Business news for Thu, 29 Nov 2007 & with words lower+slump. 2 news.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- U.S. fixed-rate mortgages fell again in the latest week, according to Freddie Mac's survey released Thursday. The national average interest rate on the benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate loan averaged 6.10% in the week ending Thursday; it hasn't been lower since the week ended Oct. 13, 2005, when it averaged 6.03%. The current rate is down from 6.20% a week ago and 6.14% a year ago. The 15-year fixed-rate loan averaged 5.73%, down from 5.83% a week ago and 5.87% a year ago. The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 5.86%, compared with 5.88% a week ago and 5.95% a year ago. "Interest rates for U.S. Treasury securities have been drifting lower this month over market concerns that the housing slump and stress in the credit markets could slow future economic growth," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "As a result, interest rates for fixed-rate mortgages had room to slip lower this week."

WALL Street barreled higher yesterday for the second day in a row, giving the Dow Jones industrial average its biggest two-day point gain in five years after a Federal Reserve official hinted that the central bank may lower interest rates again. Investors' renewed hopes for a rate cut added to their relief that companies that made losing bets on subprime mortgages, such as Citigroup Inc and Freddie Mac, are coming up with ways to raise cash. The market was clearly optimistic that at least some of the damage from the months-long credit crisis was finally being mitigated. However, Wall Street has been fickle in recent months, and no one is betting that the mortgage crisis that tripped up the nation's financial industry this year is over, or that the market's huge gains so far this week will stick. Despite its spectacular advance this week, the Dow remains more than 6 percent below its October 9 record close over 14,000, having plunged due to worries that the housing market's slump