NAR - "Pending Home Sales up Strongly" (10-8-08)

"The Pending Home Sales Index,1 a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in August, jumped 7.4 percent to 93.4 from an upwardly revised reading of 87.0 in July, and is 8.8 percent higher than August 2007 when it stood at 85.8. The index is at the highest level since June 2007 when it stood at 101.4."

Mortgage Bankers Association - "Mortgage Applications Increase Slightly In Latest MBA Weekly Survey" (10-8-08)

"The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 3, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 465.5, an increase of 2.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 455.4 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 2.2 percent compared with the previous week and was down 28.6 percent compared with the same week one year earlier."

The Wall Street Journal - "Housing Pain Gauge: Nearly 1 in 6 Owners 'Under Water'" (10-8-08)

"The relentless slide in home prices has left nearly one in six U.S. homeowners owing more on a mortgage than the home is worth, raising the possibility of a rise in defaults -- the very misfortune that touched off the credit crisis last year."

Yahoo - "Fed leads global coordinated rate cut, eases by half point" (10-8-08)

"The U.S. Federal Reserve led a coordinated round of global official rate cuts on Wednesday, easing by a half percentage-point, as did the European Central Bank, Bank of England and Swiss, Canadian and Swedish central banks. In an attempt to stem unprecedented global market turmoil, the Fed cut its key federal funds lending rate by half a percentage point to 1.5 percent and also lowered its discount rate by the same amount to 1.75 percent."

Business Week - "IndyMac's Fast-Track Mortgage Modification Program" (10-8-08)

"Officials from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have moved quickly to tackle the 60,000 delinquent mortgages in IndyMac's 742,000-loan portfolio. In late August letters went out to 7,500 distressed borrowers, offering new terms. IndyMac says those taking part have seen their monthly payments lowered by $430, on average."

Bloomberg - "Morgan Stanley Can Avoid Borrowing Until Summer, Analysts Say" (10-8-08)

"Morgan Stanley doesn't need to issue debt in the bond market until the third quarter of next year, letting it withstand the current jump in its borrowing costs, according to analysts at UBS AG and Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. The cost of credit-default swap protection for Morgan Stanley's debt rose to a record this week and the company's $4.5 billion of 6.625 percent 10-year notes are trading at 66 cents on the dollar to yield 13 percent. That has fueled concern the New York-based firm won't be able to finance its business."

Bloomberg - "Subprime Devastation Retraces Path of S&L Crisis in U.S. States" (10-8-08)

"The $700 billion bailout of Wall Street's subprime-tainted securities harkens back to the real- estate bets that sparked the savings and loan crisis in the 1980s. The geography's the same, too.
Then, as now, the government created a taxpayer-funded enterprise to absorb the fallout from bad real-estate investments. A Bloomberg map of the hardest-hit areas shows that, with the exception of Nevada, regions with the highest foreclosure rates also had the most savings-and-loan failures, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp."

Bloomberg - "Wells Fargo May Get Most of Wachovia in Negotiations" (10-8-08)

"Wachovia Corp. is bracing for a split that may give most of the bank to Wells Fargo & Co. with Citigroup Inc. taking the rest, as regulators prod the suitors to end their takeover fight, two people briefed on the talks said. Citigroup and Wells Fargo are competing for control of Wachovia's $448 billion of deposits in 21 states. Citigroup offered $2.16 billion last week for the banking operations, and Wells Fargo, based in San Francisco, trumped that by bidding about $15 billion for the whole company. The banks agreed Oct. 6 to halt the ensuing court battle for two days while regulators tried to broker a compromise."

Bloomberg - "Lower Mortgage Rates May Be Silver Lining in Turmoil" (10-8-08)

"There are few silver linings for consumers who have seen the Standard & Poor's 500 Index drop more than 30 percent this year. Lower mortgage rates may be one of them. A nationwide survey of consumer credit rates showed 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.8 percent yesterday, according to Bankrate.com. Rates were 6.26 percent on Aug. 29 and also July 31, in the same survey. Home-loan applications rose 2.2 percent last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association and purchases were at a six-year low the previous week."