inflation

To See Where Mortgage Rates May Go This Week, Keep An Eye On The Weather Channel

August 28, 2008

Three years to the week after Hurricane Katrina caused $81.2 million in damages, Tropical Storm Gustav is charting a similar Gulf of Mexico path. Memories of Katrina are making oil traders nervous.  The 2005 storm shut down 30 platforms and 9 refineries.  And, this week, oil prices are up nearly 4 percent on fears that the […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : August 25, 2008

August 25, 2008

Momentum carried mortgage markets through a week of low trading volume and few economic releases.  Rates were volatile, but ended the week unchanged overall. Don’t let the word “unchanged” fool you, however. From day-to-day last week, mortgage rates covered a huge range and it was only coincidence that Friday ended where Monday began. And it’s the second […]

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The Mortgage Market’s Abnormal Reaction To July’s Producer Price Index Reading

August 20, 2008

The Producer Price Index is a business inflation meter and it’s now up 9.8 percent annually. This is a huge number for PPI and represents the highest year-over-year rate of inflation since 1981. Normally, blowout inflation like this would be terrible for mortgage rates but mortgage markets are actually improved since Tuesday’s data release. Usually, a rocketing PPI would […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : August 18, 2008

August 18, 2008

Mortgage rates overcame a terrible Monday last week, climbing back to unchanged by Friday.  And like most weeks this year, rates were volatile. Most interesting about last week, though, was that there was a ton of news that should have dragged mortgage rates down, but it didn’t seem to happen. A popular inflation measure reached […]

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How Russia Invading Georgia Can Change Your Mortgage Rates

August 14, 2008

The connection between the world’s political events and mortgage rates here at home is not always clear, but Russia’s invasion of Georgia provides a strong working lesson. Georgia is a former Soviet republic on the eastern shores of the Black Sea.  Oil pipelines within its territory supply about 1 percent of the world’s daily oil […]

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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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Making English Out Of Fed-Speak (August 2008 Edition)

August 5, 2008

For the second consecutive meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee left the Fed Funds Rate unchanged at 2.000 percent. In its press release, the Federal Reserve addresses inflation, saying that it “has been high”, fingering energy and commodity costs as culprits.  The Fed does expects inflation to moderate later this year, however. Regarding recession, the Fed […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : August 4, 2008

August 4, 2008

In a week in which stock markets moved 1 percent or more on four separate days, mortgage markets displayed a relative calmness that helped pull rates lower. It was the second consecutive week that mortgage rates improved. Last week’s biggest story came Monday when the housing bill was passed into law.  The new law provides lifelines […]

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How Falling Gas Prices May Increase Your Home Purchasing Power

July 30, 2008

Falling gas prices is doing more than saving Americans money at the pump — it’s also helping to pressure mortgage rates lower. Mortgage rates had spiked between mid-June and mid-July, mostly because economists identified inflationary signals in the U.S. economy. The largest signal, of course, was the ever-rising cost to fill a car with gasoline.  […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : July 28, 2008

July 28, 2008

On the wave of a two-day rally, mortgage rates improved last week overall.  This despite a Friday reversal that had caused rates to tick higher just before weekend house-hunting began. And, like so many other weeks this year, last week’s mortgage market activity was defined by its quick-moving interest rates. At least one major mortgage […]

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How Hurricanes Change Home Affordability

July 23, 2008

After falling 7 cents per gallon over the last 7 days, gas prices are being pressured higher today as Hurricane Dolly barrels through the Gulf of Mexico. The first landfall hurricane of the season is expected to flood the southern Texas coast and cause minor disruptions to the nation’s oil supplies. Versus Hurricane Katrina in […]

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The Inflation Calculator Checks Whether Your Income Is Keeping Pace With The “Cost of Life”

July 22, 2008

The phrase “Consumer Price Index” can be intimidating and unclear to Americans.  It’s an economic term, after all, and not a part of everyday American language. It even has its own abbreviation to add to the confusion — CPI. So, when a layperson hears that “CPI is rising”, it’s not always clear what it means. The […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : July 21, 2008

July 21, 2008

Mortgage rates soared last week as mortgage markets experienced a 4-day freefall. By the end of the trading week, conforming mortgage rates had jumped by as much as 0.500 percent. The spike in rates can’t be pinned on any one factor, but 3 contributing factors include: The lingering impact of high energy prices on inflation […]

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Mortgage Rates Spike On Highest Cost Of Living Index Since 1991

July 17, 2008

Another day, another piece of inflationary data. June’s Consumer Price Index showed a 5 percent year-over-year increase in what is now the largest annual Cost of Living increase for Americans in 17 years. This is bad news for both home buyers and homeowners in want of a new mortgage because rising costs are inflationary and […]

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Fannie And Freddie Are Yesterday’s News, Says The Market

July 15, 2008

Mortgage markets have turned their attention back to the U.S. economy this morning, causing yesterday’s rate improvements to unwind a bit. Rates had fallen Monday after the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury’s joint announcement in support of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Today, it’s the data that is taking center stage. Most notably, the U.S. […]

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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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How Is The Economy Doing? It Depends Who You Ask.

July 11, 2008

“Economic uncertainty” is turning into a 2008 buzzword and there’s good reasons why. On the one hand, there are precursors to inflation in the economy: Rising oil costs Rising food prices Higher Cost of Living On the other hand, there are precursors to recession in the economy, too: Mounting job losses Less access to credit […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : July 7, 2008

July 7, 2008

Last week was fairly uneventful in the mortgage markets, with rates slightly edging lower across the board and without much data to influence trading. Even Thursday morning’s hotly-anticipated jobs report was met with lukewarm interest; many traders had already left for the weekend. Mortgage rates just drifted — a little up and little down, but mostly unchanged. […]

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How Job Losses In The Economy Are Helping Home Affordability

July 3, 2008

On the first Friday of each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its Non-Farm Payrolls report. More commonly, it’s called the “jobs report”. The jobs report is a sector-by-sector look into the U.S. economy and whether businesses are hiring — or firing — workers.  This is one of the reasons why its release is so […]

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Why Mortgage Rates Could Fall Because Of Midwestern Farmers

July 1, 2008

As flood waters ran through Iowa and other Midwestern states, the nation’s corn supply was thought to be in danger. Prices spiked in the wake of the floods, adding to the already-peaking grocery bills that many Americans are now bearing. But yesterday, in a surprise report, the Agriculture Department said that many farmers had over-planted corn […]

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