High mortgage rates, lower prices put home buyers on sideline - 2004-01-19
Prospective home buyers are pulling out in the thousands after higher interest rates and further predictions that house prices will drop.

The figures also revealed that a record 32.7 per cent of the total of 58,894 loans issued in November refinanced existing mortgages. At the same time, a record low of 13.1 per cent of all loans went to first home buyers, while 15.2 per cent went to people locking in their mortgage for at least two years.
Read the full story at Melbourne Age

Analysts: Possible Bank One-J.P. Morgan Chase Union May Hurt Colorado Firm - 2004-01-19
The proposed $58 billion union of Chicago-based Bank One Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. of New York could leave smaller competitors with no choice but to merge and could dent earnings at Colorado's second biggest company, First Data Corp, analysts said.

Those employees are spread across a private banking group; a public finance office; JPMorgan Retirement Plan Services; and Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp.
Read the full story at Miami Herald