Free Republic

..The golden age of liquidity is drying up...Our guess is that we will see the results of this fundamental shift towards tighter money over the next decade or two... We don’t know what this portends, but yesterday Ben Bernanke slouched over to Congress. He must have worn lifts. For somehow he managed to remind the world of old Paul Volcker. We remember when the giant Paul walked the earth over at the Fed. It was a different world back then, with consumer prices rising at double-digit rates, and interest rates over 15%. But Volcker stood up and did what a...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage delinquencies slipped in the first quarter of 2004 to their lowest level in nearly four years, helped by a robust housing market and improving job conditions, a U.S. mortgage industry group said on Monday. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its measure of outstanding mortgages that were delinquent fell to 4.33 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the first quarter from 4.49 percent in the fourth quarter and 4.85 percent a year ago. The first-quarter delinquency reading is lowest since 4.11 percent for the second quarter 2000, according to a spokesman for the group....

A funny thing happened last week. Mortgage rates remained basically unchanged, inching up just 2 basis points to 5.81% from 5.79% a week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. But demand for refinance loans and purchase loans dropped. Like a rock. This was not your garden-variety drop. It was a huge plunge: Applications for refi loans sank more than 22%. Applications for purchase loans crashed 19%. Refinance applications are now down MORE THAN 75% from their late-May peak while purchase applications are at their lowest level since April. What's going on? It's pretty obvious ... * The...

U.S. mortgage demand falls in July 18 week-MBA Wednesday July 23, 7:22 am ET NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) - The Mortgage Bankers Association of America (MBA) weekly mortgage application survey for the week ending July 18. Market Composite Index (seasonally adjusted) . Latest Previous Pct 4 Weeks 1 Year . Week Week Change Ago Ago . ------------------------------------ Market Index 1284.3 1358.2 -5.4 1554.5 815.2 Purchase Index 442.4 447.2 -1.1 411.2 351.4 Refinancing Index 6181.2 6657.2 -7.2 8204.6 3512.4 Fixed-rate Index 1120.8 1203.9 -6.9 1374.4 696.4 Adjustable-rate 4706.3 4586.8 2.6 5321.2 3301.7 Conventional Market Indices (seasonally adjusted) Conventional Index 1844.1...