Mortgage Stocks Soar on Slow Day

Better than expected economic news helped both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Mortgage Industry Equity Composite in Thursday’s trading. The Dow was up 16 points, while all but two MIEC stocks closed higher.

All MIEC members had lower trading volume than average (according to Yahoo Finance) as the markets get ready for Labor Day weekend.

The two losers: Hudson City Bancorp, down 1.08% (or $0.10 per share) when compared with Wednesday’s close; and Fidelity National Financial, down 0.04% (or $0.01 per share).

Leading the gainers are Radian Group, up 3.28%; Redwood Trust, up 2.62%; and MGIC Investment Corp., up 2.55%.