retail sales data

What High Unemployment Numbers Mean to your Mortgage Rates

March 9, 2009

Mortgage markets improved last week with investors’ renewed aversion to risk. To the benefit of home buyers, as major stock indices touch 12-year lows , investors are moving investible cash to the bond market.

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Mortgage Markets In Review : December 8, 2008

December 8, 2008

In a week in which mortgage markets struggled to find direction, mortgage rates edged higher overall. The weekly increase was the first since mid-November and it may signal higher rates as we head into 2009. The week’s most talked-about story hit the wires Friday.

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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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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 : August 11, 2008

August 11, 2008

In a week packed with mortgage news and economic data, mortgage rates swung hard in both directions last week before settling into the weekend slightly higher across the board. Adjustable-rate mortgages worsened more than their fixed-rate counterparts and both broke a two-week streak in which mortgage rates had improved. But, if we look at all of the […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : July 14, 2008

July 14, 2008

Mortgage rates fell slightly in a week that included a bank failure, more oil price spikes, and questions about the health of the nations’ mortgage market. Rates would have fallen more if not for a late-Friday sell-off that added 0.125 percent to most products. As financial markets fell under stress, most people missed the strong […]

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If That Home Is A “Good Buy”, Make Your Offer Quickly

June 17, 2008

Each month, University of Michigan researcher survey the U.S. population about their thoughts on the economy — is it improving, it is worsening, is it staying the same. May’s consumer confidence survey registered it’s lowest reading since 1980. Given the recent headlines, that shouldn’t be surprising: Unemployment is spiking Gas prices are at an all-time high […]

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How Gas Prices Are Impacting Mortgage Rates

March 11, 2008

Gasoline prices reached an all-time, inflation-adjusted high yesterday, averaging $3.23 per gallon nationwide. According to GasBuddy.com, this represents a 25% increase in the last 12 months. Higher gas prices are leaving Americans with fewer discretionary dollars to spend and that is playing a role in the U.S. economy’s slowdown.  It’s one reason why mortgage rates have […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : March 10, 2008

March 10, 2008

Between Tuesday and Thursday, mortgage rates rose as much as during any three-day period in recent memory before settling back a bit on Friday’s jobs data. Fourteen speeches from members of the Federal Reserve were partly to blame for the mortgage rate chaos, but several other factors played a part, too. One of the biggest […]

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Retail Sales Data Gives Mortgage Markets Something To Chew On

October 15, 2007

Until this morning, mortgage markets had been somewhat dormant over the course of the week.  There was no new data for traders to chew, digest and/or spit out.  Mortgage rates sat flat because of it. Then, at 8:30 A.M. ET, the Commerce Department released Retail Sales data for September.  Mortgage rates are headed higher this morning on […]

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When Everyone Spends A Little Less, We All Save A Little More

July 13, 2007

Weakness in Retail Sales data this morning is causing a knee-jerk reaction in trading circles, edging mortgage rates lower this morning. Against expectations of a flat reading, retailers reported a 0.9% decrease in sales volume in June.  This is the largest reported drop in two years. As we’ve discussed before, though, when looking at data […]

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