The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its Market Composite Index, a measure of loan application volume, rose 7.5% in the latest week as home loan rates hover near record lows. The refinance index jumped 9.4% while its purchase index was up 0.1%. There are no economic reports due for release today. Fed Chairman Bernanke testified before the Senate Budget Committee in Washington yesterday on the economy and reiterated that interest rates will remain low through 2014. Mr. Bernanke went on to say that due to the high unemployment rate, the housing markets will continue to suffer. The percentage of people who are out of work for 27 weeks or more rose to 42.9% from 42.5% from December to January. The Unemployment Rate is currently 8.3% while there were 243,000 new jobs created in January. On the housing front, CoreLogic says that in 2011 there were 830,000 completed foreclosures nationally, down from 1.1 million in 2010, a 24% decline. Since the financial crisis began in September of 2008, there have been 3.2 million completed foreclosures.

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