dagens hacienda 24.05

April Chicago Fed National Activity Index: +0.29 vs. +0.13 prior. Three-month moving avg. -0.03 vs. -0.09 prior. "April marked the highest level of the index since Dec. 2006 and the third time in the past four months that the index indicated above-average economic activity."

U.S. home buyers are unexpected benefactors from Europe's debt crisis, as safe haven flows into the U.S. push mortgage rates back to nearly fifty-year lows. At 4.86% now, the rate could drop to 4.5% this summer, vs. earlier forecasts of a rise to 6%

The Spanish banking system is so dishonest that it is really "a kind of anti-market," Jonathan Tepper says. Spanish banks could be sitting on ?300B in mortgage-related losses, he asserts, but it is impossible to tell how bad things really are - or to fully assess the impact of the weekend's bank seizure - since they have refused to properly price houses sitting on their books

JAHA