Another Week Ahead

-- Economic uncertainty surrounding rising oil prices in particular had
capped longer-term Treasury yields, accounting for the 3 successive
weekly declines in mortgage rates. Freddie Mac had predicted rates to
trend higher into the end of 2005 as the economy maintained a steady
moderate growth and the Federal Reserve continued to raise interest
rates. Fixed mortgage rates were at four-month highs in mid-August but
dropped since then due to uncertainly about Fed's next move in the light
of Katrina and oil price.

-- The Congressional Budget Office predicted last week that Katrina could
trim growth by 0.5 to 1 percentage point in the second half of the year.
Economists had been expecting average growth at an average 3.5%
annual rate for the July-through-December interval.

-- Thirty-year mortgage rates paused after declining in each of the past 3
weeks. The average fixed rate on a 30-year loan held steady at 5.71%. A
year ago it was 5.83%.

-- Reflecting the impact of Hurricane Katrina, the average retail price for
a gallon of self-service gasoline reached nearly $3.04 a gallon in the two
weeks ended Sept. 9, according to the latest Lundberg Survey of 7,000
gas stations around the U.S. The weighted average price for regular,
midgrade and premium overall was up by more than 38 cents from the
previous survey, an increase of 14%. By grade, regular averaged $3.01
a gallon, midgrade averaged $3.11 and premium stood at nearly $3.21.