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Weekend Market Update

May 22-23, 2010

Mortgage interest rates fell to lows for 2010 as bad news for other markets drove money into safer instruments, such as U.S. Treasuries. Mortgage-backed securities have not moved in 1-to-1 lockstep with Treasuries during this cycle, but on Friday they went along for the ride sufficiently to plunge into the mid-4s.

Call me ASAP to get your refinance application in the house so that we can lock a rate in this range.

The 10-year Treasury closed at a yield of 3.2%, its lowest in 2010.

The Euro hit a four-year low of $1.21 mid-week on nagging worries that the Greek debt crisis will continue to drag down the rest of the Euro zone economy and possibly spread beyond Europe. By Friday the beleaguered currency had rebounded to nearly $1.26, but it is down 13% for the year.

Major stock market indices were down more than 4% for the week, and the Dow average, the S&P and Nasdaq entered the “correction” zone of down 10% from the previous high, which was just set in April. The Dow swung 279.71 points on Friday, dipping below the 10,000 mark before erasing all of its losses to close up 125 points for the day.

On Friday the CBOE’s volatility index, VIX, hit a 15-month high of 48.2 as the selling continued. That mark was last seen in March 2009, when the market bottomed with the Dow in the mid-6,000s.

30-Year Conventional Fixed

4.5% $100,000-$417,000


FHA-100% VA

4.75% $100,000-$393,300


30-Year Jumbo Fixed

5.5% $417,001-$900,000

(Interest-only available-Call me)

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

"Nothing beats a little cash in a bear market, of course, and the oldest form of cash is gold." - James Grant

(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.)