Mortgage rates are down a little today as financial market participants wait to hear the final say on the next Fed chair from President Trump, on top of waiting to get to details on the GOP tax plan. Read on for more details.
Where are mortgage rates going?
Rates down a little today
Mortgage rates have barely moved around this week. Right now, they’re down a touch from the beginning of the week. Yesterday, we got the latest announcement from the Federal Reserve as they concluded their two-day FOMC meeting.
There were really no surprises in the written statement which said that they were keeping the federal funds rate unchanged and gave no reason to doubt that a December rate hike is any less certain.
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That outlook is reflected in the market by the CME Group’s Fed Funds Futures 98.2% chance of a quarter point increase in December.
With nothing out of the ordinary happening during the meeting, financial market participants didn’t make any significant adjustments to their positions, resulting in little changes to mortgage rates.
The other big news yesterday was the fact that the Wall Street Journal reported late in the afternoon that sources close to President Trump had told them that he would be nominating Jerome Powell as the next chair of the Federal Reserve.
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That announcement is set to happen today and has been the main focus for investors this week, and created quite a stir in the markets the past couple of weeks.
Current Fed chair, Janet Yellen, is set to see her term expire in February. Powell isn’t all that different from Yellem, with many analysts agreeing that his approach to monetary policy will be very much a continuation of the current plan.
Investors have completely digested the news, so we could still see some market movement once the pick is solidified.
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Mortgage rates are down a little today. Stepping back and looking at the bigger picture, it’s clear that rates are at much lower levels on the year than where the vast majority of analysts had predicted.
We could see rates change as we hear from President Trump and the details about the GOP tax plan come out, but our recommendation remains to lock.
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Today’s economic data:
Jobless Claims
Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits came in at 229,000 for the week of 10/28/17. The 4-week moving average is now at 232,500.
Productivity and Costs
Nonfarm productivity rose 3.0% for Q3 and unit labor costs rose 0.5%.
Fedspeak
- Fed Governor Jerome Powell at 8:30am
- New York Fed President William Dudley at 12:20pm
- Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic at 6:15pm
Notable events this week:
Monday:
- Personal Income and Outlays
- Dallas Fed Mfg Survey
Tuesday:
- FOMC Meeting Begins
- S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller HPI
- Chicago PMI
- Consumer Confidence
Wednesday:
- ADP Employment Report
- PMI Manufacturing Index
- ISM Mfg Index
- Construction Spending
- EIA Petroleum Status Report
- FOMC Meeting Announcement
Thursday:
- Jobless Claims
- Productivity and Costs
- Fedspeak
Friday:
- Monthly Jobs Report
- International Trade
- PMI Services Index
- Factory Orders
- ISM Non-Mfg Index
- Fedspeak
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from Total Mortgage Blog http://ift.tt/2hyCQ3n
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