First, in recent foreclosure news: Obama boosts help for homeowners Every week, homes throughout Orange County go to foreclosure auctions. The owners can be millions of dollars in debt, or owe just a few thousand. Often these homes revert to the lenders, who eventually put them back on…
From the BLS : Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162,000 in March, and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Click on graph for larger image. This graph shows the unemployment rate and the year over year change in employment vs. recessions.…
From John Collins Rudolf at the NY Times: Moves to Garnish Pay Rise as More Debtors Fall Behind (ht Ann) One of the worst economic downturns of modern history has produced a big increase in the number of delinquent borrowers, and creditors are suing them by the millions. … Bankruptcy…
From Vikas Bajaj at the NY Times: Coming Visit May Signal Easing by China on Currency [T]he announcement by Chinese authorities on Thursday that President Hu Jintao will be visiting Washington in two weeks is being seen as the beginning of a possible easing of the friction over the renminbi.…
The Federal Reserve removed one of the key props to the U.S. housing market last week when it stopped buying mortgage bonds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to Bloomberg News, the Fed bought $1.25 trillion worth of mortgage-backed securities over the past 18 months, providing a source…
Just to complete the countdown, the NY Fed purchased an additional net $6.074 billion in MBS for the week ending March 31st. That puts the total purchases at $1.25 trillion … and completes the program right on schedule. The Fed’s balance sheet today shows $1.074 trillion in MBS. As mentioned…
Quite often, you’ll see personal finance writers talk about the big things – the single moves that will save you quite a lot per month. Downgrade your living quarters! Sell that car! Buy a used car! Change your insurance! Those things are flashy because they can save you a…
Click on graph for larger image in new window. This graph shows the historical light vehicle sales (seasonally adjusted annual rate) from the BEA (blue) and an estimate for March (red, light vehicle sales of 11.78 million SAAR from AutoData Corp). This is a 13.9% increase from the February…
From HotelNewsNow.com: STR: Boston leads weekly numbers Overall, the U.S. industry’s occupancy ended the week with a 5.9-percent increase to 59.9 percent, average daily rate dropped 1.6 percent to US$98.29, and RevPAR was up 4.2 percent to US$58.89. The following graph shows the occupancy rate by week since 2000, and…
From MarketWatch: General Motors U.S. March sales rise 20.6% This is based on a very easy comparison: in March 2009 U.S. light vehicle sales fell 35% to 9.69 million (SAAR) from 14.9 million (SAAR) in March 2008. The sharp decline last year was due to the financial crisis, the recession,…