the refi boom ends, banks are laying off people in their mortgage operations. J.P. Morgan is laying off 2,000, Bank of America is cutting 2,100 jobs, Wells has let 3,000 go… the list goes on. That said, while the MBA mortgage applications index fell by 13.5% last week, the purchase index fell by only 2.6%. As home price appreciation gives people equity in their homes, purchase transactions will undoubtedly increase as people can finally move. Existing home sales are just approaching historical norms of 5.5 million / year, but the difference is that 60% of these sales are cash, as estimated by Goldman Sachs. Pre-bubble, cash sales were about 20% of all sales. So, in the past, you were looking at an average 5.5 million run rate, with 80% non-cash (i.e. a mortgage), which meant roughly 4.4 million purchase mortgages a year. So far in 2013 we have averaged a 5 million run rate and with only 40% involving a mortgage, you are looking at 2 million purchase mortgages a year. In other words, purchase finance activity has to more than double just to reach normalcy. So while housing has recovered according to the home price indices and the sales volume indices, we are still in nuclear winter for the mortgage banking business. Negative equity is undoubtedly driving a lot of this, and as prices rise, this phenomenon will reverse.
Filed under: Morning Report |
All Things in Moderation 
Tweet of the Day!
“critical appraisal of the efficacy, safety, and patient acceptability of hydroxyprogesterone caproate injection to reduce the risk of preterm birth
LikeLike
Very good observation from Goldberg today.
What did catch my eye was this line from the write-up in the metro section of the Washington Post: “The body art rules are the latest product of a city government that has occasionally struggled to reconcile its socially liberal sensibilities with a zeal for regulation.”
As a conservative resident of Washington, D.C., where registered Republicans are outnumbered by about 9 to 1 and where truly conservative Republicans are outnumbered on a scale comparable to the predicament faced by Frodo and Sam when they sneaked into orc-infested Mordor, I find such statements hilarious.
There is a notion out there that being “socially liberal” means you’re a libertarian at heart, a live-and-let-live sort of person who says “whatever floats your boat” a lot.
Alleged proof for this amusing myth (or pernicious lie; take your pick) comes in the form of liberal support for gay marriage and abortion rights, and opposition to a few things that smack of what some people call “traditional values.”
The evidence disproving this adorable story of live-and-let-live liberalism comes in the form of pretty much everything else liberals say, do, and believe.
LikeLike
Obviously that wasn’t it.
@ExJon: Obama just submitted an op-ed to Pravda: “Oh yeah? Well, the Jerk Store called, and they’re running out of you!”
LikeLike
I don’t think he knows what the word means.
What an asshole!
And he forgot to call them racist!
Dude’s slippen’
Edit: Firgot the link. It’s a Hill article in which Douchebag, er, ” Senator Reid” called the House Republicans “anarchists.”
Again.
LikeLike
This is pretty good:
“Let me be clear. I understand that most Americans don’t want to commit military resources to curb the actual, ongoing atrocities in Syria. That’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking Americans to commit military resources to curb future hypothetical atrocities in a hypothetical war that may or may not happen.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/09/11/this-is-the-speech-obama-would-give-on-syria-if-he-were-brutally-honest/
LikeLike
“Let me be clear”
I’ll admit, I’ve always like listening to Obama speak because he uses a cadence (“academican”) that is very familiar to me and immediately recognizable. But if I never hear that particular clause again I will be perfectly happy.
LikeLike
LOL!
http://freebeacon.com/president-of-liuna-union-if-obamacare-cannot-be-fixed-it-needs-to-be-repealed/
Choke on it morons.
LikeLike
Oh, the humanity!
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/09/12/bad-news-colorado-democrat-defeated-in-recall-election-over-gun-control-not-taking-it-well/
LikeLike
There goes CA again, maybe this will finally doom us forever as the failed experiment.
Gov. Jerry Brown and the leaders of the California state Legislature announced strong support Wednesday for a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $10 an hour.
“The minimum wage has not kept pace with rising costs,” Brown said in a statement. “This legislation is overdue and will help families that are struggling in this harsh economy.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/12/california-minimum-wage-increase_n_3908620.html
LikeLike
I encourage every blue state to significantly increase their minimum wage. Also, their business taxes and regulatory burden! 😉
LikeLike