inflation

Watch Out For Mortgage Rates When Gas Prices Rise

March 25, 2009

Don’t look now but oil prices are climbing. This should worry today’s home buyers and would-be refinancers because some of the same forces that helped to push crude past $50 for the first time in 4 months also cause mortgage rates to rise

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How The Stimulus Bill Indirectly Lowered Mortgage Rates

February 18, 2009

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was signed into law Tuesday in Denver, Colorado.

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 24, 2008

November 25, 2008

As the stock market retraced to its 1997 level, mortgage markets improved last week — but not by much. Mortgage rates closed out the week slightly lower, but the week wasn’t without fireworks. Calls of deflation grew louder The automakers left Washington without a bailout Citigroup’s stock price fell to the equivalent of its ATM […]

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Deflation And What It Means To Americans

November 24, 2008

Business television and newspapers have made deflation a hot topic this week and, since Monday, Google has tracked 13,000 mentions of it. Deflation is a recurring cycle in which the prices of goods and services fall. Isolated to one industry or sector, falling prices is the natural result of competition. For example, when DVD players […]

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Mortgage Rates Buck Conventional Wisdom And Rise Despite The Plunging Cost Of Living Index

November 20, 2008

If the presence of inflation causes mortgage rates to rise, then the absence of inflation should cause mortgage rates to fall. And, in most markets that’s true. Today, it’s not. Despite a deep, month-over-month dip in consumer prices not seen since 1947, mortgage rates are inching higher this morning. The main reason why rates are […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 17, 2008

November 17, 2008

In another week of up-and-down trading, mortgage rates ended the week slightly higher last week. Ping-pong action like this has defined mortgage markets lately. It’s increasingly common for rates to soar one day, and then come crashing down the next. In response to market volatility, mortgage lenders issued as many as 8 distinct rate sheets […]

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Should you Prepay your Mortgage?

November 16, 2008

To pre-pay or not to pre-pay that is the question! Whether ’tis nobler in the mind…okay, I am not a huge Shakespeare guru, but I do fancy myself a bit of a mortgage finance guru. For those of you who like to “really get in there” there was a study released by the Chicago Fed in […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 10, 2008

November 10, 2008

Mortgage rates fell last week, marking just the second time since September that rates improved on a weekly basis. The biggest news of the week was the U.S. Presidential Election. Markets appeared to cheer the Republican-to-Democrat transfer of power, posting large gains Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. This in spite of a spate of negative economic […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 3, 2008

November 3, 2008

As global credit markets deteriorated in October, mortgage markets displayed an unnerving amount of volatility. Last week was no different. But, unlike in previous weeks in which rates improved on some days and worsened on others, mortgage rates were mostly higher last week, finishing the month on a surge. The biggest reason why mortgage rates […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : October 27, 2008

October 27, 2008

Mortgage markets followed the recurring trading pattern of 2008 last week — volatility, volatility, and more volatility. After opening with a strong performance that drove rates down, late-week fears of a global recession reversed that path.  Mortgage rates ended the week unchanged. This was an unexpected outcome for the week considering that: The dollar gained […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : October 27, 2008

October 27, 2008

Mortgage markets followed the recurring trading pattern of 2008 last week — volatility, volatility, and more volatility. After opening with a strong performance that drove rates down, late-week fears of a global recession reversed that path. Mortgage rates ended the week unchanged. This was an unexpected outcome for the week considering that: The dollar gained […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : October 20, 2008

October 20, 2008

Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded both its largest one-day point gain and second-largest one-day point loss in history. Mortgage markets got whipsawed, too. From day to day, huge rate swings made mortgage rate shopping difficult.  It wasn’t uncommon for lenders to change pricing 3 times per day. When the week closed, though, […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : October 13, 2008

October 14, 2008

Throughout the feverish activity on Wall Street last week, mortgage bonds sold off with force, driving mortgage rates to their highest levels since July. It was the fourth straight week in which mortgage rates worsened. But, with the mortgage markets closed Monday, stock markets rallied to their largest one-day gain in history. The Dow Jones’ […]

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How Falling Gas Prices May Stave Off Recession

October 10, 2008

Given the stock market’s recent performance, it’s not surprising that gasoline’s falling prices are garnering very little attention. That doesn’t make it any less relevant, however. Since peaking in July, gas prices are off by 20 percent. Falling gas prices are an important positive for the U.S. economy because less money spent at the pump means […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : October 6, 2008

October 6, 2008

Congress approved the $700 billion “Bailout Bill” Friday, answering the question that dogged mortgage markets all week long: Will they or won’t they pass it? The uncertainty prior to the vote created huge market swings that ultimately sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst week since the 2001 terrorist attacks, while causing similar […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : September 29, 2008

September 29, 2008

Mortgage rates bounced around last week, ending up worse overall.  It was the second straight week in which rates deteriorated.  Sentiment was driven largely by the proposed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 — a.k.a. The $700 Billion Bailout. The good news is that Congress drafted its bill Sunday evening and within the 110 pages, […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : September 15, 2008

September 15, 2008

In a week overdone with market-altering news, conforming mortgage rates shed a quarter-percent overall last week.  It was the third straight week in which rates improved. The biggest story, by far, was the government’s takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two quasi-government agencies were nationalized into bona fide government agencies, converted mortgage-backed debt into risk-free, government […]

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Mortgage Rates Fall As The Unemployment Rate Rises

September 5, 2008

On the first Friday of every month, the government releases its Non-Farm Payrolls report. More commonly called the “jobs report”, the two-page analysis examines the nooks and crannies of the U.S. economy to see which industries are hiring and which are firing. The August jobs report was released this morning and it shows that the […]

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See How Mortgage Rates Are Trending With Oil Prices

September 3, 2008

Mortgage rates are hugely important to household budgets. Lower mortgage rates free up household cash for spending and long- and short-term saving. Higher mortgage rates, of course, do the opposite. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to predict the future of mortgage rates with any bit of certainty.  This is because there are countless influences on mortgage markets, […]

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How Labor Day Weekend Complicates Mortgage Rate Shopping

August 29, 2008

As we get closer to Labor Day, volume on Wall Street is dwindling as market players get a head start on their long weekend. Today could be a difficult day to shop for mortgage rates.  Expect volatility. This is because mortgage rates are based on the price of mortgage bonds and, on Wall Street, bonds trade […]

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