Morning Report - Johnson Crapo gets out of Committee

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change	Percent
S&P Futures	1867.0	-0.3	-0.02%
Eurostoxx Index	3166.2	3.0	0.09%
Oil (WTI)	101.9	0.4	0.36%
LIBOR	0.229	0.003	1.22%
US Dollar Index (DXY)	80.1	0.101	0.13%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.50%	0.01%
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	106.4	-0.2
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	105.4	0.0
BankRate 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	4.16

Markets are flattish after a better than expected housings starts report. Bonds and MBS are down

Housing starts rebounded in April to a annual rate of 1.07 million, an increase of 13.2% month-over-month. Building Permits increased to 1.08 million, an 8% increase. This is still well below the historical average of 1.5 million units a year, and still a dismal number compared to pre-bust levels. 

Johnsnon - Crapo (the GSE reform bill) got out of Committee today, with all the liberals voting against it. The liberals dislike the bill because they want affordable housing mandates. Given the lack of support from liberals, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is unlikely to bring the bill to the floor. 

The National Federation of Independent Business released their small business confidence survey yesterday, showing that confidence is improving, but still below par. The two biggest problems for small business remain taxes and regulations.