Rates Move Down, Stocks Soar by Scott Davis
Mortgage rates and bond yields were about the only things that fell on Thursday as stocks staged an historic rally. According to the Bank Rate Monitor daily survey of lending institutions, the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell to 8.01%. The 15-year fixed rate remained at 7.63% while the 30-year jumbo and one-year ARM dropped to 6.60% and 8.31% respectively. Although the overall PPI of 1% in February was higher than expected, the "core" rate was only 0.3%. Bond investors chose to view this as good news, and sent bond prices up. The explosive rally in stocks trimmed some of the early gains in bonds, but the yield on the bellwether 30-year Treasury still fell to a 4-month low of 6.04%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped a record 499.19 points Thursday, closing at 10,630.60. Following Wednesday's 320.17 point gain, the Dow has now added a jaw-dropping 819 points in just two days. Tempering some analysts' enthusiasm is the fact that the index is rebounding off a nearly one-year low close of 9811.24 on Tuesday, and is still nowhere near the record high of 11,722.98 set back in January. Selected Stocks - Closing Prices Thursday, March 16 | Company | Ticker | Price | Change | HomeStore.com
| HOMS
| 50
| - 4 15/16
| HomeSeekers.com
| HMSK
| 19 | - 1 7/16
| Cendant
| CD
| 17 1/16
| - 1/8
| Homeservices.com
| HMSV
| 11 11/16
| + 1/16
| Realco, Inc.
| RLCO
| 2 1/4
| unch.
| Kennedy-Wilson
| KWIC
| 5 3/8
| + 3/16
| E-Loan
| EELN
| 9 7/8
| - 3/8
| LendingTree
| TREE
| 16 1/16
| - 11/16
| Countrywide
| CCR
| 28 9/16
| + 1 3/8
| Vista Info
| VINF
| 3 15/16
| + 1/32
| Internet Pictures Corp.
| IPIX
| 38 9/15
| - 15/16
| Champion Enterprises
| CHB
| 6 5/16
| + 7/16
| Centex Corp.
| CTX
| 23 1/8
| + 3 3/8
| Pulte Corp.
| PHM
| 19
| + 1 7/8
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