WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that it has charged the co-owners of a Philadelphia condominium apartment, and their tenant, with unlawful discrimination in refusing to rent to families with children. HUD alleges that the owners and the tenant violated the Fair Housing Act when the tenant posted an advertisement on craigslist.com, stating “No dogs or children,” and subsequently refused to rent to a tester posing as an applicant with a child.
Despite opening higher after a weekly labor report beat expectations, markets are in the red for a second consecutive day as retailers post lower results than anticipated.
Just before 11:30 am, the Nasdaq was leading the decline with a 0.24% fall to 1,988, closely followed by a 0.14% downturn in the S&P 500 to 1,002. The Dow, by contrast, has rebounded from earlier falls and stands 0.01% higher at 9,282.
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After two weeks of modest increases, mortgage rates drifted down during the week ended August 6 according to results of Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey released on Thursday. Fannie Mae rates also decreased during the week.
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James B. Lockhart, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced on Thursday that he is leaving the agency. Mr. Lockhart has been director since May, 2006 and will be succeeded in an acting capacity by the deputy director Edward DeMarco….(read more)
The only major data coming out today is the weekly jobless claims report, a survey that hasn’t been too reliable recently due to seasonal adjustment issues owing to earlier lay-offs in the auto sector. This week those issues should be non-existent, and with little other data to look at one day ahead of the official employment figures for July, there could be extra emphasis on those numbers….(read more)
"TAYLOR, BEAN & WHITAKER MORTGAGE CORP. (“TBW”) RECEIVED NOTIFICATION ON AUGUST 4, 2009 FROM THE U.S DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, FREDDIE MAC AND GINNIE MAE (THE “AGENCIES”) THAT IT WAS BEING TERMINATED AND/OR SUSPENDED AS AN APPROVED SELLER AND/OR SERVICER FOR EACH OF THOSE RESPECTIVE FEDERAL AGENCIES. TBW HAS UNSUCCESSFULLY SOUGHT TO HAVE THE TERMINATION/SUSPENSION DECISIONS OF EACH OF THOSE AGENCIES REVERSED. AS A RESULT OF THESE ACTIONS, TBW MUST CEASE ALL ORIGINATION OPERATIONS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. REGRETTABLY, TBW WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CLOSE OR FUND ANY MORTGAGE LOANS CURRENTLY PENDING IN ITS PIPELINE. TBW IS COOPERATING WITH EACH OF THE AGENCIES WITH RESPECT TO ITS SERVICING OPERATIONS AND EXPECTS TO CONTINUE TO SERVICE MORTGAGE LOANS AS IT RESTRUCTURES ITS BUSINESS IN THE WAKE OF THESE EVENTS. WE UNDERSTAND THAT THIS COULD HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON OUR VALUED EMPLOYEES, CUSTOMERS AND COUNTERPARTIES, AND ARE VERY DISAPPOINTED THAT A LESS DRASTIC OPTION IS UNAVAILABLE."…(read more)
Markets opened lower Wednesday after two labor reports before the bell were softer than expected, and when another report on the services sector failed to meet the consensus forecast at 10 am, and the sell-off extended.
The S&P 500, which crossed the 1,000 mark for the first time since October on Monday, has shrunk 0.81% to 997 in the first half of trading today. Worse, the Nasdaq shed 1.43% to 1,982, and the Dow lost 0.91% to 9,235….(read more)
News from the labor market dominates the data front for the next few days, beginning with the ADP private employment report early this morning.
The survey, just released, indicated that 371k private jobs were lost in July, a harsher figure than the -300k median forecast, but an improvement from the -473k print in June….(read more)
National mortgage rates moderated in the week ending July 31, spurring demand for new loans after a slump in the previous week, according to a weekly industry survey.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said average rates for a 30-year mortgage fell from 5.36% to 5.17% last week, their lowest level since the first week of July. The decline in rates helped refinance-related loans jump 7.2% in the week, leading the Market Composite Index ― which tracks the volume of mortgage applications ― to advance 4.4% in the week…(read more)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Ron Sims today visited Cedar Gateway Developments in San Diego, CA, an affordable housing development that was under construction but came to a halt last March due to the loss of tax credit funding. HUD Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP) funding, provided through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), will now allow the project’s construction to restart in November, along with thousands of others throughout the country, creating quality jobs in the hard-hit construction industry.