Twitter 101 in Vancouver, Wa. and the Daily Report 4/29/2009

Hello Everyone,

We have a couple spots open tomorrow from 11:30- 12:30 tomorrow for what we are calling “Twitter Thursday”…. This is our first informal meeting going over setting up a twitter account and managing that account for our Real Estate business. This is no cost but please come with your laptop if possible and have a couple ideas of a “twitter name” mine is “fund4u” but I think I will be changing it to BillBlax as I have recently found out that name recognition is valuable on twitter.   

We will eventually assist all of our referral partners that are interested to have an account using social networking such as www.facebook.com/ and www.Activerain.com/fund4u and http://www.zillow.com/profile/Lowrates4u/ as well as some blog sites such as www. …. This is the beginning of a new means of marketing- not to be taken over by your current business plan but to add in a new means of communicating to the community on what you do and how they can find that subject matter expert they need. We will also be putting together a “First Time Home Home Buyer Seminar” and include this in a webinar format so we can personalize the “Realtor” section for you to promote on your Activerain/Twitter/Facebook account with one easy upload!!!

Please RSVP as we have limited seats and first come first served.     

MARKET ANALYSIS:

Mortgage bond prices were near unchanged Wednesday failing to erase any of the losses seen Tuesday afternoon. We are sitting around 4.875%-5% on a 30 yr fixed loan.  

In news released this morning, Q1 preliminary Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic activity, fell 6.1%. Economists were expecting the US economy to retract 4.7% in the first quarter. The deflator, which measures the change in prices in total GDP and for each component, rose much more that expected sparking inflation concerns. While the headline number was bond friendly, the deflator figure sparked inflation concerns muting any possible improvement.

Separately, the Treasury announced they will auction 71B (71,000.000.000) in 3, 10 and 30-year bonds next week. The 71B is a record for the Treasury. The auctions take place next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and are on the longer end of the yield curve. These auctions will compete with the MBS market for available investment dollars. It will be interesting to see if the Federal Reserve announces any increase in their plan to Treasury debt. Remember, the Fed is a major buyer of MBS's and are responsible for keeping rates as low as they are. When talking with borrowers about floating, remind them next week looks rocky.

Traders will spend the morning watching stocks as they await an action packed afternoon. At 1:30 pm ET today, the Treasury will auction 26B in 7-year notes with results by 1:30 pm ET. In addition, the Federal Reserve will adjourn their meeting and release a statement on the US economy and policy changes at 2:15 pm ET. Keep your lock sheets handy.