By Taff Weinstein at
While home sales have been very steady and strong, there is one key roadblock that is keeping a lid on further gains in sales. Inventory. The lack of available homes for sale has severely restricted the ability for many to find a home (at any price). There are many reasons for such a tight supply, in today's article, we will focus on Seniors....yes Seniors. Source: Freddie Mac What Happened to Rates Last Week?![]() |
Mortgage backed securities (FNMA 4.00 MBS) gained +13 basis points (BPS) from last Friday's close which caused fixed mortgage rates to move sideways compared to the previous week. ISM Services: The January ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI representing about 2/3 of our economic output hit 56.7 vs est of 57.1. It is one of the lower readings in 2 years but still considered very robust since it is above 55.0. Part of the miss is due to the nice upper revision to December from 57.6 to 58.0 The Talking Fed: Fed Chair Powell said income inequality and sluggish productivity are the biggest challenges of the next decade but he did not discuss anything new about monetary policy. Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said that U.S. interest rates are currently “in the neighborhood” of a neutral level, and the Fed should not be using monetary policy to stimulate the economy, or to slow it, at this point. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said that the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate increase in December likely tipped monetary policy into slightly restrictive territory, a step beyond the neutral level policymakers had hoped to hit. Factory Orders: The November U.S. Factory Orders were lighter than expected (-0.6% vs est of +0.2%) but were a nice improvement over October's pace of -2.1%. |
What to Watch Out For This Week: ![]() The above are the major economic reports that will hit the market this week. They each have the ability to affect the pricing of Mortgage Backed Securities and therefore, interest rates for Government and Conventional mortgages. I will be watching these reports closely for you and let you know if there are any big surprises. It is virtually impossible for you to keep track of what is going on with the economy and other events that can impact the housing and mortgage markets. Just leave it to me, I monitor the live trading of Mortgage Backed Securities which are the only thing government and conventional mortgage rates are based upon. |
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