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Pastimes : The Justa & Lars Honors Bob Brinker Investment Club -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Justa Werkenstiff who wrote (7723)	8/13/1999 8:28:00 AM
From: Wally Mastroly	Respond to of 15132

PPI - preview survey only: quote.bloomberg.com

To: Justa Werkenstiff who wrote (7723)	8/14/1999 5:52:00 PM
From: Justa Werkenstiff	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15132

Mortgage Rates Soar to 8.15 Percent .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (Aug. 12) - The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages soared to 8.15 percent this week, reaching its highest rate in more than two years. The average was up from 7.89 percent last week, according to a weekly survey released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the mortgage company. This week's average rate on 30-year mortgages was the highest since early April 1997. Mortgages rates have been on an upward climb. So far this year, average rates on a 30-year mortgage have hit a low of 6.74 percent set at the end of January and a new high set this week. The previous record high this year of 7.89 percent was set last week. Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, averaged 7.70 percent this week, up from the average of 7.45 percent last week. On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 6.24 percent this week, also up from 6.09 percent the previous week. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points, which averaged at or just over 1 percent of the loan amount for all three types of mortgages. Freddie Mac's chief economist Robert Van Order blamed the rise in mortgage rates on investors' fears that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates for a second time. In June, the Fed nudged up rates by a quarter of a point. ''The stronger-than-expected employment report rattled markets a little last week, continuing to raise fears of action by the Federal Reserve,'' Van Order said. ''An economic climate like that generally results in higher interest rates and that is what we saw in this week's (mortgage rate survey) results,'' he said. Last week, the government reported that businesses added 310,000 new jobs to their payrolls and increased waged by a larger-than-expected amount in July. That report prompted economists to predict that the Fed would raise rates again on Aug. 24 to keep inflation at bay. Separately, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday that mortgage loan applications for the week ending Aug. 6 were down 24.1 percent compared to the same week last year.