What We're Hearing

It's all about Europe, isn't it? The stock market tanked in May and began what looked like a nasty skid Tuesday morning only to turn positive. The yield on the 10-year Treasury is at 3.28% and I'll repeat what I've been saying for several months: I don't see interest rates, the mortgage variety in particular, going anywhere this year. Investors will continue to buy U.S. Treasuries because there appears to be a (somewhat) widely held belief that the U.S. government will do whatever it takes to save our economy. And if employment comes back, the home buying outlook could be quite decent. Then again, this morning computer giant Hewlett Packard said it would cut 9,000 jobs. That's potentially 9,000 workers with a mortgage, though if you multiply the jobs number by the U.S. home ownership rate of 65% it comes to a mere 5,850. HAMP servicers, start your engines...