Last week investors continued to closely watch the events in the Middle East & there were few new developments there during the week. As a result, last week’s important economic data had the greatest influence on mortgage rates. Daily volatility was VERY high as investors reacted to the major economic reports, however Raleigh mortgage rates ended the week essentially unchanged.
We had much stronger than expected economic data during the last week which caused investors to prepare for the possibility that the economy is growing more rapidly than expected. The Chicago PMI manufacturing index rose to the highest level since July 1988, and the ISM Services index rose to the highest level since August 2005… & then the Weekly Jobless Claims dropped to the lowest level since May 2008.
Friday’s Employment report were strong, the economy added 192K jobs in February. The Unemployment Rate declined to 8.9% from 9.0% in January. The gains were strong nearly across the board, with the exception of the government sector – that is totally fine with me…the growth needs to be from the private sector anyways! Over the longer-term, the private sector must produce new jobs to sustain a recovery, so strength in the private sector was a good sign for the future.
After a this massive week last week, the Economic Calendar will be much lighter this week. The most significant report will be Retail Sales on Friday. A Here comes a Kevin Martini fact: Did you know that Retail Sales account for about 70% of economic activity? The Trade Balance will come out on Thursday, and Consumer Sentiment will be released on Friday. Also there will be a Treasury auction on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. These Treasury auctions recently have been market moving events and have caused Raleigh mortgage rates to move.
Folks, the good news is that if you have been thinking about purchasing or refinancing a home, Raleigh home loan rates are still very attractive. Call or email me if you have any questions at all – I’m always happy to talk to you! Or forward this post using the links below to “The Facebook” or “The Twitter” – perhaps one of your friends could benefit from today’s historically low rates.
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