News
Market Watch | 30-year mortgage rate falls to 3.43%
The average rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 3.43% in the week ending April 11 from 3.54% in the prior week, Freddie Mac said Thursday in its weekly report.
Washington Times | Standard & Poor’s 500 climbs to an all-time high
Stocks rose sharply on Wall Street on Wednesday, pushing the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to an all-time high.
Bloomberg | Gain for Highest Earners Helps Bolster U.S. Consumer Confidence
Confidence among U.S. consumers was little changed last week as gains for top earners helped overcome growing pessimism at the other end of the income scale.
CNBC | Immigration Reform: What's It Going to Cost?
One argument that helped bury immigration reform in 2006—after much debate, Congress failed to pass a final bill—was that it would inflict too heavy a burden on the U.S. economy.
Washington Times | Gas prices expected to stay low this summer
Gasoline prices this summer will be the lowest in three years as people drive less and use more fuel-efficient cars, the U.S. Energy Information Administration is predicting.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | The Obama Price Index
President Obama is said to be trying to lure Republicans into another grand bargain by including a proposal in his 2014 budget that would slightly slow the growth of Social Security and other federal benefits. But he's also telling the Democrats going bonkers about slashing Social Security not to worry, the cuts aren't drastic and barely noticeable.
Businessweek | Cheap Mortgages Are Hiding the Truth About Home Prices
At first blush, home buying looks quite affordable right now. New data from real estate website Zillow (Z) show that if a person earning the median income of $52,513 buys a home at the median price of $157,400, he would spend just 12.6 percent of his income on mortgage payments. That’s more than one-third less than the prebubble averages, when a mortgage on a median-priced home would cost about 20 percent of a median income.
