Tuesday: Small Business Survey, Job Openings

The FHFA will charge higher fees in certain states (slow judicial foreclosure states). From Nick Timiraos at the WSJ: Fannie, Freddie to Raise Loan Fees

Mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will boost certain fees that they charge lenders ... The firms’ federal regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said Monday it would direct the companies to increase by 0.1 percentage points the so-called “guarantee” fees that the companies charge to lenders. Those fees have nearly doubled since 2009.

But the latest increase will be muted in most states because the FHFA also said that it would direct the companies to eliminate separate fees that had been implemented in the aftermath of the financial crisis. ...

The upshot is that borrowing costs could rise slightly in the four states—New York, Florida, New Jersey and Connecticut—where the latest fee increases won’t be offset by the removal of the crisis-era fees.

It is clearly appropriate to charge higher fees in states with higher costs. Maybe there will be a move towards a national foreclosure law ...

Tuesday:
• 7:30 AM ET, NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for November.

• 10:00 AM, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for October from the BLS. Jobs openings increased in September to 3.913 million from 3.844 million in August. This is a survey closely followed by the Fed.

• Also at 10:00 AM, Monthly Wholesale Trade: Sales and Inventories for October. The consensus is for a 0.4% increase in inventories.