Weekly Market Preview

Last Week:

As we noted a couple of weeks ago, market volatility in both financial bourses (stocks and bonds) would be high. Thin markets this time of year added to the increasing view that the economy is turning better are making price movements from day to day rather extreme, especially in the bond and mortgage markets. Last week was the kind of market that can whip-saw even the best. Early last week (Monday, Tuesday) mortgage rates fell, pushed up by the decline in yield on the 10 yr note. By Wednesday it was over, mortgages closed a little lower (price); on Thursday prices fell hard, Friday ended about unchanged. The bottom line; on the week there was almost no change in interest rates. Weekly jobless claims increased but that was expected, June existing home sales were better than expected.

This Week:

Expect more market volatility. The most impacting for rate markets this week is supply; Treasury will auction (borrow) $115B in notes with auctions everyday but Friday. Economic releases last week were few, this week the calendar has June new home sales, consumer confidence index, June durable goods orders, and the first look at Q2 GDP on Friday. GDP is reported three times; the advance report (tomorrow) a month later the preliminary report, and a month after that the final report. With Treasury supply pushing against bond and mortgage prices, if the preponderance of economic releases continues to fuel the stock market, interest rates will increase. Always looking for an opportunity to profit from price improvements, yet only when we believe the odds are well in our favor; this week will be one where we won’t want to take on much risk. Have a nice week!

Brad Louden Banner

Hello everyone,

We just got back from Yosemite last night so I was not able to post this weekly mortgage market commentary yesterday.  Anyway, here it is.  I hope you all had a nice weekend and here’s wishing you a great week ahead.

This week, like last, will be about the equity markets and whether they continue to rally. Last week’s stock market rally was mostly about short-covering—-forcing the bears to capitulate and run for the doors. The volume last week was not broad; there are still many that don’t buy into the idea the recession is over. Not much on the economic calendar until Thursday and Friday; weekly jobless claims on Thursday along with June existing home sales, Friday the U. of Michigan consumer sentiment index. Bernanke speaks on Tuesday and Wednesday at 10:00. The rubber meets the road for bond markets on Thursday when Treasury will release the amounts for the following week’s 2 yr, 5 yr and 7 yr note auctions. Last month Treasury auctioned a total of $104B in the three offerings and saw extremely strong demand. Selling in equities, if it occurs early this week may bounce mortgage prices but won’t change the not-so-favorable near term outlook as long as optimism continues on recession ending soon.

If you are searching for a good discount on Bonfante / Gilroy Gardens one day passes / tickets, you may just be in luck as I have a few available.  The one day pass is for $22 which is the lowest price online that I know of. Regular tickets are as much as $42.99 so you save $21 off each ticket.

Tree Top Sprayground™

Tree Top Sprayground™ - This 18-foot tall, 12-foot diameter Basket Circus Tree replica is a circus treehouse filled with approximately 15 platforms that twist up inside the tree structure of cascading water fun! Kids can climb to a deck, located 13-feet high inside the trunk, where they feel like they are in the middle of a noisy rain storm as they board a 17-foot long dry slide that sends them swinging around the perimeter of the tree!

My family and another family who’s a good friend of my wife and I,  just went to Gilroy Gardens (also known as Bonfante Gardens) for the first time last week.  We came with 2 kids, our son who is almost 3, and our friends’ daughter who is 1.5 years old.

When we first heard about  Gilroy Gardens, we didn’t know much about it.  Our initial impression from it’s name was that this place would only appeal to garden lovers so we didn’t think our son would enjoy it.  As it turned out, it’s a mix of family theme park and horticulture!  Truly the best of both worlds.

It was B-E-A-U-tiful. The park rides were  landscaped around majestic gardens, amazing trees & foliage and water features and rock formations.  It has over 40 rides and attractions that the young and old would enjoy.

We were there for about 5 hrs, and it wasn’t enough to get to all the rides and attractions.

I personally recommend this place for families with younger kids (under 5), as the rides are pretty tame, and for anyone who is fascinated with horticulture.  I suggest you try to leave early and check the weather, as it can get pretty hot.

What’s the Weather like in Gilroy Gardens, CA?

You may purchase Bonfante / Gilroy Gardens tickets at a discount for $22 if you’re paying with cash.

If you wish to use credit/debit card or Paypal, you may purchase each ticket for 24.95 by clicking on the Buy It Now Button below.

You will be taken to BeautifullyGifted’s paypal page, which is a secure payment page.

FREE Shipping* within the Continental US.  Ticket has No unusual restrictions. It works just like a regular one-day pass that is directly purchased from Gilroy Gardens.  Just present at the gate and go!

*FREE USPS  First Class Shipping within the Continental US.  If you wish for it to be mailed via insured mail, pls add $2.50 to the total. Pls note that you will receive an actual ticket in the mail. These are real tickets/passes, each with a unique barcode. These are not printed off the internet, which are mostly coupons. Each is good for a One day pass at Gilroy Gardens, just present it at the gate and go! As it is not a coupon, it would be all you need for a one-day pass and not a cent more.

The tickets are available for immediate pick up.  Pickup either in Dublin or Pleasanton (Monday thru Sat) or Fremont (only on Sunday mornings)

Quantity (Max 4 per order)

Option 1 $24.95 Option 2 $49.90 Option 3 $74.85 Option 4 $99.80

I invite you to share your favorite ride/attraction at Gilroy Gardens and / or any tip  for our readers to enjoy.

Please leave a reply by clicking on the comments button on the upper right hand corner above this post.

The above is made available to you in this Mortgage Blog by San Francisco Bay Area’s Premier Mortgage Broker, Brad Louden.

If you are on this page, you may have most likely encountered a broken link, or a technical issue regarding navigating the website.  Or you may simply wish to contact me about anything by commenting on this blog.

If it is the former, I truly apologize for the inconvenience, and I thank you for taking the time to report the problem.

This is my first attempt in creating a website and blog, and as in most things new, this is a work in progress.

So please feel free to let me know what’s on your mind by commenting on this blog.  Thanks for stopping by!

Oh, and if you need a home loan / mortgage professional specializing in the San Francisco (SF) Bay Area, please feel free to Contact Me as well.  This website may be a work in progress, but my experience in Real Estate is hardly new, having been in the real estate business for 16 years.  Nevertheless, I am in the constant pursuit of excellence, so you could say I’m always a work in progress.

Please click on San Francisco Bay Area’s Premier Mortgage Broker page if you wish to know a little bit more about me.

Thanks for stopping by!

Brad Louden

Weekly Edition - Monday, July 13th, 2009

Weekly Market Preview:

Last week was a very good one for the interest rate markets. The 10 yr yield declined 20 basis points, mortgages were down about the same. The wasn’t much in the way of economic data to focus on; what there was presented a mixed picture. Weekly jobless claims fell 52K to under 600K for the first time in months (565K); it was however somewhat dismissed by traders as the seasonal factors of auto worker layoffs and the 4th of July holiday on the 3rd distorted the data. Continuing claims continued to increase to a new record of 6.883 mil, increasing continuing claims is evidence there are no new hirings. The other data of interest; the U. of Michigan consumer sentiment index plunged for the first time since Feb to 64.6 frm 70.8 and the yr ahead outlook continued to fall, from 75 a month ago to 63. All point to no economic rebound as most analysts and economists are believing.

This week; economic data will be the focus; no more Treasury supply to worry about for two weeks. Nothing much on Monday, but each day thereafter has meat. Tuesday June PPI and June retail sales; PPI isn’t much to be concerned about as inflation fears have deteriorated recently, retail sales however will be closely watched as a measurement of spending. Wednesday June CPI, again not too concerning; Wednesday also brings measurements on industrial production and factory usage. Factory use (Capacity Utilization) is at historic lows, anymore decline will cement the idea of a speedy economic rebound.

Thursday has weekly jobless claims, we expect claims to jump substantially from last week’s decline. Also Thursday another report on the business sector with the July Philadelphia Fed business index. Friday June housing starts and permits; with housing at the core of any immediate economic rebound markets will key on it. However, housing starts and permits won’t show much improvement, if any at all.

Technically the bond and mortgage markets booth have positive readings and will likely continue. Our immediate concern is that the 10 yr not and mortgages may be settling into a trading range; between 3.25% and 3.50% on the 10 yr note (Friday’s close 3.30%) and mortgage in their 30 to 50 basis point range

To subscribe to my mortgage commentary, CONTACT ME, or merely subscribe to my blog.  Thank you!

The above commentary is brought to you by San Francisco Bay Area’s Premier Mortgage Broker, Brad Louden.

You might have already heard about HVCC or the Home Valuation Code of Conduct. But you might be wondering “what exactly is HVCC?” “How does it affect me?

Recently, with the issue of HVCC, I cannot imagine anyone being able to separate the question “what is the value of my home?” from the implications of HVCC.

A petition to request permanent reversal of the HVCC was created by thinkbigworksmall.com.  You can sign the petition request the permanent reversal of the HVCC here: http://www.hvccpetition.com/

Please watch the video below.

The following video is made available to you in this Mortgage Blog by San Francisco Bay Area’s Premier Mortgage Broker, Brad Louden.

Care to comment?

Click on the comments button found at the upper right corner above this post! Thanks!

Do you “get”  Twitter?

If you don’t, you’re not the only one. But hopefully, the video overview of how to use twitter will somehow help.

Just a few days ago, I signed up with Twitter.   I don’t know much about it apart from what people say about how a great social networking tool it is, so I opted to give it a try.  With my limited knowledge of Twitter right now, it seems to me that it’s a pretty shortened version of a blog.  Now this is a great advantage for people like me who are not used to blogging and thinking…”What do I have to write about now?”

My initial impression of Twitter: I don’t get it.

But I’m beginning to see the potential here.  It appears to be a quick and easy way to get and stay connected.  I just posted my second “tweet” or update, saying that I’m updating my blog and that I will be offering some money-saving coupons soon.  Short and sweet.  Just how I like it.

Anyway, for those of you who are looking for a video overview of twitter’s features, just check out the video from Howcast below.  Feel free to comment as well, and let us know how you use twitter.

And I think I should I say - for the sake of following networking principles, pls “Follow me on Twitter”

The following video is made available to you in this Mortgage Blog by San Francisco Bay Area’s Premier Mortgage Broker, Brad Louden.

Overview of Twitter Video

Want to share a tip or two on how to use Twitter?

Click on the comments button found at the upper right corner above this post! Thanks!

Want to know the features of the New Firefox 3.5? Just watch the Firefox 3.5 video I’ve embedded below.

Video showing the Features of the New Firefox 3.5

I’ve always been a fan of Mozilla Firefox. Until about 7 years ago, I’ve been using Internet Explorer as my browser. Now, I can’t say I’m a techie… I’m saying this just from experience- that for some reason, I find more crashes or frozen pages when I use Internet Explorer. I even remember having a lot of problems with unwanted pop-ups then with I.E. that wouldn’t seem to go away.

Since I switched to Firefox, everything went pretty smoothly. I believe that it’s more stable and has a lot of cool options. So once Firefox 3.5 came out, I viewed the new features and downloaded it immediately. I love especially the feature that I can save a video just like I’m saving an image. So far so good!

See for yourself. View the demo video!

The following video is made available to you in this Mortgage Blog by San Francisco Bay Area’s Premier Mortgage Broker, Brad Louden.

Want to share a tip or two on the new Firefox 3.5?

Please feel free to comment. Thanks!

Yesterday I posted some real estate / mortgage - related headlines to help my readers keep abreast of what’s going on in the real estate market.

Today, I wanted to share with you a video where you can watch the latest in news, advice and market advice from the Real Estate News Network.

Some of the covered topics include:

Real Estate Outlook
HVCC
Is a larger mortgage (over 80% financing) a money saver?
New Condo Loan Rules

Thanks for visiting. Enjoy the videos. Feel free to comment as well.

The following video is made available to you in this Mortgage Blog by San Francisco Bay Area’s Premier Mortgage Broker, Brad Louden.

Current Real Estate and Mortgage Headlines

It is important to keep abreast of what’s going on in the Real Estate & Mortgage Industry. This section aims to bring you daily headlines regarding real estate trends, mortgage hot topics, and new pertinent development in the field.

These headlines are made available to you in this Mortgage Blog by San Francisco Bay Area’s Premier Mortgage Broker, Brad Louden.

Thanks for visiting. Please check back often!