Medford Township, NJ

Fri, Feb 13 - 12:00 PM ET
JPMorgan halts new mortgage foreclosures. Will not out new mortgages into foreclosure for 3 weeks. Believes 3 weeks adequate for Treasury to announce a new mortgage modification plan. MBS trade back to flat and will close at 2:00pm ET. Stocks lower and will close normal time today at 4:00pm ET.

Current Trend Direction: Sideways

Risks favor: Bias Towards Locking

Current Price of FNMA 4.5% Bond: $100.75, -16bp

Bond prices are trading lower so far today on this shortened holiday session that will see the Bond markets close at 2:00pm ET. On Monday, President's Day, both the Stock and Bond markets will be closed. Market action could be choppy today, as Wall Street starts to clear out early for the three day weekend. Our next Daily Update will be on Tuesday February 17.

Stock markets were plunging yesterday, but rallied at the close to near unchanged after Reuters reported that the Obama administration is trying to hammer out a new program to subsidize mortgages to fight the credit crisis. The plan would seek to help homeowners before they fall into arrears on their loans. Current programs only assist borrowers that are already delinquent. There are no details yet on this plan.

The current $789B stimulus bill is expected to be passed today by Congress and be on President Obama's desk to sign into law this weekend. Stocks remain under pressure as many investors feel the plan will take some time before it has an impact on the economy.

Here are some of the details regarding the tax credit that have been released so far - The tax credit has been scaled down to $8,000 from $15,000, or 10% of the value of the home for any first time homebuyers who purchase homes from the start of the year until the end of November. It starts phasing out for couples with incomes above $150,000 and single filers with incomes above $75,000. Buyers will have to repay the credit if they sell their homes within three years. More details are to come, and we will be sharing with you the impact of the stimulus plan once we go through the final version that is signed into law.

Yesterday, the NY Fed reported they purchased $23.2B in Mortgage Backed Securities from February 5 through February 11, bringing the year-to-date total to almost $115B.

Consumer Sentiment (unsurprisingly) came in a bit gloomier than had been expected, showing a reading of 56.2 where 60.2 had been anticipated.

Mortgage Bonds are again facing a dual layer of resistance, which will make any meaningful gains difficult. And Stocks are due for a relief rally from very oversold levels, which is also adding pressure to Bonds. Because of these factors, a bias towards Locking continues to appear to be the smart strategy.

Fri, Feb 13 - 10:11 AM ET
Consumer Sentiment slightly lower at 56.2 vs exstimates of 60.2. MBS trading near session lows. Stocks near unchanged.

8:40 AM ET - Year-to-date the Fed purchases nearly $115B in MBS as reported yesterday. MBS flat, while Stock Futures slightly lower. Oil at $34.72/barrel up 75 cents.

ALERT TO LOCK!!

Assembly Title is in Hainesport NJ on Route 38 and wants to help your Business Grow

We are located at 1441 Route 38 West, Hainesport NJ 08036. Our phone is 609-267-2000 and our fax is 609-265-3880. The best email address to use is AssemblyTitle@AssemblyTitle.com This email address is received by everyone in our Processing and Operations Departments to ensure that all needs are met and nothing falls through any cracks.

We will be launching a new website shortly that will allow you to have an immediate Title Quote for insurance, as well as a launch to our Flat Fee Structure and Customer Appreciation Program.

Also, be on the look out for the Premier of our Program Release of Best Practices on how to create and most importantly CONVERT your leads into CLOSINGS. You will be shocked on how many times simple things are done or missed that costs so very much.

Your experience, as well as your Customer's is always one to smile about. We belive in creating "Raving Fans" though all of our Relationships. We also take every opportunity to remind the Borrowers or Sellers that YOU are the reason why this is going so well. This way, there is little room for that Borrower to shop around for what they think may be a better "deal."

As always, if you are in need of anything, please feel free to contact me. I will respond as immediatly as possible.

Larry Bailey

609-760-7222 Mobile

Lbailey@AssemblyTitle.com

Current Trend Direction: Sideways

Risks favor: Locking

Current Price of FNMA 4.5% Bond: $101.19, +9bp

Retail Sales unexpectedly increased in January for the first time in 7 months coming in at 1.0% versus estimates of -0.8%. When stripping out auto sales, the number came in at 0.9%, also beating expectations of -0.4%. Mortgage Bonds brushed off the better than expected news and are trading near the unchanged mark so far this morning, thanks to a weaker Stock market.

The number of Initial Jobless Claims in the week ending Feb. 7 fell 8,000 to 623,000, slightly better than expectations, but a level that is 84% higher than the same period in the prior year. For the week ending Jan. 31, the number of Americans receiving state jobless benefits rose 11,000 to a record 4.81 million. The growing number of continuing claims shows the Job market continues to weaken.

The stimulus plan was finalized last night and is now headed for passage from the House and the Senate for final vote, then on to President Obama's desk for signing. The package was scaled down to $789B made up of tax cuts and spending programs aimed at reviving the US economy. Once the details are released, we will report to you on the specifics that effect our industry.

After some nice price improvements, the Bond is now pressed up against the dual ceiling of resistance at the 50 and 25-day Moving Averages. We feel a bias towards locking is warranted.