Today the retail sales for February fell 0.1%, however, this was a bit better than expectations of a 0.5% drop. Adding to the positive tone was a significant upward revision to January’s Report to 1.8% from a previous number of 1%. Retail Sales is a very volatile Report on a month to month basis, but the last couple of readings are encouraging - perhaps showing some signs of economic stabilization. We encourage now is a very good time for a Florida Refinancing. One area of the economy that continues to struggle is the Job market…654,000 filed for Initial Jobless claims this past week, a bit more than expectations of 644,000. FL FHA Loans

The number of people receiving unemployment checks in the week ending Feb. 28 rose 193,000 to a record 5.32 Million. Let’s hope that this economic stimulus plan gets to work and starts boosting confidence and creating jobs, so that this negative jobs trend can reverse. Also today at 10am, the curtains open on what could be an extremely important hearing on mark-to-market accounting.

Today, the SEC’s Chief Accountant, the FASBs Chairman and the Deputy Comptroller for Regulatory Policy in the Treasury Department are expected to testify in front of the House Financial Services committee on mark to market. We will be watching this very closely, as this will no doubt have a dramatic effect on market trading today and well into the future. Florida Mortgage Rates are very low.