Rates Tick Up on Fed Comments Central banks around the world have had a heavy influence on mortgage rates recently. In the previous weeks, the European Central Bank’s (ECB) plan to expand its bond buying program had a favorable effect, while China’s policy changes had an offsetting effect. This week, it was the U.S. Fed. […]… Read more »
Category: Blog
Guest Post – Tradition Mortgage’s Weekly Update October 26, 2015
Foreign Central Bank Actions Lift Stocks, Rates Stay Flat Last week European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi suggested that the ECB may expand its bond purchase program at its next meeting in December. While this is intended to stimulate the economy which could lead to higher inflation, the primary impact on bonds is from […]… Read more »
Guest Post – Tradition Mortgage’s Weekly Update October 19, 2015
Is the Economic Porridge Cooling Off? Many investors have dubbed the status of our US Economy as “Goldilocks”, not too hot and not too cold. But the most recent economic data has suggested that perhaps the porridge of economic growth in the U.S. is cooling. Retail Sales, excluding the volatile auto component, unexpectedly declined in […]… Read more »
Guest Post – Tradition Mortgage’s Weekly Update October 12, 2015
Stock Rally Pushes Rates Up Investors large and small typically seek the relative safety of the bond market (including mortgage bonds) during times of uncertainty. Rates over the last month have benefited from this “flight to safety” of capital as stocks have been sold in favor of bonds. During the second half of September, stocks […]… Read more »
Guest Post – Tradition Mortgage’s Weekly Update October 5, 2015
Swing and a Miss! Job Report Strikes Out Friday’s key Employment report was disappointing nearly across the board. Against a consensus forecast of 205K, the economy added just 142K jobs in September. In addition, there were large downward revisions to the results from prior months. The economy has added an average of 167K jobs over […]… Read more »
Guest Post – Tradition Mortgage’s Weekly Update September 28, 2015
Heads Up, Yellen Says Hike Coming Soon On Thursday night, Fed Chair Yellen gave her first speech since the Fed meeting on September 17. She clarified many of the issues which had created uncertainty for investors. She said that she expects that a federal funds rate hike will be appropriate before the end of the […]… Read more »
Guest Post – Tradition Mortgage’s Weekly Update 9/21/15
Take a Hike? Fed Says No Heading into Thursday’s Fed announcement, investors were split about whether the Fed would raise the federal funds rate for the first time since 2006. The Fed chose to make no change. The Fed’s Statement cited concerns that weaker global economic growth could exert downward pressure on U.S. inflation rates. […]… Read more »
Guest Post – Tradition Mortgage’s Weekly Update September 14, 2015
It’s Showtime for the Fed Investors remain almost evenly divided about whether the Fed will raise the federal funds rate on Thursday. Fed officials have stated that policy decisions will be determined by the performance of the economy, but recent comments reveal mixed views on whether the conditions for a rate hike have been met. […]… Read more »
Guest Post – Tradition Mortgage’s Weekly Update September 9, 2015
Rates Stay Flat on Mixed Employment Data Friday’s Employment report came in close to the forecasts overall, but did little to shed light the prospects of a Fed rate hike in September. Rates have traded sideways as investors wait for more clues to the upcoming Fed decision. A small shortfall in job gains was offset […]… Read more »
Guest Post – Tradition Mortgage’s Weekly Update August 31, 2015
Stock Market Volatility = Rate Volatility Over the past week, mortgage rates were pushed and pulled by unusually large movements in global stock markets, which overshadowed our positive US economic data. Concerns about slowing global economic growth, particularly in China, caused the U.S. stock market to decline sharply early in the week. However, with stocks […]… Read more »
