First: thank you SO much for the tremendous show of support from so many of you. WOW! This has really been a tough time with all that I have been dealing with resulting from 2009's regulatory changes, the health of my beloved mother and my personal health concerns.
To share: a personal friend and partner of mine Jennifer Erickson has left our team to pursuit other opportunities. I am so excited to see her with such excitement for her new position and wish her the best of luck.
Market!
There really wasn't too much economic data today to look at or for the markets to react to.
FNMA 4.5% bond lost about 12 bps today after a pretty tame trading day. We didn't stray too much from where we started the day for any of the session.
The DOW is at a 52 week HIGH and closed at 10,725! Markets were up on the prospect that the Health Care Bill may not be pushed through in time as the Dems may have lost a Senate seat after the Massachusetts elections.
Also: this is "earnings reporting season"! IBM posted some better than expected numbers for Q4 along with some other favorable corporate reporting.
Home builder's sentiment is down according to a report released today. They "index" that is put out by putting together the numbers from a national survey of builders was the lowest it has been since last June. Perspective though: There aren't so many housing starts in the middle of the winter, the feds are pulling their Mortgage backed Securities purchasing program in March so rates will likely come up (before a new project would be completed) and there is some uncertainty during this time of the year every year.
Rates ARE still at historic lows with the 30 year fixed money in the "just under/just over" 5% range.
Cheers!
Chad
Chad
