In The News...

Initial Jobless Claims fell by 20,000 to 478,000 but this was slightly higher than the consensus estimate of 475,000 claims. The more significant four-week moving average for claims increased by 8,250, to 482,500 reaching a seven year high.

The average price for a regular gallon of gasoline fell to $3.36 from $3.53 a week ago on evidence of falling demand. Crude inventories rose by 8.1 million barrels while gasoline stocks jumped 7.2 million barrels. The fall in gas prices followed oil prices, which have fallen to $88 down from the record high of $147.27 hit on July 11.

Ailing insurance giant AIG is getting another lifeline from the Federal Reserve in the form of $38 billion after receiving $85 billion less than a month ago. The Fed said Wednesday that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will borrow up to $37.8 billion in investment-grade, fixed-income securities from AIG in return for cash collateral.

Asian central banks followed suit today and cut their benchmark interest rates. Hong Kong cut 50bp to 2.0%, South Korea by 25bp to 5.0%, and Taiwan by 25bp to 3.25%.

Brought to you, courtesy of The Mortgage Market Guide