Mortgage Rates, Qatar: Hot Trends
(New information on this week's higher mortgage rates and Qatar updated in today's Hot Trends article.)
NEW YORK (
) -- "Mortgage rates" is a trending search topic following the release of
Freddie Mac's
(FMCC)
weekly survey showing that the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is slightly up from last week. The 30-year fixed rate came in at 4.46%, up from last week's 4.40%, and down from 4.71% a year ago.
"Mortgage rates followed bond yields higher this week as recently released economic data suggest the economy may be stronger this quarter than the previous," Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft said. "Regional manufacturing indexes for Dallas, Chicago and Milwaukee all rose in November. In addition, the
Federal Reserve
noted that 10 of its 12 regions saw improvement through mid-November in its December 1 regional economic review."
The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 3.81% from last week's 3.77%. Last year at this time the 15-year rate averaged 4.27%.
"Qatar" is a hot search topic today after FIFA announced that Russia will host the 2018 World Cup and Qatar will host the event in 2022.
FIFA's 22 voters chose Russia and Qatar over several other country bids, including England, Spain-Portugal and Belgium-Netherlands.
The Arab country, Qatar, beat out the U.S. in the final round of voting 14 to 8. Some FIFA members are concerned with the location of the tournament as temperatures in Qatar can rise to as high as 118 degrees Fahrenheit around the time the World Cup takes place.
"Contact lenses" is a popular search topic today following news that
Johnson & Johnson
(JNJ) - Get Report
has recalled about 492,000 boxes of its 1 Day Acuvue TruEye contact lenses due to eye stinging.
The company is recalling nearly five times the original number of 100,000 boxes it announced in August.
>>J&J: More Recalls, More Market Share Loss?
The recall is mostly affecting consumers in Japan and has not affected any products sold in the U.S. market.
"Lee Harvey Oswald coffin" is a trending search topic today as the empty coffin that once held the body of the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy is going to be put up for auction.
Funeral home owner Allen Baumgardner has kept the coffin in a storage room for about 30 years, but has decided to auction it off.
"None of us is going to be around here forever," Baumgardner said. "I just felt it was time to let go of it."
Bidding will start at $1,000, but auction manager Laura Yntema predicts the final bid could be between $60,000 and $100,000.
The chatter on Main Street (a.k.a. Google) is always of interest to investors on Wall Street. Thus, each day, TheStreet compiles the stories that are trending on Google, and highlights the news that could make stocks move.
--Written by Theresa McCabe in Boston.
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