Industry News

Trade negotiations with China completely dominated the other economic news this week.  Mortgage rates dropped to the lowest levels in about three years early in the week, but later reversed direction. After very large swings, rates ended just a little lower. Last Thursday, President Trump announced that the U.S. will impose additional tariffs of 10% […]

Despite key labor market data and a highly anticipated Fed meeting, it was unexpected news about the trade negotiations which had the greatest influence on mortgage rates this week. Increased trade tensions are positive for rates, and they ended at the lowest levels in years. Thursday, President Trump announced that the U.S. will impose additional […]

While there were some significant economic events this week, they held few surprises, and mortgage rates ended with little change. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic activity, revealed modestly stronger than expected growth of 2.1% during the second quarter, but was down from a rate of 3.1% in the first quarter. While […]

Rising expectations for looser global monetary policy outweighed stronger than expected major U.S. economic data this week, and mortgage rates ended a little lower. Early in the week, comments from European Central Bank (ECB) officials suggested that there may be a rate cut soon to help stimulate economic activity. Then the U.S. Fed’s Williams made […]

Stronger than expected inflation data was unfavorable for mortgage rates this week. Highly anticipated testimony from Fed Chair Powell caused some volatility, but its net effect was small. As a result, rates ended the week higher. In June, the Core Consumer Price Index (CPI), which excludes the volatile food and energy components, rose 0.3% from […]

Sorry for the delay!  We’re back up and running with weekly updates: As is common, thin trading conditions helped make the week containing the July Fourth holiday very volatile again. A decline in global bond yields was positive for U.S. mortgage rates early in the week, but stronger than expected job gains had the opposite […]

Increased trade tensions were positive for mortgage rates and negative for stocks this week, while the economic data contained no surprises and had little impact. Rates ended at the lowest levels in over a year. The economic data took a back seat to the news on trade this week. Investors hoping for signs of progress […]

Increased trade tensions between the U.S. and China were modestly positive for mortgage rates and negative for stocks this week, while the economic data and the Fed minutes had little impact. As a result, rates declined a bit and ended at the lowest levels in over a year. The U.S. and China appeared to take […]

Weaker than expected economic data was modestly positive for mortgage rates this week. Headlines about the trade negotiations between the U.S. and China caused some volatility but had little net effect. The latest figures released this week on retail sales for April were a good deal weaker than expected with a small decline from March. […]

The two main influences on mortgage rates this week, a lack of progress in the trade talks and weak inflation data, both were modestly positive for mortgage rates. As a result, rates ended a little lower. Last week, senior administration officials suggested that a trade deal between the U.S. and China could be close, so […]