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The stock and crude oil markets traded in lockstep with one another during the week while the bond market mostly traded in the opposite direction to these markets.  The bond market rose early in the week when oil and equity markets headed lower, but bond prices then fell on Thursday and Friday ...

Like a broken record, investors continue to focus on the impact of slower economic growth and falling equity markets in China as China's Shanghai Index fell into bear-market territory with a 20% decline.   A slowing Chinese economy also results in less demand for oil, and lower consumption of c...

Last week saw panic selling in China’s equity markets leading to pronounced selling in global stock markets including our own.  The U.S. stock market got off to one of its worst starts to a new year with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index falling just over 6%.  The global financial c...

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  The tend has started interest rates and home prices are on the rise. The Fed increased the interest rates  last month and Freddie Mac has predicted 30 year fixed mortgage rates will continue to rise ...

Forecasters predict mortgage rates and home prices will rise in 2016 over supply concerns, mortgage regulation, rising rents and economic improvements:   http://player.cnbc.com/p/gZWlPC/cnbc_global?playertype=synd&byGuid=3000469784&size=530_298  

This past week continued to be characterized by lower trading volumes heading into the New Year’s celebration and holiday on Friday.  The financial markets continued to trade in tandem with crude oil.  As the crude oil market goes, so apparently does the stock market and indirectly, the bo...

This past week the stock market rallied during a Christmas holiday-shortened week usually characterized by lower trading volumes.  A sudden rebound in crude oil prices from 11-year lows encouraged investors to buy stocks while reducing demand for safe-haven assets such as bonds.   Crude oi...

Sixty percent of millennials say that they would feel anxious if mortgage rates were to rise, this according to a new survey by BHHS. Quartz staffer Alison Griswold reports on why millennials fear this rate hike more than any other generation. http://qz.com/576635

The financial markets experienced an increase in volatility during the past week with traders focusing on sharp fluctuations in the crude oil market and the Federal Reserve’s first interest rate hike since 2006.   This past week, West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell to a multi-year low by tra...

The crude oil market was the underlying force driving the financial markets this past week. West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices declined throughout the week moving from close to $40 per barrel to almost $35 a barrel for the first time since 2009. The selling in crude oil was especially brutal o...

The mortgage bond market saw increased volatility this past week with sizeable moves taking place on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.   On Tuesday, the ISM Manufacturing Index fell to 48.6 in November from 50.1 in October to record its lowest level since June 2009. The consensus forecast had been ...

Along with Wednesday’s release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting from October 27-28, a string of noteworthy economic indicators and closely watched statements by Fed officials caused Treasury yields and bond prices to fluctuate through the week.   The FOMC minutes showed a ...

The economic calendar features a couple of manufacturing reports, the weekly Initial Jobless Claims report, and the Consumer Price Index in addition to the Fed’s FOMC Minutes from their October 28 meeting. Economic reports having the greatest potential impact on the financial markets are highlighted...

Weekly Review There was continuing turmoil in the financial markets this past week generated from the better than forecast employment numbers in the October Employment Situation Summary released on November 6. There is growing sentiment that the Federal Reserve will act to raise interest rates on De...

https://mortgage.present.me/embed/558/475/40560   Last week Fed Chair Janet Yellen testified that a December rate increase is a ‘Live Possibility’. Her comments along with a strong job report drove up mortgage rates to highs not seen in months, thirty year fixed rate conforming note rates went ...

The economic calendar strengthens this coming week with a greater number of reports having a potential market impact. lock rate?