Government

September marks the one-year anniversary of the opening of Mortgage Contracting Services' (MCS) operation center in Ruston, Louisiana--and the company already has plenty to celebrate for the occasion.

Led by the strongest gain for single-family construction this, year, the pace of housing starts edged up 0.9 percent in August, the Census Bureau and HUD reported Wednesday. Builders broke ground in August on new homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 891,000--up from a revised 883,000 in July--and filed for permits at the seasonally adjusted annual rate of 918,000, down from 954,000 in July. The gain in both single-family permits and starts came amid signs of improving builder confidence.

President Obama spoke to the nation Monday--one day after the five-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse that kicked off the financial crisis--to tout the progress the country has made and to urge Republicans to action as a potential government shutdown looms. The president wasn't the only one to speak--other current and former government officials and analysts offered their own commentary on the country's circumstances, and not all of it was charitable.

The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI) stalled at 58 in September, unchanged from August's downwardly revised reading, the group reported.

Carrington Mortgage Services' lending division announced the appointment of Kathy Keller as branch manager for its Springfield, Virginia, office.

Redfin reported another slip in homebuyer demand in August, with both home tours and offers declining.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment fell to a five-month low of 76.8 in September's preliminary report, spelling a potentially weak third quarter for consumption growth. The decline in overall sentiment was largely due to a drop in the Expectations Index, which measures consumer confidence for the next six months. That index fell to an eight-month low of 67.2. Meanwhile, the Current Conditions Index fell to 91.8.

Mari Mahoney has joined Opes Advisors as a mortgage advisor in the firm's Pleasanton, California, location.

The FDIC announced Friday the closure of two more banks--including Connecticut's first collapse in more than a decade--bringing this year's failure tally to 22 so far.

In Virginia, Genworth announced the election of Melina E. Higgins to serve as a new independent director on the company's board.