MBA Mortgage Applications (week ended 4/19/2013)

– Purchase Index – Week/Week +0.3%. Previous weeks were +4.0%, -1.0%, +1.0%. +7.0%. -4.0%, -3.0%, +15% and -5%.

– Refinance Index – Week/Week +0.3%. Previous weeks were +5.0%. +6.0%, -6.0%, +8.0%.,-8.0%, -5.0%, +15% and -3.0%.

– Composite Index – Week/Week +0.2%. Previous weeks were +4.8%, +4.5%, +4.0%, +7.7%, -7.1%, -4.7%. +14.8% and -3.8%.

The big gain 7 weeks ago and then the 2 weeks of loss were induced by the change in FHA policies.  I will drop those weeks from future reports.  The picture I see is of modest growth in purchase applications.  This implies that the increase in New Home Sales reported yesterday will not erode.

Durable Goods Orders (March 2013)

New Orders – Month/Month 5.7 % 4.3 % -5.7 %. Previous revised from +5.7% to +4.3%. Ex-transportation –  Month/Month -1.4 %. Previous revised from -0.5% to -1.7%.

DGO is inconsistent from month to month but this data is not indicative of GDP growth.

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