More than 1 million Americans who have taken out mortgages in the past two years now owe more on their loans than their homes are worth, and Federal Housing Administration loans that require only a tiny down payment are partly to blame.
That [...]
Continue Reading... →When analyzed against a range of economic measures including Growth Domestic Product, there is little argument that the United States is a top country in the world. By comparison, smaller nations such as Europe’s Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain have much less financial strength.
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Continue Reading... →New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is warning state homeowners to beware of phone solicitations from scammers claiming to provide assistance related to the recent national mortgage servicing settlement.
The AG received reports that there are scammers impersonating [...]
Continue Reading... →Virtually every market traded lower yesterday following the Federal Reserve release of the March 13th Minutes. Bonds lead the way with the 10yr US Treasury jumping to over 2.30%, and the Mortgage Backed Security (MBS) yields losing over 70bps yesterday “minutes after the [...]
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It’s possible that up to 10 million card holder accounts have been compromised.
MasterCard Inc. said Friday that it is investigating a possible breach of cardholder account data involving a U.S.-based entity.
The Purchase, N.Y., credit-card company said law enforcement [...]
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Ben Bernanke gave a speech in front of students from George Washington University’s School of Business as part of a four-part lecture series explaining the role of the Federal Reserve in the financial crisis.
This lecture focused on central banking and [...]
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Did the global financial crisis undermine people’s faith in money? What is money, why do we trust it and has it become too confusing?
We dream about it, argue about it, worry about it, celebrate it, spend it, save it – but what exactly is money and why do [...]
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The Department of Justice has released details on a major settlement for homeowners with five of the largest US home lenders.
The $26B deal currently with the 5 key banks: Bank of America, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Ally could actually rise if state [...]
Today, the Obama Administration, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac have announced a number of changes to “HARP”, the 2 year old Governmental refinance program that may open the door to refinancing for a million or more US homeowners. [...]
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August Core CPI (Consumer Price Index) rises to 2.0%. This increase represents the upper-end of the Fed’s threshold. The Consumer Price Index measures changes in the price level of consumer goods and services and provides a hugely important read on consumer inflation. Inflationary signs, as [...]
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Home Prices Rise in 19 Out of 20 Cities
This map displays the results of the Case-Shiller home price index for June 2011. Nineteen of the 20 cities in the index saw home price increases, with Portland remaining flat. Overall the 20 cities [...]
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Today’s Initial Jobless Claims report showed an increase in the number of new unemployment claims last week.
As a result, the report came in worse than expected and above the key 400,000 line. Overall, this leading indicator on the labor market [...]
Continue Reading... →As the FDIC continues to investigate the failures of banks like IndyMac and WaMu mortgage brokers are coming under more scrutiny for the loans they originated for those wholesalers. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is focused on brokers that delivered loans to the [...]
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Housing and Jobs are so closely related, it is important to watch for changing trends in the Unemployment level.
The Labor Department reported today that more than half of U.S. states in July saw increased unemployment rates.
The chart below displays current levels [...]
Continue Reading... →The CME Group said it will raise margin requirements on U.S. Treasury futures staring after the end of business Monday July 25, 2011. This is as a result of the increased volatility in the Treasuries market, and presumably the notion that the instability will only [...]
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Anyone who has taken out a car loan or bought a house with a mortgage has taken on debt. It’s the same for countries. They often need to borrow money to keep services going, with the promise to pay it [...]
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