News Summary (TM, PYGMF, BWIN)

Toyota Motor Corp TM has recalled its 412,000 passenger cars in the US. The recalled cars mostly comprise of the Avalon model, which has steering problems that have already resulting in a minimum of three accidents. Since October, the company has already recalled about 8.5 million of other vehicles. PartyGaming Plc PYGMF, a UK gambling company has planned to merge with Austrian sports-book operator Bwin Interactive Entertainment BWIN. This merger will result in the creation of the largest listed online gambling business in the world. According to a survey conducted by Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage average has reached the new record low of 4.54% in the week ending July 29. A week before, fixed-rate mortgage average was at 4.56%. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist mentioned, "For the sixth week in a row, interest rates on fixed-rate mortgages eased to all-time record lows during a week of mixed housing data reports. The number of local markets experiencing annual increases in home prices appears to be growing." He added, "However, existing home sales in June slowed to an annualized pace of 4.37 million units, the fewest since March. Moreover, although new home sales jumped by almost 24% to 330,000 dwellings, it represented the second slowest rate since 1963." Read more from Benzinga's Markets.