The majority of House Republicans voted against the extension, citing concerns over its impact on the federal budget deficit. Then went on to vote in approval of the homebuyers tax credit contract extension.

The extension gives extra time to thousands of homebuyers trying to get a popular federal tax credit by the end of the month. While this may be good news to some, the attached companion proposal to extend insurance benefits to unemployed workers was rejected by the Senate, a huge blow for those already on the real estate ladder and struggling with unemployment or those with financial investments in real estate.

Real estate agents say thousands of settlements may not be completed by Wednesday because settlement offices are slammed with buyers trying to close on transactions by the end of this month in order to receive the funds.

“Up to 180,000 homebuyers will now receive the tax credit they deserve, and our housing market will be strengthened as a result,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a prepared statement after the lower chamber approved the measure.

Business banking Critics claim that the three-month extension is an invitation for mortgage fraud, providing prospective home buyers time to back date contracts to a date before April 30 and subsequently closing on those contracts by the new September 30 deadline.

Congress extended the $8,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers last fall and added a $6,500 tax credit for all buyers who were purchasing a primary residence.

For a complete picture, for national mortgage applications there was a short term decline in seasonally adjusted rates, dropping to 5.9 percent from the previous weeks. This was data lifted from a report by the Mortgage / Business Banking Association. While the unadjusted rate of decline was similar at 6 percent.

In a similar vein there was a number of refinancing and financial investments agencies that reported a decrease even more sharply then first time applications, a 7.3 percent drop from the previous week. However, the seasonally adjusted decrease was just 1.2 percent.

Home purchases declined most sharply of all, though, the report said. The seasonally adjusted decline was 36.8 percent from the previous week, though the unadjusted decline was just 2.3 percent.

The government is considering an extension on the tax credit scheme throughout September. It is currently set to expire on June 30. Which will come as good news for those who are financially stretching their pockets and savings accounts.

The previous week’s initial claims were revised higher by 4,000 to 460,000 as more complete data were collected. Read the full release on the Labor Department’s website.

The jobless claims report shows that the level of layoffs, while down from the peak a year ago, is too high to be consistent with robust job growth. The economy is creating jobs, but too few to bring the unemployment rate down meaningfully.

“While jobless claims have been elevated in recent weeks, it has been clear that the economy can still manage modest private payroll gains at these levels,” wrote economist Neil Dutta of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “Consider that over the last four months, private payroll employment has [averaged] gains of roughly 120,000, while initial jobless claims have averaged 460,000.”

Continued…. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jobless-claims-rise-12000-to-472000-2010-06-17

The assessments will be taken by a “institution by institution,” basis. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters at an EU summit in Brussels yesterday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was important to give “maximum transparency.” Asked how the governments would react if the tests revealed shortcomings, she said the EU has “taken precautions,” including a 750 billion- euro ($928 billion) financial backstop.

“The results could be very helpful reassuring investors that the European financial system is sound,” said Andrew Milligan, the Edinburgh-based head of global strategy at Standard Life Investments Ltd., which oversees about $221 billion. “The devil will be in the detail.”

“The problem with the stress testing, in most people’s opinion, is fairly serious: It’s not stringent enough,” said Ralph Silva, an analyst at London-based Silva Research Network, which specializes in financial-services firms.

“Europe needs this because the markets are asking for it,” Gonzalez said at a seminar in Santander, Spain.

Bankers and their lobby groups across Europe had opposed publication. Deutsche Bank’s Ackermann said last week that releasing the stress tests would be “very, very dangerous” if government mechanisms to support European banks weren’t in place beforehand. A spokesman for the bank declined to comment.