Broker Universe - "What We're Hearing" (10-23-07)

"Over the past 12 months, roughly 200 mortgage banking firms and/or channel platforms have closed, according to estimates made by National Mortgage News. But what about loan brokerage firms? According to current research being done by NMN's staff in Washington, on a sample of firms that were active earlier this year, the closure rate is about 15%. If you apply that to the 53,000 firms that were open in late 2006, that's an ugly number."

NAHB - "Tighter Lending Standards and Subprime Fallout Will Slow, But Not Prevent National Housing Recovery" (10-23-07)

"Tighter lending standards and reduced availability of credit will complicate – but not derail – a national recovery in the housing market, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) state and metro economic forecast, which is available through NAHB’s HousingEconomics.com."

NAHB - "NAHB To Launch National Green Building Program At International Builders' Show" (10-23-07)

"The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) announced that it will launch the much-anticipated NAHB National Green Building Program Feb. 14 at the 2008 NAHB International Builders’ Show in Orlando. The program launch will be the highlight of a day of green-themed activities at the convention, which last year attracted more than 100,000 building industry professionals."

CNN - "Countrywide offers help for reset shock" (10-23-07)

"Countrywide Financial, the nation's largest mortgage lender, announced a program Tuesday to refinance or modify up to $16 billion of its loans. The program is targeted to 80,000 borrowers who face the risk of default because their current variable rate mortgages would see payments jump to levels they could not afford."

Bloomberg - "Evans Says Fed Must Guard Against 'Cost' of Bigger Housing Drop" (10-23-07)

"Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles L. Evans said policy makers must shield the economy from ``high cost'' events such a worsening housing slump. 'I do not see this extreme outcome as likely,' Evans said yesterday in his first speech on the economy as a policy maker. Still, 'it is one of those high cost outcomes that we should guard against,' while closely monitoring inflation, he said at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business."

Bloomberg - "Bankers' Ranks to Be Thinned By Bloodletting to Come" (10-23-07)

"Some day over the next few weeks, Wall Street executives are going to meet to make some bad decisions. They are going to decide to batten down the hatches, trim away the dead wood, button up for the battle ahead -- use whatever tired cliche you want. They sure will."

Bloomberg - "Fed Signals Support for Paulson Commercial-Paper Plan" (10-23-07)

"The Federal Reserve indicated it supports the plan brokered by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to increase liquidity in the market for asset-backed commercial paper. The agreement reached by Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. is well-enough designed that it may help credit markets, a Fed official, who declined to be identified, said late yesterday in Washington. The plan also may help investors establish prices for complex securities that funds purchased with the proceeds of commercial-paper sales, the official said."

Bloomberg - "SIV Shock, Inflation Make U.S. Treasuries Unbeatable" (10-23-07)

"The combination of record U.S. home foreclosures, rising defaults and simmering inflation is making two-year Treasury notes and their equivalents unbeatable in the bond market. Anxiety over the $300 billion owed by structured investment vehicles, or SIVs, is pushing investors into the relative safety of two-year notes sold by the government and the most creditworthy companies at the same time that rising consumer prices reduce the appeal of 10-year securities. The gap in yields between the bonds is getting wider, reminiscent of 2001, when the Federal Reserve began cutting its target interest rate for overnight loans between banks."