Wishing you a joyous Easter with family, friends, and fun surprises!
Thoughts to Ponder . . .
- He who laughs…..lasts.
- Gasoline is getting more expensive because transporting it costs more when it gets more expensive.
- I would like to thank my arms for always being by my side, my legs for always supporting me, and my fingers, because I can always count on them.
- I stopped understanding math when the alphabet decided to get involved.
- “Oh you want to have your cake and eat it too?” Darn right, what good is cake if you can’t eat it?
And Now on to The Market Update . . .
The stock market finished the week in the same neighborhood as it began last Monday.
- Investors have been looking for anything to grab onto in order justify buying or selling stocks.
- Recent happenings in the world and the U.S. have not given much food to chew on to make investment decisions.
- As of Friday morning, even the stock market futures have had virtually zero reaction to the bombing by the U.S. into Syria.
On the real estate front, housing demand continues to remain very high across the country.
- Inventory however continues to remain very low.
- In many areas of the country, especially the Northeast, the entire West Coast, and Colorado, as fast as houses come on the market, they are going into contract.
- In many instances, home prices are being bid up above listing price. (Does this remind you of another time in the market, like maybe 2006?)
Construction spending increased a healthy 0.8 percent for the month of February.
- The best part of the report is that residential construction led the way with an increase of 1.2 percent for single-family homes.
- This is the second month of increase for the single-family sector.
Despite mortgage rates having declined slightly in recent weeks returning to the lows of 2017, refinance activity continues to decline.
- The Mortgage Bankers Association of America reported a drop of 4.0 percent in refinance applications for the week of March 31st.
- Purchase applications increased a seasonally adjusted 1.0 percent.
- Purchase applications remain higher than the same time last year by 9.0 percent.
Last Wednesday morning ADP reported that they expected an increase of private payroll jobs in March by a strong 263,000.
- This number was way above analyst’s estimates of 170,000.
- On Friday morning, the U.S. labor department reported that payrolls increased by only 98,000.
- Additionally, the jobs report for February was revised downward by 38,000.
- Overall, the labor report is much weaker than expected.
Immediately after the unexpectedly lower labor market report, investors took to setting up selling positions, which was reflected in the Dow Futures plummeting 43 points within a minute of the report.
- Mortgage rates will be lower today as the 10YR treasury immediately declined 5 basis points following the report.
- The next thing to watch now is the next Fed meeting.
- The question investors will undoubtedly raise in the coming weeks is will the fed continue to expect to raise interest rates 2 to 3 times in 2017?
This week’s potential market moving reports are:
- Monday April 10th – Labor Market Conditions Index
- Tuesday April 11th – Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)
- Wednesday April 12th – MBA Applications
- Thursday April 13th – First Time Jobless Claims, PPI, Consumer Sentiment
- Friday April 14th – Consumer Price Index, Retail Sales
Joke of the Week!
I asked the corporate wellness officer, “Can you teach me yoga?”
She said, “How flexible are you?”
I replied, “I can’t make Tuesdays.”