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MORTGAGE RATES FALL TO LOWER LEVELS

Rates for 30-year home loans inched downward this week, but still remain above record lows posted during the spring, Freddie Mac said Thursday. The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.32 this week, below last week’s average of 5.42 percent. Last year at this time, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 6.35 percent, Freddie Mac said. Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a record low of 4.78 percent earlier this year. But then they rose as high as 5.6 percent in June after yields on long-term government debt, which are closely tied to mortgages rates, rates climbed as investors worried that government debt could trigger inflation. Since then, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note has fallen to 3.51 percent as of Thursday. The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also fell to 4.77 percent Thursday, down from 4.87 percent last week.

STATE’S HOME BUYER TAX CREDITS ALL USED UP

They’re almost gone. The California Franchise Tax Board announced it will pull the plug on its fax machine at midnight Thursday, accepting no more applications for a $10,000 tax credit for buyers of new unoccupied homes in California. Early Wednesday, the FTB said it has received 11,925 applications for the popular tax credit — 75 short of its 12,000-application limit. The state tax agency said last month it would take 2,000 extra applications for the credit because many received are duplicates, invalid or incomplete. The tax credit program, launched March 1 to move home builders’ unsold inventory, proved more popular than expected.

MARSHALS TAKE MADOFF’S PENTHOUSE

Federal marshals took possession of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff’s $7 million Manhattan penthouse Thursday in a move that forced his wife to move elsewhere. Proceeds from a sale of the property and its contents could be used to help reimburse those who lost billions of dollars investing with Madoff. U.S. Marshal Joseph Guccione said the marshals arrived at the property at noon with a court order permitting them to take custody of the apartment and to make anyone living there move out. Guccione said Madoff’s wife Ruth had been advised in advance of the plan and was leaving the residence and surrendering all personal property.

THREE MORE BANKS CLOSED BY REGULATORS

Three Illinois banks were shuttered Thursday as government regulators proposed new rules for private equity firms seeking to take over failed banks. Regulators shut down John Warner Bank of Clinton, Ill.; First State Bank of Winchester in Winchester, Ill.; and Rock River Bank of Oregon, Ill., bringing to 48 the number of U.S. bank failures this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of all three. The three closings bring to nine the number of Illinois banks closed this year. Prior to Thursday, the FDIC already had closed 45 banks this year. That compares with 25 failures last year and only three for all of 2007.

GOLD, OIL PRICES FALL AMID JOB LOSSES

Gold, traditionally a hedge against inflation, traded as if it were a risky currency Thursday, analysts said.

It fell $10.30 to settle at $931 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
September silver dropped 35.2 cents to $13.4080 an ounce, while July platinum fell $9.90 to $1,186.60 an ounce. September copper futures shed 2.5 cents to $2.3055 a pound.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell $2.58, or 3.7 percent, to $66.73 a barrel after earlier falling as low as $66.54 a barrel.
The dollar pushed higher Thursday. the 16-nation euro slid to $1.4022 from $1.4148 late Wednesday, while the British pound fell to $1.6415 from $1.6474. Meanwhile, the dollar dropped to 95.84 Japanese yen from 96.52 yen.