The Mortgage Bankers Association reports:
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.94 percent from 5.01 percent, with points increasing to 1.06 from 1.04 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans.
From Calculated Risk: BLS: Few Job Openings in December
The low turnover rate is another indicator of a very weak labor market.
From The New York Times: U.S. Trade Deficit Widened in December
The gap between the value of imports and exports was $40.2 billion in December, up 10.4 percent from November. Wall Street analysts had expected the deficit to grow to $35.8 billion.
