Oct. 18, 2007: Mortgage prices improving, 10-yr down to 4.50%, some industry news, and some humor

Oct. 18, 2007: Mortgage prices improving, 10-yr down to 4.50%, some industry news, and some humor Rob Chrisman

The mortgage business just finished a conference in Boston. Besides the numerous comments about it being a “job fair”, this comment from an attendee was particularly interesting: “The unfortunate part of the conference was that those who were out of work were actually the most cheerful, as if some weight had been lifted. Those who were working were so concerned about what faces us every day – declining volumes, repurchase issues and declining values – that it wasn’t enjoyable.”

• The latest FDIC data shows BofA controls an 8.9% market share of deposits, followed by JP Morgan Chase at 7.0% and Wachovia at 5.9%. (BofA could still acquire a bank with up to $75B in deposits and still be under the 10% cap.) Speaking of BofA, their earnings today were far below expectations, much attributed to non-performing loans.
• Mortgage applications last week were up slightly, given the Columbus Day holiday.
• Thornburg Mortgage Inc. said it lost more than $1 billion in the third quarter. During the third quarter, Thornburg Mortgage sold a total of $21.9 billion of loans at a loss of $1.09 billion. Thornburg also posted a loss of $11.5 million to fund forward commitments.
• Washington Mutual Inc.’s third-quarter profit shrank 72%. WAMU reserved $967 million in the third quarter to prepare for borrowers defaulting on their debt. The bank also had a write-down of $147 million after transferring to its investment portfolio $17 billion in home and other real estate loans that it had originally intending to sell.
• MGIC lost $372.5 million in the third quarter, not a big surprise since they have $197.6 billion in policies, and the more frequently people default on home loans, the more MGIC Investment is forced to pay lenders who bought insurance policies.
• Wachovia plans an aggressive expansion in California – aiming for a fivefold increase in the number of branches in the state over the next several years. Based in Charlotte, N.C., most think of them as the company that bought World Savings. The bank is in the process of changing the signs on the former World Savings branches to Wachovia, at which point they will have 149 branches in the state. Wachovia was a regional bank until 2001, when it merged with First Union, and now operates in 21 states.  The bank’s latest acquisition is the $6.8 billion takeover of brokerage firm AG Edwards.

Rates are continuing to drop, and prices improve, as a) BofA announced their earnings, b) weekly Jobless Claims were +28k to 337k, c) housing market indicators continue to show sustained weakness, and d) the chance of a Fed Funds cut on the 31st have increased to 75%. Is the labor market starting to slide? Later this morning we have September’s Leading Economic Indicators index is expected to show a slight gain of 0.3%, while the Philly Fed will likely decline 3.9 points to a reading of 7.0.

Two men were sitting next to each other at a bar.  After a while, one guy looks at the other and says, “I can’t help but think, from listening to you, that you’re from Ireland”. The other guy responds proudly, “Yes, that I am” The first guy says, “So am I.  And where about from Ireland might you be?” The other guy answers, “I’m from Dublin, I am.” The first guy responds, and so am I “Sure and begora, and what street did you live on in Dublin?” The other guy says, “A lovely little area it was, I lived on McCrery Street in the old central part of town.” The first guy says, “Faith & Begora it’s a small world, so did I! So did I. And to what school would you have been going?” The other guy answers, “Well now, I went to St. Mary’s of course.” The first guy gets really excited and says, “And so did I.  Tell me, what year did you graduate?” The other guy answers, “Well, now, let’s see, I graduated in 1964.” The first guy exclaims, “The Good Lord must be smiling down upon us! I can hardly believe our good luck at winding up in the same bar tonight. Can you believe it, I graduated from St. Mary’s in 1964 my own self.” About this time, Vicky walks into the bar, sits down, and orders a beer. Brian, the bartender, walks over to Vicky, shaking his head & mutters, “It’s going to be a long night tonight” Vicky asks, “Why do you say that, Brian?” “The Murphy twins are drunk again.”