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Speaking in a Bloomberg Television interview, noted
hawk Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Chuck
Plosser said the Fed may have to hike rates even as housing
prices continue to fall.
Plosser commented that the economy has not changed much in the last
few months and that rising prices pose the biggest challenge to the
economy. Plosser noted that…
Economic conditions across the U.S. "slowed somewhat," according to
the Fed's Beige Book on Wednesday. Five of the 12
districts were said to have weakened since the last report six weeks ago,
while Chicago's economy was "sluggish" and growth in Kansas City had
moderated. The remaining three districts saw slight increases in
activity.
Residential real estate markets "remained sluggish in
a majority of districts," the report said, with residential real estate
lending and consumer lending showing more weakness than commercial
lending.
Although he is not pleased with some parts of the
housing bill, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said
it was easy for him to recommend to President George W. Bush to sign a
housing rescue package into law on Wednesday.
Rates for both short- and long-term mortgages tumbled last week
according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released the results of its
Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ended
July 18 on Wednesday. Mortgage activity as measured by the volume of loan
applications…
