Morning Report - Dodd-Frank implementation stalled

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change	Percent
S&P Futures	1652.4	7.7	0.32%
Eurostoxx Index	2837.6	1.8	0.06%
Oil (WTI)	108.8	-0.2	-0.21%
LIBOR	0.264	0.001	0.34%
US Dollar Index (DXY)	81.26	0.076	0.09%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.82%	0.03%
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	103.03	-0.6
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	102.9	-0.3
RPX Composite Real Estate Index	200.7	-0.2
BankRate 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	4.59

Markets are higher this morning after some good retail earnings and the Chicago Fed National Activity Index rose slightly to -.15. Bonds and MBS are rallying.

President Obama met with various regulators regarding Dodd-Frank yesterday, and stressed the need to prevent another crisis from happening, and also to make sure the housing finance system "that better serves middle class families" (whatever that means). Sounds like more of the same "Slug the lenders harder - maybe they'll finally take some risk." thought process going on.

Another good data point on the housing recovery - good earnings from the Despot. Comps up 11.4%, which is pretty impressive.

Cool real estate price "heat map" courtesy of the NY Fed.  The West is the Best. 

Unemployment is rising in more than half the states and fewer states are adding jobs. The labor market may be losing some steam