Monday January new homes were down 7.8% which is not good news for builders, but good news for rates.

Tuesday the New Federal Reserve Chair Powell hinted that the inflation and acceleration of growth both might indicate a need for more rate hikes this week.

Wednesday the Q4 GDP was revised down a smidge to 2.5% from 2.6% ,which is not earth moving news. The markets yawned.

Thursday was not a good day for the bond market and therefore mortgage rates – personal income was up 0.4%, spending was up 0.2%, and the core PCE which is watched more closely was up 0.3%.

The Jobless rate in the US is now the lowest since 1949. With fewer available workers, there could be upward pressure on wages and therefore inflation.

The January Institute of Supply Management manufacturing index came in at 60.8 which is the highest number since 2004.

All this data from Thursday points to inflation, which is bad for interest rates.