What a week for Raleigh mortgage rates!
The Fed did not have their sunglasses on when speaking about the economy last week when they released the Policy Statement at the Federal Open Market Committee. Their statement however said we all would need sunglasses…because they admitted things were improving in most areas. Yes, improvement in our economy is a good thing, however should this trend continue Raleigh mortgage rates could edge higher.“Why Kevin Martini Why”? The answer is simple….stocks benefit in strong economic times at the expense of bonds…know that Raleigh mortgage rates come from the mortgage bonds.
The Fed did acknowledge that inflation could increase in the near-term due to higher energy prices – and higher inflation is never good news for bonds as inflation hurts the return of a fixed investment. Last week provided first hand confirmation of this.
We saw last week, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose a bit in February. If hints of inflation pick up in the weeks or months ahead, this could hurt bonds and Raleigh mortgage rates.
Here is the Kevin Martini take…even though bonds and Raleigh mortgage rates worsened last week, rates still remain near historic lows & now continues to be a great time to purchase or refinance a home.
The economic release calendar is light this week & housing data will dominate the headlines.
Housing Starts will be delivered on Tuesday along with Building Permits.
On Wednesday, Existing Home Sales will be delivered, followed by New Home Sales on Friday.
On Wednesday, Existing Home Sales will be delivered, followed by New Home Sales on Friday.
Initial Weekly Jobless Claims will be released on Thursday. Jobless claims continue to hover near the 350,000 level as the labor sector rebounds.
Remember: Weak economic news normally causes money to flow out of stocks and into bonds, helping bonds and Raleigh mortgage rates improve, while strong economic news normally has the opposite result.
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