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Weekend Market Update

July 24-25, 2010

Stocks rose more than 3% for the week, ending with up days on Thursday and Friday as the so-called “stress test” of European banks’ liquidity proved not stressful after all.

All of the three major market indexes registered strong gains for a week that included second-quarter earnings from a slew of big-name companies. The latest boost came on Friday, when General Electric raised its quarterly dividend by 20%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 102.32 points, or 1.0%, at 10424.62, up 3.2% for the week and just four points shy of where it started the year. If the blue-chip index can keep up its pace, July will be its best month in more than a year.

The S&P 500 index finished up 0.82% at 1102.66, advancing 3.6% for the week and breaking through the psychologically significant 1,100 level for the first time this month.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.1% to 2269.47, up 4.2% for the week and breaking back into positive territory for the year.

GE boosted the market after it announced its first dividend increase since cutting its payouts more than a year ago. The company also said it will restart stock buybacks this quarter after an absence of nearly two years. GE's shares rose 3.3%.

The “stress test” included a measure of liquidity and reserves of European banks, and the breath-holding for the announcement turned out to be unwarranted.

Mortgage interest rates treaded water for the week, although the current Fannie Mae contract lost 12 basis points, which was directional for “up” in rates but not enough to change rate pricing signifcantly.

Please call me with any questions about the market or to run a free analysis of what a refinance---with cash out or not---would mean for your financial bottom line. Gary Moore 615-579-8658.

30-Year Conventional Fixed

4.375% $200,000-$417,000

15-Year Conventional Fixed

3.75% $200,000-$417,000


30-Year FHA-100% VA

4.25% $100,000-$393,300


30-Year Jumbo Fixed

5.5% $417,001-$900,000

(Interest-only available-Call me)

THDA Great Start

5.35% $100,000-$393,300

4% of sales price Gift

Call for free pre-approval and to discover

the best financing for you!

...by Gary Moore

Mortgage Planner, First Community Mortgage

...a subsidiary of First Community Bank

Cell: 615-579-8658 Toll-free fax: 866-321-6513

"The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Visit my mortgage website:

http://www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com

(0% points, 1% origination. Market Update informs consumers and Realtors on market trends, offers subjective opinions and is not a quote for a unique borrower. Reply "remove" with your name and email address to discontinue Update.)

Weekend Market Update

July 17-18, 2010

I hate using the term “no-brainer.” If you tell someone, “It’s a no-brainer,” they may take it the wrong way and feel personally insulted. So I am not going to say, “To refinance in this market is a no-brainer.” I’ll just say, “This market is a game-changer.”

Defying the experts, mortgage rates have gone down this year instead of up as widely predicted. When you get too many people all saying the same thing, you know Mr. Market will do the opposite just for spite.

For all the folks I have helped earlier in this decade to get an extremely low interest rate---like in the mid 5s or higher---I am no longer going to talk you out of refinancing due to costs, no matter how many mail pieces you get from unknown brokers promising pie in the sky.

It is time to seriously look at refinancing, even if you bought a home or refinanced as recently as eight months ago. Rates have stepped a full leg down during the past 75 days. 4.5% is the new 5.5%. Many people are opting to go to 15 years at around 4% or lower to save hundreds of thousands of dollars of interest over the term of the loan, and to have the imposed discipline to pay down the loan more quickly.

Conventional wisdom during my 34 years in real estate/homebuilding/mortgage banking was that you do not pay down your mortgage---that there are better investments. When you pay down your mortgage, it’s like burying money in the back yard. You don't get to dig it back up. You are avoiding interest and nothing more. But, with “safe” investments like CDs and Treasuries yielding a pittance, it suddenly makes sense to avoid paying interest at 5% or 6% or so.

Stocks sold off hard on Friday on more news about a weak economy, and according to script, Treasuries and mortgage interest rates benefited. The 4% Fannie Mae contract rose 41 basis points this week. A “point” in mortgage world equals 1% of the loan amount, and there are 100 bps (basis points) in one discount point. One point or 100 basis points generally translates into .25% in the interest rate. So, when somebody says “rates fell,” it is more accurate to say it costs less to get such-and-such rate than it did before.

The DJIA dropped 261 points on Friday to close at 10,097 and the S&P 500 lost 31.6 points to close at 1,064. The 10-year Treasury dipped back below 3% yield and closed at a yield of 2.94%. We are looking at the 3% yield mark as a confirming indicator of mortgage rate direction.

Viewing this from another angle, would you be surprised to know that all 15 of the Dow stocks yield more in dividend than the 10-year Treasury?

I do not have the crystal ball, but I do recognize that we are at an all-time low in mortgage rates right now, today, at this time, ahora. I lean toward the concept of locking a low rate while the getting is good. Gut feeling is that this extreme position cannot go on forever or go much if any lower.

Please call me with any questions about the market or to run a free analysis of what a refinance---with cash out or not---would mean for your financial bottom line. Gary Moore 615-579-8658.

30-Year Conventional Fixed

4.375% $100,000-$417,000

15-Year Conventional Fixed

3.875% $200,000-$417,000


30-Year FHA-100% VA

4.5% $100,000-$393,300


30-Year Jumbo Fixed

5.5% $417,001-$900,000

(Interest-only available-Call me)

THDA Great Start

5.35% $100,000-$393,300

4% of sales price Gift

Call for free pre-approval and to discover

the best financing for you!

...by Gary Moore

Mortgage Planner, First Community Mortgage

...a subsidiary of First Community Bank

Cell: 615-579-8658 Toll-free fax: 866-321-6513

"Human-nature will not change." - Abraham Lincoln

Visit my mortgage website:

http://www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com

(0% points, 1% origination. Market Update informs consumers and Realtors on market trends, offers subjective opinions and is not a quote for a unique borrower.)

Weekend Market Update

July 10-11, 2010

Mortgage rates asked the limbo rock question this week---“How low can you go?”---and the market may have given its answer as rates ended their two-month slide to historical lows. If you are considering refinancing, now is the time to pull the trigger.

Stocks were up on modest volume for the four-day trading week, and the Dow Jones average was up 5.3% and 512 points, to log its best one-week gain in almost a year. The DJIA closed at 10,198. Stocks had been beaten down and were oversold, which likely contributed to this pop.

The 10-year Treasury moved back above 3% yield, in the face of more news of a weak economy, which usually favors bonds and mortgage-backed securities. Inventories held by wholesalers rose in May for a fifth straight month, the government reported on Friday, while sales dropped for the first time in more than a year. Wholesale inventories rose 0.5 percent and sales dropped 0.3 percent. It was the first drop since March 2009, when major stock indexes hit a 12-year low.

Bond prices fell as stocks rose on Friday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.06 percent from 3.04 percent late Thursday.

Crude oil rose 65 cents to $76.09 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Thursday's report of a drop in the number of newly laid off people seeking unemployment benefits ended a string of bad news about the job market, and it likely contributed to investors' more positive mood going into earnings season.

Call me to get pre-approved for a purchase or to explore your refinancing options. Gary Moore 615-579-8658.

30-Year Conventional Fixed

4.5% $100,000-$417,000

15-Year Conventional Fixed

4% $100,000-$417,000


FHA-100% VA

4.5% $100,000-$393,300


30-Year Jumbo Fixed

5.5% $417,001-$900,000

(Interest-only available-Call me)

THDA Great Start

5.35% $100,000-$393,300

4% of sales price Gift

Call for free pre-approval and to discover

the best financing for you!

...by Gary Moore

Mortgage Planner, First Community Mortgage

...a subsidiary of First Community Bank

Cell: 615-579-8658 Toll-free fax: 866-321-6513

"A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it." - Bob Hope

Visit my real estate website:

http://www.RealCarte.com

Visit my mortgage website:

http://www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com

(0% points, 1% origination. Market Update informs consumers and Realtors on market trends, offers subjective opinions and is not a quote for a unique borrower.)

Weekend Market Update

July 3-4, 2010

NOTE: EVEN IF YOU HAVE A LOW INTEREST RATE ON YOUR PRESENT MORTGAGE, DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL ME AT 615-579-8658 FOR A REFINANCE ANALYSIS TO SEE WHAT YOU CAN SAVE IN MONTHLY PAYMENT. MANY HOMEOWNERS ARE TAKING THIS OPPORTUNITY TO CASH IN THEIR 30-YEAR LOAN FOR A 15-YEAR AT A RIDICULOUS RATE OF 3.875% OR THEREABOUTS. ALSO, IT’S A GOOD TIME TO REFINANCE IF YOU WANT TO PULL SOME CASH OUT OF YOUR EQUITY.

Stocks fell Friday on the heels of more bad news about the economy and job creation, but Treasury yields and mortgage interest rates failed to drop, which could indicate we have gone as low as we can with mortgage rates.

The Fannie Mae 4% MBS August delivery coupon mortgage-backed bond lost 9 basis points on the day but gained 47 points for the week as mortgage rates continued to dwell in a range of historical lows. As basis points go up in price paid for the security, rates and yields go down, and vice versa.

The 10-year Treasury broke through resistance at around 3.1% yield earlier this week, and it closed on Friday at a yield of 2.98% after touching a low of 2.89% on Thursday. Money has flowed into Treasuries and caused lower rates during the last two months of weakness in equities and concerns over the global economy.

A disappointing jobs report sent stocks falling Friday and gave the Dow Jones Industrial Average its longest losing streak since the worst days of the financial crisis. The Dow dropped 46 points Friday for its seventh straight loss and its longest slide since October 2008. The Dow and other major indexes posted big losses for a second straight week.

The government said private employers added only 83,000 jobs last month, fewer than the 112,000 analysts had forecast.

The government cut 225,000 census jobs in June. Overall, 125,000 workers lost their jobs last month, more than the drop of 110,000 analysts predicted. The unemployment rate did drop unexpectedly, sliding to 9.5 percent from 9.7 percent. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had expected it to rise to 9.8 percent. However, the decrease came as some people gave up looking for work. That means they weren't counted among the unemployed.

The government also reported that factory orders fell in May for the first time in nine months. The 1.4 pCercent drop was the biggest since March 2009, when major stock indexes hit a 12-year low.

The Dow fell 46.05, or 0.5 percent, to 9,686.48, its lowest close since Oct. 5 2009. The Dow hasn't fallen for seven straight days since an eight-day loss that ended Oct. 10, 2008.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4.79, or 0.5 percent, to 1,022.58.

The Dow is now down 13.6 from its 2010 high of 11,205.03, while the S&P 500 is down 16 percent from its high of 1,217.28.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 9.57, or 0.5 percent, Friday to 2,091.79.

For the week, the Dow dropped 4.5 percent. The S&P 500 index lost 5 percent, while the Nasdaq dropped 5.9 percent.

The S&P 500's two-week drop is the worst since early May.

Call me to get pre-approved for a purchase or to explore refinancing options. Gary Moore 615-579-8658.

30-Year Conventional Fixed

4.5% $100,000-$417,000

15-Year Conventional Fixed

3.875% $100,000-$417,000


FHA-100% VA

4.5% $100,000-$393,300


30-Year Jumbo Fixed

5.5% $417,001-$900,000

(Interest-only available-Call me)

THDA Great Start

5.35% $100,000-$393,300

4% of sales price Gift

Call for free pre-approval and to discover

the best financing for you!

...by Gary Moore

Mortgage Planner, First Community Mortgage

...a subsidiary of First Community Bank

Cell: 615-579-8658 Toll-free fax: 866-321-6513

"It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job. It's a depression when you lose your own." - Harry S. Truman

Visit my mortgage website:

http://www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com

(0% points, 1% origination. Market Update informs consumers and Realtors on market trends, offers subjective opinions and is not a quote for a unique borrower.)