| What's backing Wall Street?
Wall Street pulled off a stunning 300-point comeback Wednesday after a global market sell-off Monday. Uncertainty permeates the stock exchange. Nobody knows which securities are backed by mortgages and which are backed by Super Bowl bets.Eli Manning leads the New York Giants into the Super Bowl a year after brother Peyton Manning did it with Indianapolis. It's amazing. Tom Cruise is having to deny rumors that his wife has been impregnated by frozen sperm belonging to Archie Manning.Shaquille O'Neal released his list of living expenses on Thursday showing that he spent $250,000 on gasoline in the last 12 months. He is so smart. He got out of real estate and into gasoline at exactly the right time.Phil Mickelson played the Buick Invitational in La Jolla despite his recurring cough. He has the same breathing problems that plague his neighbors in suburban San Diego.
Timeline of Alan Johnson donations row
Jan 24 2008 The Electoral Commission refers the issue of Mr Hain's campaign donations to the police. Mr Hain resigns. Jan 27 2008 Mr Siddiqui tells the Sunday Mirror that he donated to the Johnson campaign on behalf of his brother, a Labour official. The Electoral Commission denies it received details of donations in May. Jan 28 2008 Mr Johnson insists he is "100 per cent honest". .
Mortgage Rates Hit 30-Month Low
More bad news on the economy sent mortgage rates down for the third straight week to a 30-month low. The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell 18 basis points to 5.69% during the week ended Thursday, according to a survey by Freddie Mac (FRE - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr). A basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point. Over the past three weeks, 30-year mortgage rates have fallen by a cumulative 45 basis points. Freddie says that's the steepest three-week decline since September 2003. At this time last year, rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.23%. The news wasn't all good: Those looking to purchase a home or refinance an existing mortgage can now expect to pay origination fees and discount points of 0.5% of the total loan amount, on average.
|
