Surprisingly, mortgage markets left this past week’s astonishing impeachments talks ignored. While President Trump’s impeachment inquiry surprised investors, it created little lasting effect on mortgage rates. The economic data also generated just a minor impact. Thus, mortgage rates ended the week nearly unchanged.
Astonishing Impeachment Talks Ignored Due to Investor Outlook
The latest investor outlook left the astonishing impeachment talks ignored by mortgage markets. House Democrats announced an impeachment inquiry of President Trump on Tuesday. Immediately, some investors shifted from riskier assets (stocks) to safer ones (bonds).
This positively affected mortgage rates. Later in the week, most investohttps://rizzoyoung.biz/14-Day-Trialrs reversed course, deciding that the news was unlikely to change the economic outlook significantly.
Inflation Rose, Matching Expectations
Aside from the astonishing impeachment talks, the latest inflation data matched expectations and had little impact. Now, investors watch future results closely to see if inflation continues to trend higher. In August, the Core PCE index, which excludes the volatile food and energy components, climbed 1.8% higher than a year ago.
In addition, Core PCE jumped up from an annual rate of increase of 1.7% last month. This remained below the Fed’s stated target level of 2.0%, but it also was the highest level in six months.
New Home Sales Surged
With the astonishing impeachment talks ignored by mortgage markets, new home sales surged. Sales of new homes account for just 10% of the market. This compares to 90% for previously owned homes. This data still is highly valued by investors each month, though, since it reflects more timely activity than the sales data on previously owned homes.
This is because it measures contracts signed, while the other is based on actual closings. The report released this week revealed that sales of new homes in August rose 7% from July to the second highest level since 2007 and were 18% higher than a year ago. Lower mortgage rates boosted home sales.
Looking Ahead After Astonishing Impeachment Talk Ignored by Mortgage Markets
After mortgage markets ignored the astonishing impeachment talks, the monthly Employment report releases on Friday. These figures on the number of jobs, the unemployment rate, and wage inflation represent the most highly anticipated economic data of the month.
Before that, the ISM national manufacturing index publishes on Tuesday. Also, the ISM national services index comes out on Thursday. In addition, news about the impeachment inquiry or the trade negotiations holds potential influence over mortgage rates.
After mortgage markets left the astonishing impeachment talks ignored, rates barely changed. Never miss an update with MBSQuoteline. To receive by-the-minute updates on mortgage-backed securities, try our platform free for 14 days.
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