greg mcbride of bankrate.com tells us what consumers can expect. well angie, i think you get a bit of break from those higher mortgage rates that's we've seen it's kind of a brief respite if you will, because it's not that they've taken this tapering off the table all they have done is put it on hold for another month or two until they eventually start it and inevitable they will and when they do mortgage rates will resume the march higher.. last week mortgage applications jumped 11% from the previous week as interest rates dipped a bit. the 30 year fixed rate fell to 4.75%. the 15 year slipped to 3.81% for money managers and corporate america-- the fed failing to taper-- means more of the same availability of historically low interest rates. about two- thousand companies in corporate america are saving a collective 700-billion dollars in interest payments. while corporate bond yields have fallen to an average of 4.6%. "the question is, 'should you be in the stock market or the bond market, the answer is stocks because that's where the money is flo

greg mcbride of bankrate.com joins us this morning. 55% of americans say in your latest survey-- home prices are heading higher --do you consider that a positive sign? > >although people's optimism about real estate bodes well for what they are seeing about the economy because real estate is a nice tail wind to the economic recovery, it does make you worry that people may be putting too many eggs into the home ownership basket. particularly at the expense of savings for things like emergencies and retirement. > >do you think people are overly excited about the housing market? > >people have really warmed up to the housing market in a way that they never have to the stock market since the financial crisis. people once again looking at real estate in many cases as their ticket toward building wealth, and while that is a positive for the economy now, it does raise the concern that some people may be stretching themselves too thin. > >what do you expect for home prices going forward? > >well i expect that home prices continue to march higher, i think going forward, we can expect that pace

that was greg mcbride of bankrate dot com. many see this as a positive sign for automakers, consumers and especially banks, as customer demand for auto loans provide banks with opportunities to increase assets, which have been limited following the recession. drivers in maine are paying more for gas than most of the nation. according to gas buddy the average gallon of unleaded in maine is $3.73. up 6 cents this week. and 12 cents per gallon more than the national average. " where maine is concerned i think one of the key issues right now is that you're looking at higher prices for brent crude oil. in the northeastern united states there's a much greater reliance on brent crude than there is on west texas crude, or other types of crude that could be available elsewhere." political tension in egypt and now syria are driving up oil prices. brent crude which is used on the east cost is trading around $115 per barrel while west texas crude futures are around $108 per barrel. the japanese government is reportedly poised to take cont

greg mcbride joins me. he's a senior financial analyst. greg, here we go. you know, i guess i want to pull out as we're watching the tick talk and the votes right here, big picture. this shutdown, it looks inevitable. i know you have said if the government does shut down, it should be nothing more than a bump in the road. you say don't panic. why? >> well, you know, a couple things, brooke. first of all, these things, i'm expecting it to be short-lived. it's a clear headwind to the economy. if you're one of the three quarters of a million federal workers that's about to be furlou furloughed, you don't know how long that's going to last, i'm going to guess a lot of these people were not at the mall going hog wild this weekend, right? there's uncertainty. that uncertainty causes people to pull back. that's where the headwind of the already slow-growing economy comes into play. as long as it's short-term in nature, it doesn't disrupt people's finances too much, doesn't disrupt the economy too much, and the nervousness you're seeing in the financial markets is