Scott Fowler's (sfowler) Blog

Throughout the feverish activity on Wall Street last week, mortgage bonds sold off with force, driving mortgage rates to their highest levels since July. It was the fourth straight week in which mortgage rates worsened. But, with the mortgage markets closed Monday, stock markets rallied to their ...

Given the stock market's recent performance, it's not surprising that gasoline's falling prices are garnering very little attention. That doesn't make it any less relevant, however. Since peaking in July, gas prices are off by 20 percent. Falling gas prices are an important positive for the U.S. ...

Buyers are returning to the housing market. Each month, The National Association of REALTORS® tracks homes under contract to sell, but whose closing has not yet happened.  It calls them "pending sales" and publishes a monthly report to quantify them.  The Pending Home Sales report is important be...

The Federal Reserve made an "emergency rate cut" this morning, dropping the Fed Funds Rate by one half-percent to 1.500 percent. The move is meant to stimulate the U.S. economy. When the Federal Reserve changes the Fed Funds Rate, it often takes 9 months for the changes to work their way through ...

Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below the psychologically-important 10,000 level for the first time since 2004.  Despite the milestone-marker breach, however, there was a large group of Americans with reason to cheer.  As stocks sold off, mortgage markets rallied to the benefit o...

Congress approved the $700 billion "Bailout Bill" Friday, answering the question that dogged mortgage markets all week long: Will they or won't they pass it? The uncertainty prior to the vote created huge market swings that ultimately sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst week since ...

In an effort to provide "the most market support possible", Fannie Mae is cutting one of its mandatory loan fees by 0.250 percent, effective immediately. Fannie Mae introduced the Adverse Market Delivery Charge in December 2007 to offset foreclosure and delinquency losses.  The initial fee was a ...

As household budgets get pinched and credit markets tighten, a growing number of Americans are making "hardship withdrawals" from their 401(k) plans.  One major fund group cites a 15 percent increase in activity from this time last year for various reasons including staving off foreclosure and me...

Monday, after the House of Representatives defeated the Emergency Economic Stabilization Bill of 2008, the stock market fell in historic fashion. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 777.68 points, its largest one-day point loss ever. By Tuesday, however, optimism had returned to Wall Str...

Effective immediately, FHA has extended the $100 HUD Repo Program that allows borrowers to purchase HUD-owned properties.  In addition to requiring only a $100 down payment, borrowers may also obtain financing up to 110% of the loan amount.  Appraisal required repairs up to $5,000 and all closing...