Some thoughts to ponder…
- Money won’t buy you happiness; but it keeps you in touch with your children
- Insults are the arguments used by those who are in the wrong
- The successful know that the road to success is always under construction; they understand the roughness of it and never expected it to be smooth
- In spite of the cost of living, it’s still popular
- As you grow older, you’ll find that the only things you regret are the things you didn’t do
And now on to the market update!
Mortgage rates are once again approaching the area of all-time record lows.
- Although not quite there yet, the decline of rates seems to be adding a nice boost to housing.
- Real estate professionals from around the country are reporting that they are super busy
- And the demand for housing leading into the summer months is higher than normal. (Does anyone really know what is “normal” anymore?)
With the decline in mortgage rates, loan applications jumped 12 percent for purchases last week and 7.0 percent for refinances.
- The increase in refinances is a significant jump however not as much as many would have expected with rates where they are now.
- The increase in purchase applications reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association of America is a clear indication that housing demand remains strong.
Many areas of the country, especially the Pacific Northwest, continue to struggle with anemic inventory availability.
- These days when a house goes on the market, within 1 -3 days the house is sold and usually for full price, or even higher.
The stock market has been inching higher day by day.
- The DOW Jones Industrial Average is floating near record territory and actually crossed over the 18000 mark this week.
- With little negative domestic or international economic news, investors are feeling more confident in the markets.
A lthough, Fed Chair Janet Yellen has indicated a little bit of concern about the slowdown in hiring for May, she is not taking an alarmist position.
- Yellen alluded to the idea that the Fed may have to rethink the planned increase in the Fed Funds Rate they were hoping to announce at next week’s meeting.
- Investors are keeping an eye on the FOMC announcement along with the accompanying economic forecasts.
- THE FOMC will release their announcement at 2:00PM on Wednesday June 15th.
On the heels of last week’s dismal employment report of the addition of only 38,000 jobs for the month of May, the claims for first time jobless claims have continued their decline from the prior weeks.
- Not too long ago we were hovering around the benchmark 300,000 lever for claims. In the last few weeks we have seen the number drop down to a much healthier 260k range.
This week Wednesday with the Fed rate announcement along with all of the other economic reports being released that day, it can quite possibly be a volatile trading session in the markets.
- Lately we have been fortunate not experience too much craziness in the trading arena. Surprisingly there has been some stability.
Stay tuned.
This week’s potential market moving reports are:
- Tuesday June 14th – Retail Sales
- Wednesday June 15th – MBA Mortgage Applications, EIA Petroleum Status, Industrial Production, FOMC Meeting Announcement, FOMC Forecasts, & Producer Price Index
- Thursday June 16th – First Time Jobless Claims, Consumer Price Index, & Housing Market Index
- Friday June 17th – Housing Starts
