Economy - Thursday      (Investor's Business Daily)
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Investor's Business Daily - The Mortgage Bankers Association's application index fell 7.6% to 603.8 in the week ended Dec. 21, the lowest since Dec. '06, despite lower borrowing costs. Both home purchase and refi applications fell. Mortgage applications have been especially volatile in recent weeks. Fixed 30-year mortgage rates fell 8 basis points to 6.1%. One-year adjustable rates tumbled 46 basis points to a 1-month low of 6.03%.  U.S. commercial paper issuance grew by $1.2 bil in the week ended Dec. 26 to $1.785 tril, after a big decline in the previous week, the Fed said. But asset-backed paper fell by $15. ...
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Investor's Business Daily - Environment: Enough can't be said about Tony Blair's unwavering support of the U.S. in the war on terror. His position on global warming is another matter.
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Investor's Business Daily - Spain has looked good for the last month -- but it&#39;s not the sun that&#39;s powering its shine. It&#39;s the rest of Europe, analysts say.
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An employment report leads a slew of data Thursday, as investors look to rally from '08's rough start.
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Investor's Business Daily - The barbarians aren't sitting on the fence anymore. They're making leveraged buyouts.
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Investor's Business Daily - Energy companies led Chinese stocks to a record high Friday. Turnover in Hong Kong was the second-highest ever.
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Investor's Business Daily - One of the questions swirling around the global credit crisis is how it will impact private-equity deals, which ran at a record pace for much of the year.
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Investor's Business Daily - InfoSpace is a rarity in this post-dot-bomb world: an Internet company with a healthy share price and bottom line.
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Investor's Business Daily - The Mortgage Bankers Assoc.&#39;s application index rose 0.9% to 631.6 in the week ended July 13, as homeowners rushed to refinance their loans due to fears that interest rates will head higher. Homebuyer applications fell. The 4-week moving average of applications fell 0.5%, down for the 8th straight week.
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Plus: Samsung SDI swings to loss...Outstanding earnings for Apple...Xerox profits from color printers...Alltel profit, revenue rise.
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Investor's Business Daily - That annualized growth rate, unrevised from the prior estimate, is the fastest in 4 years. Exports surged and companies built up their inventories, the gov't said. But a deepening housing slump and weaker job growth has dampened the outlook for Q4, which has many economists predicting growth of 1% or less.
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Investor's Business Daily - The ABC News/Washington Post Consumer Comfort Index shot up 5 points over the last week to -7, the best in several weeks. Some 39% of respondents said now&#39;s a good time to buy, a big rise from 33% last week. Americans also were more upbeat about the economy and their own finances. Gasoline prices, which have fallen back below $3 a gallon, likely are a big factor.
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Investor's Business Daily - Market News' retail trade index bounced 3.7 points to a still-weak 41.5 in the Oct. 27 week. Readings below 50 signal more chains are reporting slowing conditions. Same-store year-on-year sales growth is very weak at 0.7%, with total sales growth at 4.1%. Income is also weak, with 43% of the sample reporting declines vs. 40% reporting gains. Retailers blamed housing woes.
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Investor's Business Daily - Despite mortgage rates hitting their highest level in almost a year, the Mortgage Bankers Association&#39;s mortgage activity index rose 1.1% to 626.2 in the week ended July 6, with applications for buying homes up 3.8%. Applications were 10.5% above year-ago levels. But the 4-week average fell 1.6% to 6.27 as homebuyers remain wary.
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Plus: IBM, Yahoo post high...AMD posts loss...Sony TV unit struggling...Nokia on upswing...Apple beats expectations.
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Investor's Business Daily - The Economic Cycle Research Institute's Weekly Leading Index, fell to 139.7 in the week ended Oct. 19 from 140.1 the prior week. Falling stock prices and the housing slump were to blame. The annualized growth rate fell to -0.5% from the prior week's -0.3%. "While economic growth will indeed slow, a recession is not likely," ECRI Managing Director Lakshman Achuthan told Reuters.
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Investor's Business Daily - Average 30-year rates fell to 6.14% from 6.18% in the prior week. The 15-year rate averaged 5.86% vs. 5.92%, while 1-year ARMs fell to 5.47% from 5.49%. Rates are at their lowest levels so far this year, Freddie Mac said, citing worries over last week's sell-off in stocks and concerns over the slowing U.S. economy.