The optimism of mid-August continued the day after, and Tuesday morning saw the Asian markets still positive. Several question marks remain on the American economy, but at least the Fed's commitment to keep short-term rates unchanged until mid-2013 is also impacting mortgage rates, and the decline in these is strongly pushing refinancing: in a market for extremely flexible mortgage loans such as the American one, refinancing translates into lower installments and therefore into fresh money made available to families. The collapse of the stock markets in recent weeks has also triggered a beneficial mechanism of mergers and acquisitions: the fall in prices has created opportunities - see the purchase, by Google, of Motorola Mobility - and the fact that these opportunities have been seized it betrays a basic confidence in economic trends.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/16/markets-global-idUSL3E7JG03A20110816
