Since the market ""crash"" of last spring, The NYSE Financial Stock Index is up 137 percent.

The just-released Deloitte Consumer Spending Index rose again in September, hitting its highest level in two years. The index attempts to track consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.

The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) annual convention in San Diego this week has seen a flood of new service unveilings and company announcements. The event has seen two independent launches of national mortgage fraud databases.

The unemployment rate will hit 10 percent in the first quarter of next year and it may be 2012 before the 7.2 million lost in the recession have been restored, according to the latest survey of business economists.

Nearly a third of all borrowers who applied for a home loan last year were turned down, according to the Federal Reserve's recently released annual report on home-lending activity. The U.S. central bank found that denials were even higher for minorities. The rejection rate for all home loans was about 32 percent last year, but when looking at just black and Hispanic borrowers, the Fed said the denial rate was more than twice as high as the rate for white borrowers.

Mortgage and foreclosure scammers with their eyes set on Nevada - be wary. The state may hold the title of "riskiest" when it comes to housing-related fraud, but in an interview granted to DS News, Elisabeth Daniels, of the Nevada Department of Business and Industry and chairperson of the state's Fight Fraud Taskforce, said Nevada is committed to shedding that label.

MOS Group Launches E-Z Mod Technology to Streamline HAMP SubmissionsMOS Group announced the launch of its new E-Z Mod technology at the Mortgage Bankers Association's Annual Convention in San Diego Monday. The company says its proprietary workflow management and tracking system will help address the biggest obstacles servicers face under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).

Houston-based Stewart Lender Services (SLS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Title Company, has implemented a new enterprise-wide business model that strategically realigns its service offerings and opened four new customer support centers, the company announced at the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual convention in San Diego Monday.

Almost half of the trial mortgage modifications converted to permanent modifications under the Treasury Department's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) are attributable to West Palm Beach, Florida's Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC, the principal subsidiary of Ocwen Financial Corporation.

Bankers Title & Escrow, Inc."":http://www.ohiotitlework.com of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, has promoted Joel D. Ott to president of REO client relations.