Hey there from Beautiful Salt Lake City!

Quick MI for today.

The FNMA 4.5% lost 38 bps today to close the day leaving room for worsening pricing in the morning. We are still in the 5.25% range on the 30 year fixed mortgage though.

News from the Feds! They are about halfway through the 1.25 trillion that they intend to spend on mortgage backed securities to keep rates LOW on mortgages. Remember that when MBS sell...rates stay low. The "organic" market...or the rates without the federal spending would be closer to 6.375% right now based on what is selling to investors other than the feds.

SO: anyone else heard about the 1.1TRILLION dollar federal deficit...Yikes. This is HUGE and we will see its reverberation in the years to come. Stay tuned.

Inflation is up slightly at the "wholesale level" as the "Producer's Price Index" came in showing a slight increase in pricing there. We will see how that translates into "retail" in the months to come.

Oil is still in the 60 dollar range...

Retail Sales were UP slightly although the readings were still dismal...

Get this: rumor is that there is a plan being worked on whereby those in default on their mortgages will RENT thier homes from the bank...hmmm.

Obama announced another 12.5 billion dollars to go to "trade schools"
to help about 5 million people get degrees...do that math. Many are criticizing that too much money is being allocated with too little result. We will have to see how all this washes out and hope for the best.

Have a great evening!

Chad