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Despite starts declining for a second straight month, yesterday's housing numbers were pretty good. Year-to-date starts are up 3.7%, with single-family starts up a solid 8.6% and at their best level since 2/16. While multifamily starts fell a staggering 38% in...

Assuming Trump wins MI where he's ahead, and Clinton wins NH where she's ahead, the final electoral college tally will be 306 to 232 for Trump. The three states Clinton lost where she was closest to winning were Michigan, with 49.87% of the vote, Wisconsin, with...

For the health of your financial portfolio I recommend three things. Don't listen to expert predictions; experts can't forecast the future any better than you. Next, fees paid to financial advisors/managers reduce your return. Make sure you are getting value for the...

Today, 49% of firms in the S&P 500 are rated as "buy", 45% are rated as "hold" and just 6% are rated as "sell". This is a travesty! This past year, despite being a good one for equities, 30% of S&P 500 companies yielded negative returns. Stock analysts' advice should...

In 2015, the percentage of those 18 to 34 living with their parents was 39.5%, the highest level since 1940 when it was 40.9%. Of course, 1940 was one year removed from the end of the Depression. The rate then fell to an all-time low of 24.1% in 1960 and has slowly...

With unemployment very low at 4.7%, substantial fiscal stimulus will simply drive up wages and inflation, forcing the Fed to increase rates prematurely. Thus, Trump and Congress should focus on expanding the economy's productive capacity, not increasing household...

Last week the number of oil rigs operating in the US hit 566, up 15 from the prior week and an additional 29 from the week before that. The increase of 29 rigs was the largest increase in nearly four years. The oil-rig count is now at its highest level since 11/15. At...

Yesterday the 10 yr note finally made a nice move lower taking MBS prices up 33 bps and the yield on the 10 down 5 bps to 2.45% after another attempt to push the yield over 2.50% on Wednesday failed. On Wednesday, economic reports, particularly the Jan CPI increased...

TODAY'S MORTGAGE RATE SUMMARY HOW RATES MOVE: Conventional and Government (FHA and VA) lenders set their rates based on the pricing of Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) which are traded in real time, all day in the bond market. This means rates or loan fees (mortgage...

Last month existing home sales absolutely sizzled, hitting a rate of 5.69 million/year, the best level since 2/07. Remarkably, this strength came despite inventory of only 1.69 million units. That's just 3.6 months of supply at the current sales pace, the lowest level...