What We're Hearing

It appears that PennyMac chief Stanford Kurland is buying shares of his company on the open market. For the full story see the National Mortgage News website later today for the full story. Meanwhile, with the Thanksgiving holiday upon us the economic "recovery" is beginning to look not quite like a turkey, but maybe a baby chick -- as in: will this small fluffy creature make it to adulthood and become something. (Sorry but it's the only analogy I could come up with at press time.) Here's a few not-so-positive economic indicators: a lackluster consumer confidence report; a retroactively reduced GDP number; and the FDIC's list of "problem" institutions jumping 33% to 552 in the third quarter with assets at those banks totaling $346 billion. Then again, mortgage rates are low and likely will stay that way forever, and "used" home sales are up. And we still have that nice $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit. You decide...