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Daily Market Update 10/10/08

Mortgage rates surged Friday morning, partially reflecting market activity late Thursday. Conventional 30-year fixed rates have jumped about 3/4% in the past 48 hours. The two main culprits have been concerns that the supply of debt will increase significantly to pay for all the government rescue actions and deleveraging. Due to margin calls and investor redemptions, many investment funds have been forced to sell assets to reduce their leverage. The global sell-off in stocks continued today. The Dow opened down about 700 points but has since recovered to about minus 250. Oil prices plunged to $81 per barrel, a 45% drop since July. Several key economic reports are due out next week, although the market turmoil has recently been trumping all other data.

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