Update #2/ Week of April 12, 2010

Good Morning Everyone and Happy Tuesday! Well, as promised, we are on a wild ride this morning on Wall Street. Alcoa reported earnings after the bell last night and even though they hit the 10 cents a share figure expected, their revenues were off quite a bit. Immediately after the earnings were released, a UBS analysts downgraded the stock. This news flowed into this morning’s opening bell as the Dow dropped almost 60 points right out of the gate. Credit markets responded favorably to the drop in equities and it appeared we were going to have another good day in bond land. However, equity markets have rebounded, and credit markets are holding their own.

Also, not helping the stock market this morning was the release of the February trade deficit which came in a $39.7 Billion . . . quite a bit worse than the $37.0B from last month. Analysts were looking for a number like $38.5B, so this didn’t help the mood on Wall Street. Attention turns now to earning report to be released by Intel after the bell today. There’s a busy day of economic reports tomorrow with Retail Sales being released, CPI and earnings report from JPMorgan Chase. The Volatility Index has spiked today – up 6.9% this session alone. More than a billion shares have already been traded on the NASDAQ . . . this is going to be a fun week!

Several of our investors re priced for the better yesterday afternoon, and that trend continues into this morning’s pricing. Take a look at the 30 year fixed product for conforming . . . we have (.501) rebate at 4.875% . . . nearly a 3.00 rebate at 5.375 (for N/O/O)! Nice! The Confumbo 30 year fixed product is sporting a rebate at 5% . . . question is, will this continue to be a trend? More than likely, but still, seems like a good day to lock to me. If you’d like to, please email me and let me know your lock is coming over.

I will be in the office all day as long as there are locks to be completed. I may be heading out this afternoon to go visit accounts. Call me on my cell if I can help you out in any way. Have a terrific Tuesday!