Origination

The FDIC's list of federally insured bank failures grew to 20 so far this year as two more banks collapsed.

A broad range of economic indicators paints a picture of an improving economy, according to the latest Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) released Thursday. The LEI increased 0.6 percent in July, reaching 96 for the month. An index score of 100 reflects the economic conditions in 2004. "The improvement in the LEI, and pick up in the six-month growth rate, suggest better economic and job growth in the second half of 2013," said Ken Goldstein, a Conference Board economist.

Harland Financial Solutions announced that clients using LaserPro can now take advantage of new services resulting from the company├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós expanded alliance with eLynx.

In Pennsylvania, LoanLogics unveiled enhancements to its LoanDecisions pricing and eligibility platform.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of new home sales dropped a stunning 13.4 percent to 394,000 in July. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected June sales to drop to 487,000 from June's originally reported 497,000. June sales were revised to 455,000. The report for July showed a slight shift to higher-priced homes as houses priced at $500,000 or more accounted for 11 percent of July sales, up from 9 percent in June. Homes priced at $300,000 or less represented 62 percent of all July sales, down from 64 percent in June.

The housing market experienced another downshift in July, with the number of homes under contract within two weeks falling to under 30 percent.

Nationwide Title Clearing, Inc. (NTC), a leading service provider to the mortgage and financial industry, ranked on Inc.'s 500|5000 list again this year, coming in hundreds of spots higher than in 2012.

Fixed mortgage rates jumped this week as markets awaited the release of minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) July meeting, which contained hints of when the Federal Reserve might start reducing its bond purchases. According to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.58 percent (0.8 point) for the week ending August 22, up from last week's 4.40 percent. Meanwhile, Bankrate.com reported a two-year high for the 30-year fixed average in its own weekly survey.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance for the week ending August 17 rose 13,000 to 336,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected the number of claims to rise to 330,000 from the 320,000 originally reported for the week ending August 10. The number of filings for that week was bumped up to 323,000.

Anne-Marie Kuhlman is now Stewart Title's regional sales director for the state of Colorado, the company announced.