Morning Report - Meet Jonathon Gruber

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change	Percent
S&P Futures	2034.6	0.5	0.02%
Eurostoxx Index	3055.1	-1.7	-0.06%
Oil (WTI)	74.78	0.6	0.77%
LIBOR	0.233	0.000	0.00%
US Dollar Index (DXY)	88.21	0.537	0.61%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.36%	0.02%
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	104.3	-0.1
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	103.2	-0.1
BankRate 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	4.04

Stocks are flat this morning on no real news. Bonds and MBS are down.

Retail Sales came in strong during October, rising .3% (up.6% ex autos and gas). Retail Sales have been volatile lately, but this is certainly good news for the retailers. 

Mortgage Delinquencies fell to 5.85% in the third quarter and foreclosures fell to 2.39%. 

The University of Michigan Consumer Confidence Index rose to 89.4 from 86.9 last month. This is mainly due to the drop in gasoline prices, which is what these consumer confidence indices really reflect. 

Import Prices fell 1.3% as the energy prices fell. The dollar rally has affected commodity prices in general, which does give the Fed room to maneuver if they want to maintain low rates. 

The drop in energy prices is spurring M&A activity in the oil patch. Halliburton and Baker Hughes are in talks regarding a deal. 

It is good to be Bill Gross. He got a bonus of $290 million last year. Mohammed El Arian got $230 million.

Obama has a new thorn in his side - a MIT economist named Jonathon Gruber who made some candid comments on the Administration's thinking during the health care debate. Specifically, they relied on obfuscation and the general "stupidity" of the American voter to get it through. He also confessed that the "bending the cost curve" part of obamacare was simply a way to market the law to the American People and the law never intended to do that. Obamacare has never been all that popular to begin with, and this adds fuel to the fire. Given the rocky start between Republicans and Obama after the election, the politics could be interesting if the SC rules the law says what the law says and states that didn't set up exchanges are ineligible for Medicaid subsidies. Note that Republicans truly dominate at the state levels.