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The Economy • Business Tech • Mortgage Lending

The Economy: Hiring continues to be strong.
Business Tech: Cost modeling software will amaze.
Mortgage Lending: Tougher standards are ahead.

The Economy
Positive economic signals keep lighting up. The latest is jobs. The gain of 132,000 in June and May’s upwardly revised 190,000 erase any lingering fears that the economy’s first-quarter sluggishness might show up again later in the year. If anything, the economic risks at this point are more toward a too-hot expansion than for a recession.
Expect hiring to continue at a healthy pace in coming months. Managers in both manufacturing and services are bullish on order flows, and they’ll take on more workers to make sure they can satisfy demand.

Business Tech
Some defense technologies destined for commercial application:
An energy harvester called Volture can convert kinetic energy from vibrating sources such as machinery or engines into electric power. Midé Technology Corp. of Medford, Mass., is developing it commercially.
Machining brittle materials will be less costly and error prone with a silicon crystal process from McCarter Machine, Deer Park, Tex. The technology can erase minute cracks in mirrors, solar cells, etc.
Sophisticated cost modeling is possible with a software package originally developed for the Pentagon by CostVision of Boulder, Colo. It will allow, say, an architect to know quickly how costs will change if brick is used instead of wood in some elements of a building design.
Compact electronics will reduce space needed for processing units on a circuit board, allowing ever-smaller cell phones, game systems, etc. The layered circuit design is from Tessera Technologies, San Jose, Calif.
Noise dissipation systems developed by QRDC of Chaska, Minn., can make for quieter interiors. They guide acoustic energy and vibrations from wind into strategically placed energy “sinks,” where they dissipate.

Mortgage Lending
States and the feds are poised to crack down on lending excesses.
For states, the focus will be on reining in aggressive marketing by limiting “trigger lists” ... names of would-be homeowners sold to banks and mortgage brokers by national credit bureaus. The lists are triggered as soon as a single loan officer pulls up a consumer’s credit file, leading to them receiving a barrage of counteroffers by mail and phone.
Congress will back up regulators’ call for suitability standards for mortgage applicants. This will be to ensure that tougher standards aren’t circumvented by mortgage lenders working under state supervision.