Daily Financial News - Mortgage | Real Estate | Stock Market

Dollar Off Lows,Stocks Weaker Before Fed Speakers - Investors look hesitant to keep the rally going. The S&P 500 has climbed 5.5% on six straight days of gains and the Dow hit a 13-month yesterday at 10,226. Meanwhile, stocks in Asia and Europe are all modestly higher.

Though Tuesday offered no major economic data, there’s plenty going on markets to keep headlines active and investors busy. Just yesterday the US dollar fell to a 15-month low and gold topped the $1,100 mark to hit a new record high.

Even so, analysts from TD Securities suggest the dollar may be overvalued by as much as 20%. “Our model outputs support our call for further, medium term weakness in the USD,” analysts wrote in the TD U.S. Dollar Monitor report. “We expect EUR/USD to reach USD1.55 by mid 2010.”

In unrelated news, HFE’s Ian Shepherdson argues that the $8,000 tax credit for homebuyers, which was extended into March last week, is regressive.

“For the record, the homeowner tax credit is bad economic policy ? subsidies are inefficient and distort markets ? and it is bad social policy too, because the tax credit is partly funded by non-homeowners . . . The money would have been far better spent on renewing the nation’s infrastructure, which surely needs it.”

Senior Loan Officer Survey: Credit Conditions Still Tightening - The Federal Reserve's Senior Loan Officer Survey for October shows that banks are still tightening their lending standards, although not with the frequency of a few months. CRE and C&I loans are a particular focus of the current report. For the third consecutive quarter, banks reported a strengthening demand for residential real estate loans while 30 percent reported weakened demand for revolving home equity lines.