Yesterday I posted the 3 month high surge in mortgage applications, both refinances and purchases. (Read Here.) There is a domino affect to this… banks that originate mortgages are making money.
Today Wells Fargo pre-announced it will post a net profit of $3 billion, or 55 cents a share, in the first quarter, well above the expected 23 cents. Their stock is surging 24% on the day along with Bank of America (up 19%), Citigroup (up 9%) and JP Morgan Chase (up 12%). Wow.
Wells Fargo, which will officially report on April 22, attributed the first-quarter strength to strong capital markets activities and mortgage originations. No surprise.
There was alot of economic news today. All pointing in the right direction…
1) The Labor Department said there were 654,000 new jobless claims in the week ended April 4, down slightly from an upwardly revised 674,000 the week prior and slightly better than expectations. That was the biggest drop since the beginning of the year and more than double Wall Street expectations.
2) The trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed to $26 billion in February from $36.2 billion in January. Economists hadn't predicted a month-over-month change. Exports fell 0.6%, or 0.3% factoring out agricultural products. Imports increased 0.5%, including a 10.5% increase in petroleum products.
3) There is a growing body of evidence that the economy is beginning to make a cyclical turn: Wholesale inventories fell by the largest increment on record, according to a Wednesday report, and the inventory-to-sales ratio, the most direct measure of supply and demand in the economy, showed that the latter is gradually catching up with the former. Lawrence Summers, a key economic adviser to President Barack Obama, noted at an appearance in Washington Thursday the promise of a cyclical surge in production revealed by the inventory data.
4) Retail sales data is coming in, showing the consumer is not dead. Wal-Mart reported a 1.4% rise in March sales at U.S. stores open at least a year. They expect quarterly earnings at the high end of its forecast.
We should just call my blog "the good news place". And it's getting easier and easier to find it in many housing markets throughout the country. I expect to see a huge Spring and Summer selling season than we've seen in many years. This will cause a domino affect of depleting inventory and pressuring home prices upward…. not downward! Mark my words… you will kick yourself if you don't get off the fence NOW.
It's time to stop worrying and instead ask yourself, if Alexis is right, what should you be doing right now??? I hope you have already scheduled yourself to come to Sacramento for 3 days and let us help you get your foreclosure business off the ground. If not, call Jim or Andy now… 800-310-7730 x2.
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