Responding finally to record low mortgage rates, the MBA said applications to buy a home rose 12.8%, after 4 straight weeks of declines, to the highest level in 6 months. Refi’s jumped 19.2% to the most since April ’09. The bond market, in response to the obvious global growth concerns, engineered the recent drop in treasury and mortgage rates without any help from the Fed which meets next week where some within it want to give more help to lower rates further. In Europe, Italy sold 6.5b euros of 1 yr bills at a yield of 3.97% vs a yield of 2.34% in 1 yr paper sold in May. Longer term yields in Spain and Italy are little changed. The FT Deutschland, ahead of the Greek election Part 2 on Sunday, is reporting that the EU may be open to renegotiating the bailout program for Greece, the program that Greece never implemented anyway. Another German paper is saying the Greece will likely need a 3rd aid package which is stating the obvious with Greek 10 yr debt trading at .15 on the euro. The Germans though are getting disgusted as a poll there said 69% want Greece to leave the euro. In Asia, Thailand followed South Korea and Indonesia and left rates unchanged as expected. Japanese machinery orders surprised to the upside in April and South Korea’s unemployment rate fell to 3.2%.
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