Last week’s newsletter asked whether or not the highest interest rates of this economic cycle are behind us. At the time, this was a relatively new and bold assertion. Now, this week makes that assessment look tame by comparison.
Specifically, rates surged triumphantly lower, and at a much quicker pace. From the recent highs, this is now the biggest, fastest […]
Relative to the last 2 years of pain for rates, a sense of hope has emerged, seemingly overnight, as the 10yr Treasury yield (an important benchmark for longer-term rates like mortgages) broke through a key level.
3.05% had consistently blocked the advance of falling rates for more than 2 months. The most recent bounce happened just last week. Breaking through […]
The rapid rise in rates has been a big problem for the housing and mortgage markets this year. Just last week, some reports suggested rates were near 8 year highs. The same sources reported that rates were ‘unchanged’ this week. One might conclude rates remained at 8 year highs this week, but by Friday, they were the lowest in more […]
October has a bit of a reputation in financial markets as being more prone to volatility than most months. While there are solid theories as to why (earnings, start of Federal fiscal year, seasonal staffing patterns among traders), there’s no solid rhyme or reason as to how the volatility will play out.
This time around, October […]
It’s been all over the news in October, and before then in February: rising rates are causing heavy stock losses! The bigger the stock losses, the more rates get blamed. To some extent, and for some investors, that may be true, but it sure wasn’t true this week.
This week was all about stocks, and if […]
Times are tougher than they have been for the housing and mortgage markets. Rates are at 7 year highs, and home sales/prices are noticeably cooling. 2008’s mortgage meltdown taught us to fear the worst at times like this, but there are some good reasons you probably shouldn’t.
Yes, housing is cooling and prices are no longer rising at unsustainable levels. […]
If you’ve been anywhere close to the housing market over the past few years, you know mortgage rates have been rising. Last week brought one of the sharpest increases in years even as rates were already pushing long-term highs. Now, this week’s massive stock sell-off dropped in to remind us that rates don’t always rise […]
For the first time since early 2011, the average mortgage lender is quoting conventional 30yr fixed rates of 5.0%. This happened fairly quickly too, with an increase of 0.25% just in the past 3 days. What’s causing all this drama and is there any hope that it will subside?
As far as causes go, here’s an […]
