Wow, a lot of headlines for this week!
Yellen hints rate hike is possible around mid-2015
WASHINGTON • Janet Yellen tried at her first news conference as Federal Reserve chair to clarify a question that's consumed investors: When will the Fed start raising short-term interest rates from record lows?
Yellen stressed that with the job market still weak, the Fed intends to keep short-term rates near zero for a "considerable" time and would raise them only gradually. And she said the Fed wouldn't be dictated solely by the unemployment rate, which Yellen feels overstates the health of the job market and the economy.
Those points reinforced a message the Fed delivered in a policy statement after ending a two-day meeting Wednesday. The statement said that even after it raises short-term rates, and even after the job market strengthens and inflation increases, the Fed expects its benchmark short-term rate to stay unusually low.
But Yellen appeared to jolt investors when she tried to clarify the Fed's timetable for raising short-term rates. She suggested that the Fed could start six months after it halts its monthly bond purchases, which most economists expect by year's end. That would mean short-term rates could rise by mid-2015.
http://www.stltoday.com
Study: Borrowers paying mortgages ahead of credit cards
LOS ANGELES • When it comes to paying the bills, the mortgage is once again more of a priority for many U.S. homeowners than their credit cards.
That's the conclusion of a study released Wednesday by credit reporting agency TransUnion, which examined about a decade's worth of U.S. consumers' payment data.
http://www.stltoday.com
HELOC Resets Could Force Lenders to Rework Loans Once Again
As home equity lines of credit hit the five-year mark and borrowers have to start repaying principal, lenders might have to modify these second liens to avert defaults.
Inventory of homes for sale soars 10 percent in February from a year ago -
Rising home prices are bolstering seller confidence, fueling rapid growth in the number of homes for sale in many markets in February, according to a report issued by realtor.com today.
Median list prices were up 7.6 percent from a year ago in February, to $199,000, and the inventory of homes for sale rose 10.1 percent, to 1.74 million. In other words, there were 160,000 more homes for sale than the same time a year ago.
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