Stock Market Today: Stocks (and the Fed) Stay the Course
The FOMC’s March minutes didn’t give investors much else to munch on, resulting in a mostly sideways Wednesday for the major indexes.
The FOMC’s March minutes didn’t give investors much else to munch on, resulting in a mostly sideways Wednesday for the major indexes.
Just a few short hours ago, the Federal Reserve released the hotly anticipated FOMC “minutes” from its two-day meeting that took place back on April 30th and May 1st, 2013. The contents werenât all that exciting, though they seemed to be enough to result in a 200+ point stock market swing. The markets opened considerably [&hellip
The post The Fed Minutes and Mortgage Rates first appeared on The Truth About Mortgage.
Stocks, especially tech, appeared poised for yet another bloodletting on Friday despite a stellar February jobs report. Then came the turn.
In light of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, which were the Federal Reserveâs very own words, the Committee took bold action to lower the target range for the federal funds rate to 0% to 0.25%. Thatâs a full percentage point lower than the 1% to 1.25% it had been previously. And comes on top of the [&hellip
The post The Federal Reserve Has Swooped In to Save Mortgage Rates first appeared on The Truth About Mortgage.
Kiplingerâs latest forecast on interest rates
Just because the Fed is staying put doesnât mean that mortgage rates, and prices of MBS, are staying put as well, writes Vice Capital Markets Principal Chris Bennett
Another big day for energy prices (and a little help from Uncle Warren) sent Chevron higher Wednesday, helping to lift the Dow.
Posted To: MBS Commentary
The Federal Reserve is committed to using its full range of tools to support the U.S. economy in this challenging time, thereby promoting its maximum employment and price stability goals. The COVID-19 pandemic is causing tremendous human and economic hardship across the United States and around the world. EconomicThe pace of the recovery in economic activity and employment havehas continuedmoderated toin recoverrecent butmonths, remainwith wellweakness belowconcentrated theirin levelsthe atsectors themost beginningadversely ofaffected by the yearpandemic. Weaker demand and earlier declines in oil prices have been holding down consumer price inflation. Overall financial conditions remain accommodative, in part reflecting policy measures to support the economy and the flow of credit to U.S. households…(read more)
Posted To: Pipeline Press
While the Biden Administration waits for the Trump staff to tell them the Wi-Fi password in the White House, the government continues to occupy our thoughts. “The government should not vaccinate health care workers first. Because if it fails, we’re in trouble. They should try the vaccine on politicians first because if we lose a few of them, it really won’t matter at all.” That is an interesting take. I find the term stealth tax hike ” interesting, especially in the coming years, because many of us are predestined to pay more in taxes by legislation already in place. Economists look at interesting things, like U-Haul rental truck movement to determine state or regional trends. Many companies are interested in what the post-pandemic work environment will look like…(read more)
Posted To: MBS Commentary
With 10yr yields breaking the 1.075% technical floor on Monday, the bond market added evidence to the case for a move back to 1.0%. Today's early gains make the evidence nearly overwhelming with yields less than half a basis point away at times. With the Fed coming up this afternoon, it would only take a mildly stronger reaction to break the 1.0% floor . What happens after a break below 1.0% though? The prevailing trend implies heavier resistance around 0.97-0.98%. Specifically, the lower boundary of the "trend channel" (yellow lines below) runs through .98 today. It would require another fairly decent bond rally to get there, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. Such a move could be a blessing or a curse. If the trend keeps doing what it's been doing since August…(read more)