Category Archives: Economy

Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Dilemma Won’t End Soon

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly The U.S. Treasury is in a bind. Everyone seems to agree that Fannie and Freddie, wards of the government should be downsized, but how to do it without damaging the housing recovery? Extreme conservatives even want to … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumers, Economy, Housing, housing market, Politics, Weekly Financial News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pending Home Sales, Prices Continue to Rise

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner Those who doubt the real estate recovery aren’t paying attention to the latest sales’ data. We reported last week the Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 0.3 percent to 106.0 in … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumers, Economy, Housing, housing market, Politics, Weekly Financial News | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

What Will the Federal Reserve Do??

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly Now the fat’s in the fire. Both stocks and bond prices have been falling of late, due to the fear that the Fed will end its $85 billion per month QE purchases of Treasury and mortgage securities … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumers, Economy, Keynesian economics, Politics, Weekly Financial News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Social Security Isn’t Dead

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly Social Security isn’t dead, or even dying, in spite of the prediction by the Social Security Trustees that it will no longer be able to pay full benefits by 2033. That’s because the Trustees use what are … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumers, Economy, Macro Economics, Politics, Weekly Financial News | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Greater Recession, if Fed QE Ends Too Soon

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs The stock and bond markets are sinking because of Fed Chairman Bernanke’s seemingly offhand remark that the Fed could slow down its QE purchases of securities as early as its June FOMC meeting. Now Organization for Economic Development … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumers, Economy, Macro Economics, Politics, Weekly Financial News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Housing Prices at Seven-Year High

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index just reported home prices were accelerating strongly going into  a very strong April start to the Spring housing season. The Case-Shiller 20-city data show a very strong 1.1 percent monthly adjusted … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumers, Economy, Housing, housing market, Weekly Financial News | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ben Bernanke and the Fragile Recovery

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Popular Economics Weekly

Financial FAQs We know how fragile is the U.S. economic recovery just from the past 48 hours, because both U.S. and Japanese stock prices plummeted, and interest rates jumped on a seemingly offhand remark made by Fed Chairman Bernanke in … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumers, Economy, Macro Economics, Politics, Weekly Financial News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Existing-Home Sales, Inventories Climbing

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 0.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.97 million in April, reports the National Association of Realtors. This could … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumers, Economy, Housing, housing market, Weekly Financial News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Consumer Sentiment, Leading Indicators Signal Higher Growth

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Popular Economics Weekly

Popular Economics Weekly Both the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment survey and Conference Board’s Index of Leading Indicators rose in May, signaling that employment and growth may be stronger than forecast by most economists. How can that be with 7.5 … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumers, Economy, Macro Economics, Weekly Financial News | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

S. California RE Sales Return to 2006 Levels

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Popular Economics Weekly

The Mortgage Corner DataQuick just reported Southern California homes sold at the fastest pace for an April in seven years amid the release of pent-up demand for move-up homes and high levels of investor purchases. This is while April new-home … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumers, Economy, Housing, housing market, Weekly Financial News | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment