Fundamentals 6/8: Bernanke Speech, Mortgage Apps

Bernanke’s speech yesterday presented a sober view of the economy. The most important line (since it is under direct control of the Fed) was “The [Federal Open Market] Committee also continues to anticipate that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate for an extended period.”

MBA Mortgage Applications:
Purchase Index – Week/Week -4.4 %
Refinance Index – Week/Week +1.3 %
Composite Index – Week/Week -0.4 %
No real news: housing market remains flat, values are soft

Consumer Credit (this is from yesterday) was +$6.3 billion for April. This was mainly driven by auto sales. Revolving credit contracted $0.9 billion as folks were using less plastic to purchase stuff.