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Last Week in Review: Powell Soothes the Markets This past week home loan rates improved slightly as Fed Chair Jerome Powell was on Capitol Hill sharing the Fed’s midyear economic outlook. Let us break down what the Fed Chair said, since his words also pushed stocks higher with the NASDAQ reaching all-time highs. “Long Way […]

Last Week in Review: The Fed Prepares the Markets for Liftoff This past week the Federal Reserve had their June meeting and prepared the markets for liftoff, meaning when they would hike rates in the future. The initial bond market reaction was negative with both home loan rates and long-term Treasury rates moving higher. Let us […]

Last Week in Review: Inflation, Fed, and the Wall This past week, home loan rates were improving slightly week-over-week until their arch-nemesis, inflation, reared its head. Let us break it all down and talk about what it means for you and your clients. Consumer Inflation and Looking Ahead On Thursday, the May Consumer Price Index […]

Last Week in Review: Real Rates and When the Music Stops This past week, home loan rates ticked up slightly but remain near three-month lows. Despite historically low rates, mortgage applications ticked down for the second consecutive week as tight inventory and rapidly rising home prices weighed on purchase activity. Opportunity Is Knocking Mortgage and […]

Last Week in Review: What Goes Up Must Come Down This past week home loan rates held steady despite enormous volatility in the financial markets. Let’s break down what happened and look at what to watch for in the week ahead. Wacky Wednesday A “risk-off” trade is when investors sell risky assets like stocks and […]

Last Week in Review: The Price is Wrong This past week, the yield on the 10-year note increased to its highest level in one month in response to a very hot consumer inflation reading. Let us break down what happened and get into what to look for in the week ahead. Last Wednesday, the financial […]

Last Week in Review: Yellen for Higher Rates We watched long-term rates, like mortgages, improve slightly this past week despite a surprising comment from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Let’s break it all down and look at what’s on tap for next week. “It may be that interest rates will have to rise somewhat to make […]

Last Week in Review: 3 Things the Financial Markets are Saying  When stocks rise, rates typically decline. When inflation moves higher, rates typically increase. As the economy reopens, rates will rise. Well, stocks rallied to all-time highs, inflation spiked, and the economy continues to reopen. However, rates improved to the best levels in a month. […]

Last Week in Review: Markets Cheer the Fed Minutes This past week the financial markets reacted to the Fed minutes from the March Fed meeting. Heading into the release last Wednesday, the markets were on edge for three reasons: Would the Fed signal tapering of bond purchases? Would the Fed hint that rates will be […]

Last Week in Review: Markets React to the American Job Pain This past week was filled with a lot of market-moving news for the mortgage and housing industry. By week’s end, interest rates continued to stabilize, while stocks set new all-time highs. Let’s break it all down: Enormous Government Spending on the Way On Wednesday, […]