Today the stock market is up almost 200 points, US Treasury Notes are up and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac 30 Yr mortgage-backed securities are flat. In economic news March consumer confidence came in lower than expected but that result was overlooked by investors who are beginning to believe that the worst may be behind us now that plans are on the table for dealing with the toxic assets on bank balance sheets and given that historic low interest rates may be helping the housing market.  It is interesting to note that the Case-Shiller home price index for January 09 which compares against prices in January 08 showed the single largest drop since the index was created in 2000.  Dallas is the only Texas city is on the tracking and it had the lowest drop of any city on the 20 city index with a drop of 4.9%.