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Datatrac RateDex

	SAVINGS
	Regular Savings	0.76	0.52		CUs by 24 bp
	Interest Checking	0.53	0.43		CUs by 10 bp
	Money Market				Bks by NaN bp
	1 Year CD	2.91	2.36		CUs by 55 bp
	CONSUMER LOANS
	Reg Credit Card	11.83	13.55		CUs by 172 bp
	48 Mo New Car	5.47	6.81		CUs by 134 bp
	48 Mo Used Car	5.72	7.42		CUs by 170 bp
	36 Mo Unsecured	10.68	12.45		CUs by 177 bp
	MORTGAGE LOANS
	Home EQ LOC	5.42	5.48		CUs by 6 bp
	1 Yr ARM	4.87	5.91		CUs by 104 bp
	30 Yr Fixed	6.09	6.1		CUs by 1 bp
	All Data Current as of 05/08/2008. Based on 17976 institutions. Note: Average rates are listed; individual rates will vary. (See Datatrac Research Standards)				bp=Basis points (100 bp=1%)

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Market News

MADISON, Wis. (5/9/08)

• Consumers are relying more on their credit cards as the job market weakens, food and energy prices rise, and the housing slump makes home-equity borrowing difficult. Consumer credit, which excludes mortgages and home-equity loans, increased at an annual rate of 7.2% in March--up sharply from a 3.1% pace the previous month, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday. Revolving credit, which includes credit cards, surged at a 7.9% pace following a 5% gain. Nonrevolving credit, which includes auto, vacation, and boat loans, also increased at a strong pace last month. Borrowing in that category surged at a 6.8% pace after a 2% gain. While good news for spending, sustained growth in consumer credit raises concerns about credit quality, said Moody's Economy.com (May 8). Household financial obligations already are almost at a near-record high, and this eventually will prompt a slowdown in consumer-credit growth and spending, along with higher savings ...

• Consumer spending rebounded in April, but the gain largely reflected calendar differences, warmer weather, and high gasoline and food prices. Chain store sales jumped 3.6% during the month, compared with a year earlier, according to a report by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). However, much of the growth was taken from March due to weather and calendar effects. Chain store sales were up only 0.5% in March. Sales were up a modest 1.5% for the two months combined--the weakest gain for those two months since 2001. And growth was concentrated at retailers selling gasoline, food, and/or pharmaceuticals--goods with high price inflation. The ICSC projects sales growth of about 2% in May, as consumers begin to spend their tax-rebate checks (Economy.com May 8) ...

• Cash-strapped consumers faced another jump in energy prices Thursday. Gasoline prices rose 2.7 cents overnight to a new record $3.645 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Light, sweet crude for June delivery declined 12 cents to $123.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday. With oil prices probably headed higher, however, analysts say gas prices could soon hit $4 a gallon (Associated Press via The New York Times May 8) ...

• Jobless claims remained at an elevated level last week. First-time claims for unemployment insurance declined by 18,000 during the week ending May 3 to 365,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week moving average, which smoothes out weekly volatility, edged up by 2,500 to 367,000. Continuing claims, the number of people still on the benefit rolls after an initial week of aid, declined by 10,000 during the week ended April 26 to 3.02 million. Initial unemployment claims have averaged 353,300 so far this year--compared with a 321,000 average for all of last year, noted Bloomberg.com (May 8). Financial-services firms have been especially hard hit during the housing slump and economic downturn. The world's largest banks and securities firms have cut 65,000 jobs during the past 10 months, according to Bloomberg statistics ...

• Women are continuing to gain jobs during the economic slump, even as job losses among men keep mounting. From November though April, women aged 20 years and older gained almost 300,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department. However, men lost almost 700,000 jobs during the period. Men's jobs are concentrated in the manufacturing and construction sectors--which are seeing steep employment losses. The manufacturing sector is about 70% male, while the construction sector is about 88% male. At the same time, the education and health-services sectors, which continue to post strong employment growth, are 77% female. Still, men typically continue to earn more than women. Median weekly earnings for men rose 4.6% from the first quarter of last year through the first quarter of this year--compared with a 3.1% gain for women. And 75% of the people who earned more than $100,000 in 2007 were men (BusinessWeek Online via Yahoo! News May 8) ...

• Mortgage rates steadied this week amid stronger-than-expected economic reports, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) edged down 1 basis point to 6.05%, while the 15-year FRM edged up 1 basis point to 5.60%. The one-year, adjustable-rate mortgage was unchanged at 5.29%. "Despite a weak housing market, mortgage rates remained almost unchanged this week, based on better-than-expected economic data releases that indicated the economy still has some staying power," said Freddie Mac Vice President and Chief Economist Frank Nothaft. The Labor Department reported Friday that the economy lost 20,000 jobs in April, lower than the 75,000 loss many economists forecast. Reports on the manufacturing and service sectors also were stronger than expected. However, Nothaft noted that, despite signs of economic improvement, homeownership has declined. The national homeownership rate held steady at 67.8% in the first quarter--down from its recent peak of 69% in the third quarter of 2007 and the lowest since the second quarter of 2002, according to Census Bureau data (MarketWatch and CNNMoney.com May 8). For CUNA's Daily Financial Rates, use the link. ...

News of the Competition

MADISON, Wis. (5/9/08)

• State Street Corp., the nation's largest money manager for institutions, may have to pay more than 12 times the $625 million it has set aside for damages from lawsuits related to losses from the subprime-mortgage investments made for pension funds. Prudential Financial is suing State Street on behalf of more than 200 retirement plans. The insurer alleges that the firm inappropriately invested funds in risky securities. Three other firms have filed similar suits. The suits claim State Street breached its fiduciary duty by investing pension funds in risky securities instead of investing in conservative funds, as promised. State Street probably will become a target of more lawsuits, especially from public-sector pension funds, said Derek Loeser of the law firm Keller Rohrback (Bloomberg.com May 8) ...

• Two former principals at Olympia Mortgage Corp., a Brooklyn mortgage lender, have been charged with fraud in schemes to steal more than $44 million in payoff profits from refinanced mortgages. They also are charged with fraud in a separate ploy to sell nonperforming mortgage loans with falsified loan histories. Leib Pinter and Barry Goldstein each face a maximum of 30 years in prison. Prosecutors allege that Pinter defrauded Fannie Mae by stealing payoff proceeds from 257 refinanced mortgages that the company was servicing for Fannie. They allege that Goldstein instructed other Olympia employees to create false loan histories for nonperforming loans in order to sell them to Credit Suisse First Boston (The Wall Street Journal Online May 8) ...

• A bankruptcy judge has rejected Countrywide Financial's proposal to settle accusations that it falsified evidence used in a bid to foreclose on a home. Saying he wants to know more about the alleged fabricated documents, Judge Thomas Agresti of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh dismissed the request by the nation's largest mortgage lender to settle with Sharon Diane Hill, a Pittsburgh-area women who was threatened with foreclosure. While she was current on her mortgage payments, Countrywide threatened to foreclose if she didn't pay thousands of dollars worth of additional fees. Judge Agresti said the settlement was deficient because it didn't reveal what her attorneys discovered about the alleged fabricated documents. He also said he was worried about "the potential effect that a settlement in this case may have in other cases involving Countrywide." (The Wall Street Journal Online May 8) ...

• New York-based Citigroup strengthened its foothold in the cash-rich Middle East this week, announcing Wednesday that it plans to move Alberto Verme, its global head of investment banking, to Dubai. He will become the first major U.S. investment-banking head stationed there. Citigroup already has financial ties in the Middle East. It received a $7.5 billion investment from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority late last year. And Saudi Prince Al-Walid bin Talal owns more than 5% of Citigroup through investments. Those investments and others by sovereign wealth funds in U.S. banks have prompted concern about the safety of the U.S. banking system (MarketWatch May 8) ...

• NCR Corp. announced Wednesday that its first-quarter earnings jumped 41% from a year earlier to $48 million--reflecting higher demand for ATMs abroad, especially in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The Dayton, Ohio-based firm's revenue jumped 19% to $1.18 billion. Sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa surged 30%, compared with a 6.8% gain in the Asia-Pacific region, and a 15% increase in the Americas (Bloomberg News via American Banker May 8) ...