Though this week is a busy one for economic reports only a few can and might move the market. But remember, other global news can spook the market.

Tuesday besides the FOMC meeting, we will get the Consumer Confidence Index. This is moderate to high importance report. It indicates how confident the consumer is in their own financial situation, whether they will be making any big ticket item purchases, and the economy as a whole.

Friday will see four economic reports being released but the most important one will be the Gross Domestic Product for the 4th Quarter of 2010. This is important as it tells us if the economy has been recovering and growing. A weaker report will be good for the bond market and therefore mortgage interest rates. A good report which is stronger than the expected 3.8% growth will have the exact opposite effect on the bond market and therefore mortgage interest rates.  

The other report on Friday that can affect mortgage interest rates will be the 4th Quarter Employment Cost Index. That measures employers cost of employees’ wages and benefits. A good report can indicate inflation which is bad for the bond market.

And on top of these important reports, the Treasury will be auctioning off 5-year and 7-year Treasury Notes respectively on Wednesday and Thursday. If these are well received then we can see a raise in mortgage interest rates in the afternoon on both days. If not, then lower interest rates.

In this week’s MMG Weekly Reportis an article on the new “driving” rules set forth by the IRS as well as more indepth information about last week and the economic reports that will be released this week.

As always, please feel free to contact me with your questions or concerns whether it be about your particular mortgage financial situation or more information about how the bond market affects mortgage interest rates.

To an inspired day and week,

Betsy Moore
Mortgage Advisor
MLO# 118165
206-331-2749

The most important news for this week will be Bernanke and Company’s schedule meeting on Tuesday. It will be an one day meeting ending with their press release at 2pm EST. Traders will be again checking each word in the statement to gleam which way the economy is going and when the FOMC will increase their Fed Fund Rate.

The rest of the week will be followed by Housing News both Housing Starts, Building Permits, New and Existing Home Sales. Housing is an important part of our economy as is jobs. Thursday brings the weekly Initial Jobless Claims. Last week, we saw an improvement on claims. Ending the week is Durable Goods which tells us about manufacturing and this report can move the market even though it tends to not always be correct and needs revisions after the fact.

In this week’s Weekly MMG, there is an article about how to handle “When Your Child’s School Asks to Give, Give, Give” as well as more depth information about last week and this week’s economic reports.

As always, I’ll be following these and more so that I am up on the news that affects mortgage interest rates.

You can also check out the Daily Rate Lock Advisory each day. This report normally comes out around 10am. 

I also will report daily on twitter @mmtgsolutions on the mortgage interest rates and what to expect for the day. If one of these reports moves the market in a significant manner, I’ll write about it here.

Please remember, I welcome your comments to this and my other posts.

To an  inspiring week,

Betsy Moore

On Thursday, we will have the weekly Initial Jobless Claims Report. Instead of growing jobs, we are still losing jobs though thankfully not at the rate we were before. But with the stimulus money not having a great affect on the job’s market and with state governments having budget shortfalls, we may see more layoffs soon instead of job gains.

Then on Friday, we have Retail Sales, Consumer Price Index and Core Consumer Price Index. Retails Sales is important as if we continue to save instead of consume/spend, the economy won’t recover. As consumers, we contributes to two-thirds of our economy. The two Consumer Price Index Reports shows us inflation at the consumer level.

You can read about all of this in more detail in this week’s MMG Weekly as well as an article on “How to Succeed On Webcam Interviews.”

As always, I’ll be following these and more so that I am up on the news that affects mortgage interest rates.

You can also check out the Daily Rate Lock Advisory each day. This report normally comes out around 10am. 

I also will report daily on twitter @mmtgsolutions on the mortgage interest rates and what to expect for the day. If one of these reports moves the market in a significant manner, I’ll write about it here.

Please remember, I welcome your comments to this and my other posts.

To an  inspiring week,

Betsy Moore

The economic reports that will be released this week will be on Tuesday, the Housing Starts and Building Permits. This will give us an update on what is being built and going to be built. On Thursday, we will get the Initial Jobless Claims. We will welcome any positive changes in this report.

Last week, Congress passed the sweeping Financial Reform Bill. There has been much talk in our industry about this bill and the changes it will bring. The bill itself is over 2,000 pages but unfortunately doesn’t address the major causes of the financial meltdown. As financial corporations try to digest this over the next weeks and months, they will continue to hold on to their cash reserves. And as long as they hold on to the their cash and don’t invest it (lend it out), we will continue to have a very bumpy recovery.

You can read about all of this in this week’s MMG Weekly as well as an article from Kiplinger on “Tweets Can Help Your Business”.

As always, I’ll be following these and more so that I am up on the news that affects mortgage interest rates.

You can also check out the Daily Rate Lock Advisory each day. This report normally comes out around 10am. 

I also will report daily on twitter @mmtgsolutions on the mortgage interest rates and what to expect for the day. If one of these reports moves the market in a significant manner, I’ll write about it here.

Please remember, I welcome your comments to this and my other posts.

To an  inspiring week,

Betsy Moore

206-331-2749

     So what is in store for us? First off will be the one of two Treasury Auctions on Tuesday when the 10 year Notes will be sold. Retails Sales and the FOMC meeting minutes will follow on Wednesday along with the second Treasury auction-30 year Bond. 

     Retail Sales are important as that indicates what the consumer is spending. Consumer spending makes up two thirds of our economy so that data is watched very closely. Experts feel that sales will be about 0.2% lower than last month’s. Any large decline can trigger a bond rally, lowering mortgage interest rates indicating that the economy is not as strong as hoped fur.

      FOMC meeting minutes which are released later on Wednesday will be closely scrutinized for any wording that would indicate what the Fed may do in the near future as to raising the short term interest rates and how they feel the economy is coming along.  

     Thursday, we have the all important June Producer Price Index and the Core Producer Price Index along with June’s Industrial Production data. All three of these are important as they are an indication to inflationary pressures at the producer level. No change is good for bonds and a decline is even better for bonds.

     And on Friday, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Consumer Sentiment are released. The CPI and Core CPI measures the inflation at the consumer level while the Consumer Sentiment indicates how the consumers, us, feel about our own financial situation. If we are comfortable and confident, we are more apt to purchase bigger ticket items.

      So with a full house of economic reports being released we could see some jitters in mortgage interest rates. This will result in rates moving up and down though I don’t feel that we will have big leaps upward.

       You can read more about this and watch a video from the Kiplinger’s report about “Home Energy Audit” in this week’s MMG Weekly Report.

       As always, I’ll be following these and more so that I am up on the news that affects mortgage interest rates.

      You can also check out the Daily Rate Lock Advisory each day. This report normally comes out around 10am.

      I also will report daily on twitter @mmtgsolutions on the mortgage interest rates and what to expect for the day. If one of these reports moves the market in a significant manner, I’ll write about it here.

      Please remember, I welcome your comments to this and my other posts.

To an  inspiring week,

Betsy Moore

206-331-2749

     Though economic reports will be light this week, we do have on Tuesday and Wednesday, Existing Home Sales and New Home Sales respectively. Low numbers will mean that the housing inventory is shrinking which will be good all over for housing industry. On Friday, we will have Consumer Sentiment Index which tells us what us, the consumers, feel about the economy. And as always, we have the weekly Initial Jobless Claims Report which will also be watched closely since last week’s claims were higher than expected.

     And let’s not forget the weekly round of Treasury auction. The Fed will be auctioning off $108 Billion of 2, 5, and 7 year Treasury Notes. Those start on Tuesday and could move mortgage interest rates if they are not well recieved.

      You can read more about this and why former Fed Chairman Greenspan has to say about yields and higher interest rates in this week’s MMG Week in Review. And don’t forget to listen to the Kiplinger’s report about “Kids and Credit Cards”.

       As always, I’ll be following these and more so that I am up on the news that affects mortgage interest rates.

      You can also check out the Daily Rate Lock Advisory each day. This report normally comes out around 10am.

      I also will report daily on twitter @mmtgsolutions on the mortgage interest rates and what to expect for the day. If one of these reports moves the market in a significant manner, I’ll write about it here.

      Please remember, I welcome your comments to this and my other posts.

To an  inspiring week,

Betsy Moore

206-331-2749

     And dont’ forget that ending this month is the 1st Time HomeBuyer Tax Credit program. Please, if you are a first time home buyer, don’t miss out on this. It is a dollar for dollar amount. You can read more about this in First Time HomeBuyer’s Tax Credit post.

     Also in the news last week was the all important Jobs Report. In March, we added 162,000 jobs with about 40,000 of them being Census Jobs. These Census Jobs are only for about 3-4 months. While it is good news that we are adding jobs, the Unemployment Rate stayed at 9.7% while the unemployment overall rose to 16.9%. Those numbers include the full time worker that has either accepted part time or has completely given up. On top of this, Average Hourly Wages is down by 0.1%.

    This week we start off with Monday: Pending Home Sales, Tuesday: FOMC Meeting Minutes, Thursday: Initial Jobless Claims.

    It should be a rather quiet week except for the $82 Billion in Treasuries to be auctioned. These will have longer maturies similar to Mortgage Backed Securities so this could cause volatility in the marketplace.

     You can read about this in more depth at MMG Weekly as well as on how to ”Boost Your Savings…Without Hardly Trying.”

     You can also check out the Daily Rate Lock Advisory each day. This report normally comes out around 10am.

     And as always, I will report daily on twitter @mmtgsolutions on the mortgage interest rates and what to expect for the day. If one of these reports moves the market in a significant manner, I’ll write about it here.

     Please remember, I welcome your comments to this and my other posts.

To an  inspiring week,

Betsy Moore

206-331-2749

     The housing industry has been slow to recovery in this recession. And with Building Permits and Housing Starts down for February, this part of the economy doesn’t seem to be pulling out. The Fed is now nearing the end, March 31, 2010, on their Mortgage Backed-Securities (MBS) purchasing program. They have purchased almost $1.25 Trillion in MBS. The Fed has stated repeatedly over the their last few meetings that they won’t continue with this program.

      And though the Fed has always stated that they will continue to monitor the housing situation, they did add: “will employ its policy tools as necessary to promote economic recovery and price stability” to this FOMC statement. This some feel leaves the door open for the Fed to step back into purchasing MBS if the housing industry falters.

      The concern over the Fed’s exit on purchasing MBS is that mortgage interest rates will climb. This in turn will depress the housing market more. So far we haven’t seen a climb yet in mortgage interest rates as we close in on March 30, 2010.

      Inflation which has been a concern with traders and economists over the last few days due to ever expanding debt and increase spending from the government doesn’t seem to be an issue with the Fed.

     The bond market ended up for the day. Tomorrow’s Producer Price Index and the Core Producer Price Index will be the released and will give us another read on inflation.

     And as always, I will report daily on twitter @mmtgsolutions on the mortgage interest rates and what to expect for the day. If one of these reports moves the market in a significant manner, I’ll write about it here.

     Please remember, I welcome your comments to this and my other posts.

To an  inspiring week,

Betsy Moore

206-331-2749

     And with the FOMC meeting this week, economists will be dissecting every word of their prepared statement on this Tuesday at around 2pm EST.

     This week is heavy in economic reports. The manufacturing sector will start on Monday with three reports being released. Tuesday brings the FOMC prepared statement as well as Building Permits and Housing Starts. Producer Price Index and Core Producer Index will be released. And Thursday brings us the Core Consumer Price Index as well as Initial Jobless Claims.

     The FOMC and Core Consumer Price Index can have a major impact on the mortgage interest rates depending on what these reports tell us.

     You can read in detail about these reports as well as view a short video on “5 Ways to Get Out of Debt Faster” in this week’s MMG Week in Review.

     You can also check out the Daily Rate Lock Advisory each day. This report normally comes out around 10am.

     And as always, I will report daily on twitter @mmtgsolutions on the mortgage interest rates and what to expect for the day. If one of these reports moves the market in a significant manner, I’ll write about it here.

     Please remember, I welcome your comments to this and my other posts.

To an  inspiring week,

Betsy Moore

206-331-2749

      This week the weather isn’t going to be much better. We are still waiting to hear about Greece and the Fed won’t be doing any auctioning until next week.

      It will be a fairly light week on economic reports. Housing Stats and Building Permits will be out on Wednesday, Producer Price Index along with the Weekly Initial Jobless Claims on Thursday, and Friday will be Consumer Price Index.

      The Federal government has spent almost 95% of the $1.25 Trillion of the money to purchase Mortgage Backed Securities. The program will be ending in about 6 more weeks.

      As this program starts to wind down, Bernanke has signaled that he wants the Fed to have more control over the overnight rate the banks lend to each other. He is concerned that without the control, this may undermine the Fed’s ability to set a reliable benchmark.

     This week in MMG Week in Review you can read about all the news as well as an article about water damage to your home.

     You can also check out the Daily Rate Lock Advisory each day. This report normally comes out around 10am.

     And as always, I will report daily on twitter @mmtgsolutions on the mortgage interest rates and what to expect for the day. If one of these reports moves the market in a significant manner, I’ll write about it here.

     Please remember, I welcome your comments to this and my other posts.

To an  inspiring week,

Betsy Moore

206-331-2749