With little major economic news, it was a quiet week for mortgage markets, and rates ended nearly unchanged.  In semi-annual testimony to Congress this week, Chair Powell suggested that the Fed was near the end of its current monetary policy tightening cycle. After raising the federal funds rate at ten consecutive meetings by a massive 500 basis points, the Fed …

Given the release of key economic data and a Fed meeting, not surprisingly it was a volatile week for mortgage markets. The daily movements were roughly offsetting, however, and mortgage rates ended just slightly higher.  After rapidly raising the federal funds rate by 500 basis points over the prior ten meetings, Fed officials had been hinting in recent weeks that …

For the most part, investors this week were simply passing time ahead of key inflation data and a Fed meeting next week. Although the few economic reports released this week were generally a little weaker than expected, mortgage rates ended slightly higher. The most significant report this week, from the Institute of Supply Management, revealed a little more weakness than …

After rising significantly over the first several weeks of May, mortgage rates declined last week, mostly unrelated to any specific news.  The latest key Employment report contained somewhat conflicting information. The economy added 339,000 jobs in May, far above the consensus forecast of 180,000, and positive revisions raised the results for prior months. Particular strength was seen in professional services, …

Investors continued to become less concerned about bank troubles and the debt ceiling talks this week. After responding to the initial increase in uncertainty in these areas by shifting to safer assets such as bonds, the opposite took place this week, which was negative for mortgage rates. In addition, the latest inflation data was higher than expected. As a result, …

Investors became less concerned about bank troubles and the debt ceiling talks this week. After responding to the initial increase in uncertainty in these areas by shifting to safer assets such as bonds, the easing this week produced the opposite reaction, which was negative for mortgage rates. The economic data contained no significant surprises and had little impact. As a …

Investors were focused on the inflation data this week. The results were right in line with expectations, and mortgage rates ended with little change.  In April, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), one of the most widely followed inflation indicators, was 4.9% higher than a year ago, down from 5.0% last month. This was the smallest annual rate of increase since …

With a wide range of major economic news, it was a volatile week for mortgage markets. The net impact of the significant economic data and the Fed meeting was relatively small, however, and mortgage rates ended with surprisingly little change.  With troubles in the banking sector rising to the surface again, the Fed essentially stuck to the expected script on …

With a lack of major economic news, it was a relatively quiet week. The most significant economic reports came from the housing sector and were close to the expected levels with minor impact. As a result, mortgage rates ended the week with little change.  In March, sales of existing homes fell 2% from February and were 22% lower than last …

This week, the inflation data matched expectations while the consumer spending data fell short. Neither report had much lasting impact, though, and mortgage rates ended the week slightly higher.  The latest key inflation data came in very close to expectations. The Core Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a closely watched inflation indicator that excludes the volatile food and energy components. …