October 2010

Tweet The U.S. economy grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the third quarter as consumer spending climbed the most in almost four years, a sign the expansion is developing staying power. The increase in gross domestic product matched the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and followed a 1.7 percent gain [...]

Tweet Mortgage rates are still incredibly low by historical standards. They’ve been fluctuating around record lows not seen in more than a half-century for a good many months now. This week was one where that movement was upward, according to industry data released Thursday. A nationwide survey conducted by Freddie Mac found that 30-year fixed-rate [...]

Tweet Industry data released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Wednesday shows that consumer demand for home loans intensified last week as mortgage interest rates dropped to their second-lowest level on record. MBA says its measurement of total mortgage loan application volume rose 3.2 percent for the week ending October 22, after dipping more than [...]

Tweet Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index averaged -29 over the first four weeks of October – an improvement from -33 in September and from similar July and August readings. However, Americans’ optimism about the U.S. economy going forward is slightly worse today than it was at this time a year ago. The Economic Confidence Index consists [...]