Mortgage rates continue to remain at their current low levels, which is a huge benefit to consumers, as the economy continues to show more and more signs of recovery strength.  Retail Sales posted a 0.5% increase last month. Removing volatile auto and energy elements revealed a core increase of 0.6% for the month.  Freddie and [...]

Last week, the Federal Reserve took center stage by raising its discount rate; the rate at which banks can borrow money directly from the Federal Reserve.  While this move has very little immediate impact, the increase was widely viewed as a symbolic first step in beginning to remove the emergency measures put into place during [...]

According to comments this last weekend by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the risk that the economy will slip back into recession is lower now than at any time in the past year.  While the probability of a “double-dip recession” may be unlikely, Geithner believes the current recovery is likely to be very uneven.  Some evidence [...]

While last week had some economic data released, non-market events seemed to dominate.  Fed Chair Bernanke was reconfirmed by the Senate, but with the smallest number of votes in the Fed’s history.  This may foreshadow some interesting battles ahead for monetary management in the US in coming months.  The Fed also met, leaving interest rates [...]