Daily Financial News - Mortgage | Real Estate | Stock Market

Stocks at 13-month highs after modest gains - (CNNMoney.com) Stocks recovered from early losses Tuesday, closing at 13-month highs for the second day in a row, as strength in commodity-linked shares offset weakness in the retail sector.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose about 30 points, or 0.3%, to close at 10,437.42. The S&P 500 gained 1 point to close above the key 1,100 level. The Nasdaq composite advanced 0.3% to end at 2,203.78.

All three indexes are at their highest levels since October 2008.

TransUnion: Mortgage Delinquencies Still On Rise, But at Slower Pace - National credit agency TransUnion reported today that, while mortgage delinquency rates continue to rise and have reached record levels, the rate of increase has now declined in each of the last three quarters.

This information is contained in a report released today by TransUnion.com analyzing trends in the mortgage industry and the impact of those trends on the consumer.

The national rate for delinquencies of 60 days or more hit an all time high of 6.25 percent during the third quarter. This was an increase of 7.57 percent over the 5.81 percent national rate during the second quarter. This is the 11th consecutive quarter that the delinquency rate nationwide has increased.

Home Builders Expecting Increased Activity in 2010 - The November Housing Market Index was unchanged from October's downwardly revised level of 17. The component gauging current sales conditions and the component gauging traffic of prospective buyers also remained unchanged, at 17 and 13, respectively. The component gauging sales expectations for the next six months did however improve, moving up two points, to 28.