In housing news, mortgage delinquencies fell modestly in the fourth quarter of 2011 from the previous quarter and lower from the same period in 2010. The National Association of Realtors reported that Existing Home Sales rose 4.3% to 4.57 million units on an annualized basis in January from December's revised number of 4.38 million, down from the 4.61 million originally reported. Inventories of Existing Homes fell to a 6.1 month supply, the lowest since April of 2006. The median sales price fell 2% to $154,700. Foreclosures and short sales or distressed sales, accounted for 35% of all sales, up from 32% in December. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said yesterday that it wants to shrink the roles of Fannie and Freddie and wants to create a new market for Mortgage Backed Securities. The problem is that there is no clear solution and any sudden act of change, could severely impact the troubled housing sector. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee about $100 billion each month in mortgages or 75% of all new home loans. In corporate earnings, Dell Inc. reported lower than expected net income in the fourth quarter to $764 million or 43 cents a share, down from 48 cents in the year-ago period. Dell also lowered its forecast for the current quarter.

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