From the American Bankruptcy Institute: Consumer Bankruptcy Filings Surge Past One Million During First Nine Months of 2009 Consumer bankruptcies totaled 1,046,449 filings through the first nine months of 2009 (Jan. 1-Sept. 30), the first time since ...

The MBA reports: Mortgage Applications Decrease. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 2.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.

From the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA): Delinquencies Continue to Climb, Foreclosures Flat in Latest MBA National Delinquency Survey The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties rose to a seasonally adjusted...

On a monthly basis, retail sales decreased 0.1% from June to July (seasonally adjusted), and sales are off 8.3% from July 2008 (retail ex food services decreased 9.3%). The following graph shows the year-over-year change in nominal and real retail ...

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) today suspended Taylor, Bean and Whitaker Mortgage Corporation (TBW) of Ocala, Florida, thereby preventing the Company from originating and underwriting new FHA-insured mortgages.

The DOL reports weekly unemployment insurance claims decreased to 512,000:In the week ending Oct. 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 512,000, a decrease of 20,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 532,000. The...

Repeating the errors from the S&L crisis ... Last Friday, the Chicago Tribune reported: Regulators seize FBOP banks The Park National shutdown occurred after several Illinois congressmen, including Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis and Sen. Roland...

From Diana Golobay at HousingWire: FHA Delays Yearly Fiscal Report over ‘Accuracy’ of Methodology A US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spokeswoman indicated hours before the scheduled release that the report would not be completed...

Earlier this week there was some discussion about the increase in the ISM Manufacturing employment index. ISM's Employment Index registered 53.1 percent in October, which is 6.9 percentage points higher than the 46.2 percent reported in September. This...

Some people thought that the Fed might change the "extended period" statement, or the "economic activity ... to remain weak for a time". No change to those statements. Note: I doubt the Fed will raise rates for a long time. From the Fed: Information...