Recent Updates
- US: Consumer Sentiment (Feb-final), Chicago PMI (Feb),Personal Income, Adv Trade & Inventories (Jan)
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- Canada: Industrial Product Prices (Jan)
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Economy in Brief
Chicago Business Barometer Declines Sharply in February
The ISM-Chicago Purchasing Managers Business Barometer fell 4.3 points in February to 59.5...
Goods Trade Deficit Widened Slightly in January
The advance estimate of the U.S. trade deficit in goods widened slightly to $83.74 billion in January..
Japan's Industrial Sector Mounts a Comeback
Japan's IP surged in January gaining 4.3% compared to December...
Aircraft Orders Boost U.S. Durable Goods Orders in January
Manufacturers' orders for durable goods increased a much larger-than-expected 3.4% m/m (4.5% y/y) in January...
Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index Increases Again in February
The Kansas City Fed reported that its manufacturing sector business activity index rose to 24 in February...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller March 23, 2005
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage applications dropped 9.5% last week and pulled the average level in March 4.1% below February.
Applications to refinance plummeted 16.5% leaving the February average off 13.5% from February.
Purchase applications fell for the first week in the last four. The 3.5% decline still left purchase applications 5.1% higher than in February.
The effective interest rate on a conventional 30-year mortgage rose to 6.19% from 6.16% the prior week and from 5.85% in February. The effective rate on a 15-year mortgage also rose to 5.81%.
The Mortgage Bankers Association surveys between 20 to 35 of the top lenders in the U.S. housing industry to derive its refinance, purchase and market indexes. The weekly survey accounts for more than 40% of all applications processed each week by mortgage lenders. Visit the Mortgage Bankers Association site here.
| MBA Mortgage Applications (3/16/90=100) | 03/18/05 | 03/11/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Market Index | 658.8 | 727.6 | -40.9% | 735.1 | 1,067.9 | 799.7 |
| Purchase | 446.4 | 462.8 | -0.6% | 454.5 | 395.1 | 354.7 |
| Refinancing | 1,894.4 | 2,267.5 | -62.0% | 2,366.8 | 4,981.8 | 3,388.0 |
