Mortgage applications rose 10.3% for the week ending November 4, led by an increase of 12.1% in refinance applications and a 4.8% increase in purchase applications. Later today the U.S. Treasury is scheduled to auction $24 billion in 10 year notes today, following a fairly successful 3 year note auction on Tuesday.
Of course, Italy and Greece remain in the forefront of financial news and continue to drive market volatility. Borrowing costs for these countries have skyrocketed and the European Union is not taking decisive action to stem investor fears. As a result, U.S. stock markets are selling off sharply U.S. Treasuries are benefiting from a flight to safety bid. The yield on the 10 year note has fallen to 1.96% and mortgage prices have improved by approximately .25% to .375%.
How do we know for certain our government has run amuck and is completely clueless? This week the U.S. national debt will cross the $15 trillion mark and today the Obama administration’s Agriculture Department announced a 15 cent tax on Christmas trees that will fund a Christmas Tree Promotion Board which will “provide maximum benefits to the Christmas tree industry”, and “will improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees”. You just can’t make this stuff up!
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