Boost expected: Only $109.6 billion in resources remain in the government’s $700 billion financial rescue fund. But Treasury Department officials said today they expect the fund will be boosted over the next year by about $25 billion as some institutions pay back money they have received. That would boost the total to $134.6 billion. In the letter, Geithner said the Bush administration had committed $355.4 billion in resources before it left office. That total included $117 billion committed to insurance giant American International Group Inc., banking giants Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., and auto companies General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC.
How low can they go? Thirty-year mortgage rates dropped to an average rate of 5.06% last week, according to the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. That’s a drop from the 5.10% rate quoted for the week ending April 12. Average 30-year fixed rates in some states, including Florida and Georgia, were at 4.99%, Zillow says.
GM spending down: General Motors Corp., surviving on $13.4 billion in government aid, spent $2.8 million on lobbying during the first three months of 2009, according to disclosures filed with the U.S. House and Senate. Spending by the biggest U.S. automaker was down from $4.1 million the carmaker spent in the same period a year earlier. Detroit-based GM is trying to cuts costs for labor, health care and debt to meet a June 1 deadline for avoiding bankruptcy.
