On Tuesday, housing starts for April came in at a DROP of 2.6%, and the building permits also dropped 2.5%, normally good for rates but fixed rates didn’t move much because of April Industrial Production was up 1% and capacity utilization was up to a 20-month high of 76.7%, taking away from the poor housing start numbers.
But wait there’s more…
Wednesday the bond market rallied, easing interest rates a little on the turmoil in Washington DC. That turmoil caused uneasiness with stock investors, causing a mini-stampede to the safety of the bond market (good for fixed rates).
So we ended the week with slightly lower rates.
Next week there is a lot going on: the federal government will be peddling more debt at $88 million dollars between 2, 5 and 7 year notes. We’ll see what mood investors are in, both at home and abroad.
A STRONG demand will mean lower rates, and a WEAK demand means higher rates.
Also next week, April new home sales and existing homes sales as well as Durable Goods Orders will be coming out. Stronger than expected sales or orders are an indication of impending inflation and will cause fixed rate mortgages to go up.
Weak data will cause rates to remain the same or go down. More news from Washington could negate the normal market movements.
If there is more bad news about Russia’s influence on the elections in 2016, then there may be more reaction in the stock market causing more flight to the safety of the bond market, giving us lower rates.
Yes, if you love stocks or if you’re a bond person you will have an opposite reaction to whatever news develops.
When in doubt LOCK IN!