fin, Seattle, said a drop in new home sales prices sparked an uptick in new home sales in the third quarter, the second consecutive quarterly increase.

TransUnion, Chicago, said its quarterly Industry Insights Report points to several factors that portend good things for retailers this holiday season.

Leadership during times of economic opaqueness, scary events and political drama can lack efficacy. What worked in the past is a poor roadmap into the future--whack-a-mole urgency will widen the gaps between enterprises. Innovation and automation may be the only certainties over the next 18 months.

The following report was prepared from the 28 face-to-face surveys I conducted with senior mortgage executives from 28 different firms in Austin, Texas at the MBA Annual Convention held 27-30 October. They are designed to capture the thinking, attitudes and expectations of an industry through one-on-one interviews with execs from, in this instance, 28 different mortgage firms. My goal is to create a microcosm of the industry using the MBA’s membership as the universe.