Secondary Market

Elizabeth Warren is moving closer to confirming her 2012 Senate bid. The controversial professor-turned-politico took formal, exploratory actions in Massachusetts recently, indicating that Warren's rumored plans to run for office are more than speculation. Officially developing an exploratory campaign committee, Warren has also initiated a donation website, elizabethforma.com, and she seems to be the likely liberal candidate vying to unseat Republican Sen. Scott Brown next November.

Outrigger Hotels and Resorts has new ownership, following the closing of Prudential Mortgage Capital Company├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós $137.8 million acquisition of the hospitality entity. Prudential Mortgage provided the major, seven-year fixed-rate mortgage loan on behalf of Prudential├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós general account.

Spurred by ongoing fears about a global economic slowdown and the spreading European debt contagion, the Dow Jones Industrial Average replayed the daytime drama previously seen last week by plunging by over 400 points. As before, the nosedive crashed a party exclusive to mortgage banks and homebuilding companies, gutting their stocks and closing shares at new lows. Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo saw their stocks drop, mirroring sharp losses for Beazer Homes, D.R. Horton, KBH Homes, and Lennar Corp.

Dashing hopes for a more moderate fall, existing-home sales rolled downhill by 3.5 percent in July, with single-family sales hitting a seasonally adjusted 4.67-million annual rate. The National Association of Realtors ascribed the new numbers to tight underwriting practices, a crimped credit supply, and sluggish job creation. The NAR, which released an existing-home sales report Thursday, held that single-family townhomes, condominiums, and coops dropped from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.84 million units over June.

Mortgage rates slammed into a 50-plus-year low Thursday, reflecting continuing concerns over European sovereign debt crises, the potential for defaults overseas, and an overall economic slowdown. Mortgage giant Freddie Mac posted a 4.15-percent average for 30-year fixed-rate loans, racing past the record 4.17-percent drop it registered in 2010. Citing the same reasons for new lows, Bankrate followed suit by revealing declines in fixed-rate mortgages for a third straight week. The rates continue on fears of a recession.

If two professors at Columbia Business School have anything to say about it, 30 million homeowners across the country would refinance their mortgages and stabilize the lagging housing market in the process. The duo recently proposed the refi boom in a paper that aimed to prop up sagging home prices and accelerate job growth nationally. The academes, R. Glenn Hubbard and Chris Mayer, propose reducing mortgage rates by about one percent to encourage a boost in home prices and the housing recovery.

Standard & Poor's debt downgrades rubbed salt in U.S. wounds over a dysfunctional political system, but now it may be the ratings agency's turn to blink in the negative spotlight. A New York Times story alleges that the federal government plans to investigate whether S&P played fast and loose with ratings for mortgage-backed securities before the Great Recession. According to the Times, the Justice Department has undertaken an investigation to determine whether S&P gave insufficient attention to the now infamous financial products.

Mortgage applications jumped by 4.1 percent this week, up from one week earlier, reflecting rock bottom for 15-year fixed-rate loans and unsure homebuyers still eager to refinance. Meanwhile, home purchases fell, according to a weekly survey made public by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Good for mortgage rates, the low numbers persist in driving few homebuyers back to a jumpy and uncertain market. Contract rates for 15-year loans fell hit rock bottom for the first time in the history of the survey.

MortgageFlex Systems, Inc. has added a new client to its admirable roster, recently signing Guardian Mortgage Company, Inc. to enhance its origination processing requirements and streamline communications.

Van Eck Global is enhancing its product offerings, recently debuting its Market Vectors Mortgage REIT Income exchange-traded fund, dubbed MORT in company lingo. The new program will give users play exposure to REITs.