A day does not pass without more news about the US housing market. Today, it was the turn of the Mortgage Bankers Association to supply the doom and gloom. Loan applicationss are down.Their seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications fell for the third straight week, dropping 3.2% to 649.5 in the week ended March 30. The MBA's seasonally adjusted purchase index declined 2.0% to 402.9, while its refinancing applications index fell 4.5% to 2,098.3.

There was further bad news on interest rates. Borrowing costs rose for all loan types. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, excluding fees, rose 0.09 percentage point from the prior week to 6.13 percent.