Fed Aid Sets Off a Rush to Refinance

The Federal Reserve's attempt to stabilize the housing market set off a chain reaction across the U.S. on Tuesday, dropping interest rates and quickly spurring a burst of refinancing activity by borrowers eager to lower their mortgage costs.

Some brokers said it was the most activity they've seen in at least one year, although there was no way to determine the volume of refinancing.

At Bank of America Corp., call volume was roughly twice what was expected at call centers and via the Internet, said Matt Vernon, national sales executive. "It's the folks who have been sitting on the sideline. They're jumping in with this news."

Construction Poised for Rebound

The construction industry, beset by one of the biggest drops in employment in the current economic downturn, could be poised for a rebound under President-elect Barack Obama's expected stimulus package.

Mr. Obama hasn't offered details, but anticipating a surge in public-works spending, investors bid up construction and engineering stocks. URS Corp., a San Francisco-based engineering and construction company, rose 34%, global giant Fluor Corp. rose nearly 17% and Granite Construction Inc., a domestic engineering company, rose 22%.

Builders Make Plea for Federal Aid

Struggling U.S. auto makers left Washington empty-handed after weeks of pleading for a handout, but that hasn't deterred home builders from stepping up to lobby Congress for help.

But any federal assistance would require policy makers to figure out how to stimulate demand for housing -- the problem at the root of the global financial meltdown -- without artificially propping up home values.

Global Crisis Douses Hawaii Tourism

Even as Hawaii basks in the glow of native son President-elect Barack Obama, its hotel industry is beginning to feel the pinch of the global financial crisis.

High fuel prices earlier in the year, the bankruptcy filings of Aloha Airgroup Inc. and ATA Airlines Inc., which previously served the region, and the nationwide slump in consumer confidence has slammed Hawaii's tourism industry. It welcomed 9.3% fewer visitors this year through September compared with the year-ago period, according to Hawaii's Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Only a Buyer Knows a Home's Value

The good news is your home may be worth more than the rock-bottom price that your neighbors' houses fetched. The bad news: No one but you might think so.

The one point of widespread agreement in the real-estate industry is that there is no single accurate index of home prices. They are all over the map, cover different sets of homes and may exclude parts of the country or be unduly influenced by the mix of homes sold in a given month.

Global Crisis Douses Hawaii Tourism

Even as Hawaii basks in the glow of native son President-elect Barack Obama, its hotel industry is beginning to feel the pinch of the global financial crisis.

High fuel prices earlier in the year, the bankruptcy filings of Aloha Airgroup Inc. and ATA Airlines Inc., which previously served the region, and the nationwide slump in consumer confidence has slammed Hawaii's tourism industry. It welcomed 9.3% fewer visitors this year through September compared with the year-ago period, according to Hawaii's Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Only a Buyer Knows a Home's Value

The good news is your home may be worth more than the rock-bottom price that your neighbors' houses fetched. The bad news: No one but you might think so.

The one point of widespread agreement in the real-estate industry is that there is no single accurate index of home prices. They are all over the map, cover different sets of homes and may exclude parts of the country or be unduly influenced by the mix of homes sold in a given month.

Fannie, Freddie Halt Foreclosures

Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will suspend foreclosure sales and evictions on certain properties until after the holiday season, as they prepare to implement a previously announced loan-modification program.

The temporary foreclosure suspension announced Thursday applies to 10,000 borrowers with Fannie-owned mortgages and 6,000 with Freddie-owned mortgages in occupied single-family and two- to four-unit properties with foreclosure sales scheduled between Nov. 26 and Jan. 9. Fannie and Freddie, which are under government control, last week said they would begin to modify the loan terms on potentially hundreds of thousands of mortgages that are at least 90 days past due.