Weekly Info 12/7/2012

Markets are very quiet despite the usual first-week-of-month flood of new data. In the last week the 10-year T-note has not traded above 1.63% nor below 1.58%, and mortgages are holding just below 3.50% depending on borrower and property. Intermission for Fiscal Cliff. The election has brought order to Republicans, most of whom understand they could have had a better deal in 2011. Speaker Boehner fired two unruly Tea Pots from their committee posts, and Senator Jim DeMint resigned altogether, headed for the Heritage Foundation, where he can screech in its phone booth undisturbed. Mr. Obama has less feel for his tax base and the economy than Mitt Romney for the people, but this time might not overreach his way out of a deal in plain sight. I think chances have reversed two bad weeks and improved now.