Fixed rates are up and ARM rates are down relative to my last Marketweek report two weeks ago. The move is about .125% in each respective direction, and jumbo ARMs in particular look good. Broad rate market trading would suggest all rates should be up, but competition among lenders is driving these pricing anomalies that
Consumer Sentiment
How did it get to be the last business day of May already? If you’re sitting at your desk, and the receptionist, with wide eyes, stammers, “Line 2 is the FBI – they want to talk to you!” should you be nervous? Perhaps, or perhaps not, especially if the FBI are looking for help on
Friday’s employment data, and how this information can move the market, reminds us that there are two basic measures of the job picture: weekly jobless claims and the first-Friday-of-every-month Unemployment data. (It wasn’t until the 1930’s that the government even calculated an unemployment rate.) The data collected is still surprisingly hard to collect, most respondents
Bloomberg just published a table that breaks down subprime losses among the world’s financial institutions. View Table
Following last week’s unprecedented monetary policy moves, credit markets are happy, and many are saying that the worst is over … or at least that stocks are cheap. But there are two caveats. First, consumer credit is as tight as it has been in years, making for very stringent mortgage approvals and tighter guidelines on
LENDER GUIDELINE UPDATES Last Friday Countrywide changed their conforming Fast & Easy, limiting it to 90% LTV and 80% CLTV where subordinate financing is used, and entirely eliminated their Equity Programs and House America program. Last week California’s Attorney General shut down four mortgage lenders for providing what he characterized as “illegal and unconscionable loans”:
Fixed and ARM rates open even this week over last week. Bond yields, which set the tone for mortgage rates, dropped last week on benign inflation data and on Fed chairman Ben Bernanke’s comments that the housing sector could see more weakness in the wake of another “$50 to $100 billion” in losses on bad
Rates are about even this week after a two-week rising trend that has been driven by stronger than expected corporate earnings. This has caused investors to sell bonds and buy stocks, and when bond prices drop in a sell-off, bond yields (or rates) rise. The Fed stayed on their ‘data dependent’ message at their meeting
Fixed and ARM rates have been even for about a month despite all of the trouble with the sub-prime sector. A spill-over into the rest of the mortgage industry seems unlikely, especially if lawmakers can stop themselves from making new laws after the fact. In the face of new regulations, sub-prime borrowers wouldn’t stand a
Fixed rates are .25% better today than they were in early-December 2005, and ARM rates are the same. This should provide some much needed perspective. Even though Fed rate hikes have impacted mortgage rates and the housing market this year, 10-year Treasury yield is at exactly the same level now as it was last December.
Fixed and ARM rates are even this week over last week because Friday’s weaker-than-expected jobs and wage growth was a signal that economic growth may be slowing. Slower growth means that the Fed may be able to ease off their tightening soon. The next Fed meeting is August 8, and most economists think we’ll see
Fixed and ARM rates are up another .2% this week, making the last two weeks one of the more volatile periods in the past 18 months. Here’s some context to help explain things to your clients: Mortgage rates are moving in reaction to bond markets, not Fed actions. The Fed has been consistent in moving
As predicted, the market for fixed and ARM rates is up another .125% to open this week – although my quotes below are discounted relative to the market. This week, 10 year bond yields are at their highest point since late-June 2004. That was just a week before the Fed began raising rates off of
Rates open this week up about .125% across the board, bringing the 3 week total to about +.30%. Rates held steady on Greenspan’s economic comments before Congress last week, but then bond markets sold off on the news of China removing it’s currency’s peg to the U.S. dollar. When bonds sell, prices decrease and yields
Rates/commentary for the week of January 12, 2004. Rates improved by about 0.25% Friday as Treasury and mortgage-backed bond markets rallied strongly on December’s weaker-than-expected employment data. The end of this week is huge for economic releases. We’ll see reports on inflation (CPI and PPI), retail sales, weekly jobless claims and consumer sentiment. Remember, though,