Category Archives: Weekly Financial News

Where Is Housing Affordable Anymore?

Financial FAQs How much salary do you need in order to afford the principal and interest payments on a median-priced home in your metro area? To find out, HSH.com, a mortgage data service, took the National Association of Realtors’ first-quarter … Continue reading

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New-Home Construction, Permits Soar

The Mortgage Corner Housing starts jumped in April and building permits hit their highest level in nearly six years, offering hope the weak housing market could be stabilizing, according to the US Census Bureau’s April report on housing starts.  This … Continue reading

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New Fannie, Freddie Regulator Won’t Cut Loan Limits

The Mortgage Corner WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — This headline just out.  Mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac won’t be directed to lower the limits for mortgages that they back, the new head of their federal regulator said Tuesday. In a … Continue reading

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Why Low Interest Rates Are Here to Stay

Financial FAQs Some have called it a Putin bond rally. Or it might be new Fed Chairperson Yellen’s determination to keep interest rates as low as possible, until economic prosperity returns to Main Street. It might as well be because … Continue reading

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288,000 Payroll Jobs Created

Financial FAQs Is the Great Recession finally over? It would seem so with total nonfarm payroll employment up by 288,000, and the unemployment rate down by 0.4 percentage point to 6.3 percent in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics … Continue reading

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Home Price Strength To Boost Sales

The Mortgage Corner Data through February 2014, released today by S&P Dow Jones Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, show that the annual rates of gain posted 13.1 (in 10-city index) and 12.9 percent (20-city index) in the twelve … Continue reading

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Rising Consumer Confidence To Boost Growth

Popular Economics Weekly Consumers seem to finally be consuming their normal share of economic growth—which is currently 68.2 percent of GDP, or overall economic activity. We know this because they are spending more, and their confidence numbers are returning to … Continue reading

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Capital in 21st Century

Popular Economics Weekly All the hullabaloo re Thomas Piketty’s master economic work, Capital in the 21st Century has overlooked its real importance. Economics is finally becoming a science, rather than just social science based more on theories and formulas (such … Continue reading

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Opposing the Bully Mentality—Part II

Financial FAQs How does one stop the bullies? Put simply, find a way to stand up to them. Economic bullies behave no differently than individuals when confronted by a person or organization willing to oppose them. But how are the … Continue reading

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Q1 Wage Growth Highest in 4 Years

Popular Economics Weekly This may finally be the year when jobs and the economic recovery are for real for most Americans. Median weekly wages grew at the fastest pace in the first quarter in more than four years, according to … Continue reading

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