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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ramsey Su who wrote (15043)	6/8/2004 7:46:14 PM
From: zebra4o1	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

Russian rates soar on bank risk fears How is this for a triggering event: news.ft.com Russian rates soar on bank risk fears Banks are limiting their lending to each other due to uncertainty about the central bank's efforts to clean up the system, writes Päivi Munter Russian interbank interest rates soared and the domestic bond market ground to a halt on Tuesday, hit by continued uncertainty about the central bank's next move in its quest to clean up the banking system. Overnight interest rates breached 20 per cent at one point, compared with a recent norm of 2 to 3 per cent as banks limited lending to each other, fearing exposure to risky counterparties. Secondary market trading in rouble-denominated bonds was reduced to a trickle, as rumours about the next target of banking-sector investigations made for a wary market. In the first move of its kind, the central bank recently revoked the licence of Sodbiznesbank, a small retail institution, under new money-laundering regulations. Fears of a wider crackdown spread after KreditTrust, another Russian bank, on Friday said that it was seeking liquidation, although it later reversed its plan.

To: Ramsey Su who wrote (15043)	6/9/2004 9:19:00 AM
From: russwinter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

You have to go back to 2000 to find a lower refi number. Purchase index still robust as is the use of ARMs. WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 9, 2004)—The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 4. The Market Composite Index of mortgage loan applications-a measure of mortgage loan applications for purchases and refinancings-decreased by 8.9 percent to 568.8 on a seasonally adjusted basis from 624.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased by 18.5 percent compared with last week and was down 68.0 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. The MBA seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased by 6.0 percent to 432.2 from 459.8 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Refinance Index decreased by 13.9 percent to 1363.2 from 1583.6 one week earlier. The Refinance Index is down 86.3 percent from the record high of 9977.8 set exactly one year ago. Other seasonally adjusted index activity included the Conventional Index, which decreased 8.4 percent to 827.8 from 904.0 the previous week. The Government Index decreased 13.9 percent to 136.4 from 158.5 the previous week. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 32.6 percent of total applications from 34.3 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 34.6 percent of total applications from 33.9 percent the previous week. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.25 percent from 6.24 percent from one week earlier, with points increasing to 1.41 from 1.35 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.63 percent from 5.59 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 1.36 from 1.38 the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 3.94 percent from 3.85 percent one week earlier, with points decreasing to 1.00 from 1.03 from the previous week (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.