Mortgage Rates This Week
The FOMC statement announced the committee’s intention to closely monitor economic and financial developments “in the coming months,” which suggested that the FOMC is taking a wait-and-see position on reducing its $85 billion monthly asset purchases.
Mortgage Rates Fall
The Fed’s asset purchase program, also known as quantitative easing, was implanted in 2012 with a goal of stabilizing mortgage rates and other long-term interest rates.
The National Association of REALTORS® reported that pending home sales fell by 5.60 percent in September. Uncertainty over the FOMC’s decision concerning tapering its asset purchases during its September meeting and concerns over a then potential government shutdown.
These were noted as primary reasons for the drop in pending home sales, which are measured by signed real estate contracts. Pending Home Sales are used for estimating future closings and mortgage loan activity.
Tuesday’s economic reports included the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for August. Home prices increased by 12.80 percent year-over-year in August as compared to 12.30 percent year-over-year for August 2012. August’s reading shows a dampened pace of rising home prices.
According to ADP, a payroll administration firm, private-sector payrolls came in well shy of the expected 150,000 new jobs with a reading of 130,000 jobs. October’s reading was also lower than September’s reading of 145,000 new jobs.
Weekly jobless claims brought good news; new jobless claims came in at 340,000 and fell by 10,000 new claims from the previous week’s 350,000 new jobless claims. Expectations had been for 335,000 new jobless claims.
Freddie Mac reported that average mortgage rates fell. The rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage dropped by three basis points to 4.10 percent, with discount points down from 0.80 percent to 0.70 percent.
The average rate for a 15-year mortgage fell by four basis points to 3.20 percent, with an uptick in discount points from 0.60 percent to 0.70 percent. The rate for a 5/1 adjustable rate mortgage dropped by four basis points to 2.96 percent with discount points unchanged at 0.40 percent.
What‘s on Tap
All eyes are focused on GDP on Thursday and Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday. Below is a full list of reports set for release this week.
Date | Time (ET) | Economic Release | Actual | Market Expects | Prior |
4-Nov | 10:00 AM | Factory Orders | – | 0.30% | -2.40% |
4-Nov | 10:00 AM | Factory Orders | – | 1.80% | NA |
5-Nov | 10:00 AM | ISM Services | – | 54 | 54.4 |
6-Nov | 7:00 AM | MBA Mortgage Index | – | NA | 6.40% |
6-Nov | 10:00 AM | Leading Indicators | – | 0.60% | 0.70% |
6-Nov | 10:30 AM | Crude Inventories | – | NA | 4.087 |
7-Nov | 7:30 AM | Challenger Job Cuts | – | NA | 19.10% |
7-Nov | 8:30 AM | Initial Claims | – | 335K | 340K |
7-Nov | 8:30 AM | Continuing Claims | – | 2863K | 2881K |
7-Nov | 8:30 AM | GDP-Adv. | – | 1.90% | 2.50% |
7-Nov | 8:30 AM | Chain Deflator-Adv. | – | 1.40% | 0.60% |
7-Nov | 10:30 AM | Natural Gas Inventories | – | NA | 38 bcf |
7-Nov | 3:00 PM | Consumer Credit | – | $11.0B | $13.6B |
8-Nov | 8:30 AM | Nonfarm Payrolls | – | 100K | 148K |
8-Nov | 8:30 AM | Nonfarm Private Payrolls | – | 110K | 126K |
8-Nov | 8:30 AM | Unemployment Rate | – | 7.30% | 7.20% |
8-Nov | 8:30 AM | Hourly Earnings | – | 0.20% | 0.10% |
8-Nov | 8:30 AM | Average Workweek | – | 34.4 | 34.5 |
8-Nov | 8:30 AM | Personal Income | – | 0.20% | 0.40% |
8-Nov | 8:30 AM | Personal Spending | – | 0.20% | 0.30% |
8-Nov | 8:30 AM | PCE Prices – Core | – | 0.10% | 0.20% |
8-Nov | 9:55 AM | Mich Sentiment | – | 75.3 | 73.2 |
8-Nov | 10:00 AM | JOLTS – Job Openings | – | NA | 3.883M |