Peeka Info

Five Things To Do When Your Mate Can't Qualify For A Mortgage

Source: Wallet Pop | January 30, 2011

Being able to afford a home has inspired many couples to tie the home ownership knot, married or not. Even those who already own homes are looking at uber-low rates and running to refinance. But with lending guidelines tighter than a Nicki Minaj outfit, more and more wanna-be buyers are running into a major financial/romantic dilemma: one partner qualifies for the home loan, but the other's job record, credit blemishes or insufficient income fouls up the financing. What's a couple to do when one partner can't qualify for the mortgage? Take these five steps. [Read this article]

U.S. Economy: December Gain In Consumer Spending Beats Forecast

Source: Bloomberg Business Week | January 31, 2011

Consumer spending in the U.S. rose more than forecast in December, giving the world's largest economy a lift heading into 2011. Purchases, which account for about 70 percent of the economy, increased 0.7 percent after climbing 0.3 percent the prior month, Commerce Department figures showed. Another report showed businesses expanded in January at the fastest pace in two decades. Rising incomes and a cut in payroll taxes this year will probably continue to drive household demand, benefiting companies from Coach Inc. to Ford Motor Co. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said its business barometer rose this month to 68.8, the highest level since 1988. Figures greater than 50 signal expansion, and economists projected the gauge would slip to 64.5, based on the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. "This fortifies the stability of the recovery," said Maxwell Clarke, chief U.S. economist at IDEAglobal. "You definitely see traction from manufacturing going forward." [Read this article]

Fiserv: After Years Of Record Declines, Home Prices Begin To Stabilize

Source: DS News | February 1, 2011

The ups and downs seen in home price data over the past few years indicate a slow recovery in home prices with many false starts, especially in markets riddled with foreclosed properties, according to Fiserv, Inc. But the company's analysts say that while the ebb and flow is not over, they expect 75 percent of U.S. metro areas to see stable prices by the end of 2011. The financial services firm released its analysis of home price trends in more than 375 U.S. markets based on the Fiserv Case-Shiller Indexes. In the third quarter of 2010, U.S. single-family home prices saw an average decrease of just 1.5 percent over the year-ago quarter, as a growing number of metro area housing markets begin to stabilize after five years of record home price declines. Both Fiserv and Moody's Analytics report that home prices have already leveled out in one of four metro areas. They estimate that price stability will characterize three-fourths of U.S. markets by the end of this year and 100 percent of markets by the end of 2012. [Read this article]

Orders To U.S. Factories Unexpectedly Increased In December

Source: Bloomberg | February 3, 2011

American factories unexpectedly received more orders in December, led by demand for capital equipment that was stronger than reported last week. The 0.2 percent increase in bookings topped the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News which called for a 0.5 percent drop, figures from the Commerce Department showed. "We're seeing a pretty solid rebound in demand for manufactured goods," Russell Price, a senior economist at Ameriprise Financial, said before the report. "That is exactly what we need to see at this point to make this a self-sustaining recovery." The median forecast was based on a survey of 67 economists. The gain in bookings last month followed a revised 1.3 percent November increase that was almost twice as big as previously calculated. [Read this article]

12 Industries That Are Actually Growing

Source: The Atlantic | February 2, 2011

Economists love to pontificate about which industries are expected to grow over the next several years. We tend to hear a lot about "green jobs" and health care. While their estimates are often on the right track, it would also be useful to know which sectors have shown actual job growth already. Since the U.S. labor market began its slow recovery in 2010, we can do some analysis to determine which industries have begun growing significantly compared to others. Analyzing the approximately 150 sectors and sub-sectors from the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, there about a dozen that stand out. What does this 2010′s data mean for job seekers or young adults looking for jobs? Some key industries to pursue are probably those related to health care, computers, and mining (actually really anything energy related). Not only are these sectors that have already begun growing at a moderate pace since the recession ended, but they're widely theorized to be high-growth industries. [Read this article]