More Foreclosures
The markets are interesting today. They are not too volatile – a big change, and they are all still in their sideways trend.
In the news today…..
The number of American households threatened with losing their homes grew 24 percent in the first three months of this year and is poised to rise further as major lenders restart foreclosures after a temporary break. Nationwide, nearly 804,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice from January through March, up from about 650,000 in the same period a year earlier, RealtyTrac said last week.
The big unknown for the coming months is President Barack Obama’s plan to help up to 9 million borrowers avoid foreclosure through refinanced mortgages or modified loans. The Obama administration expects it to make a big dent in the foreclosure crisis. But it remains to be seen whether the lending industry will fully embrace the efforts, despite a promise of $75 billion in incentive payments.
As a point of reference, I can authoritatively state that the Bank of America is not embracing the Obama plan yet. It has not come out with their internal procedures on how to deal with the Obama Plan, and they don’t anticipate doing that until the last minute – that’s this October. All the hype tells you things will happen fast, but BofA isn’t moving fast.
Socialism – the UK is raising its top income tax rate from 40% to 50% starting next year. When I first moved to the UK, the top tax rate was even higher. The US readers should take this as a warning of what could (or will?) happen when it comes time to “pay the piper” for all the ridiculous spending that the current Congress is forcing down our throats.
Here are the last numbers for today:
Dow Jones 30 Industrial – 7887 (down 83 points)
10 Year Treasury Bond – 2.96% (up 0.06%)
Euro – $1.2996
Gold – $893 (up $10)
Oil – $48.85 (up $0.30)
Gasoline – $1.39 (down $0.02)