Category Archives: Weekly Financial News

Why Do We Depend on the Fed??

Financial FAQs The March FOMC meeting ended today, the Fed left rates unchanged, and financial markets are spinning their wheels attempting to guess what happens next—e.g., how many rates hikes this year? The Fed’s decision to pause their rate hikes … Continue reading

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Even More Job Openings!

Financial FAQs Calculated Risk The consensus from the Labor Department’s latest JOLTS report is job openings (graph yellow line) keep rising and employers are scrambling to fill them. January’s number of job openings rose 1.4 percent to 7.581 million that … Continue reading

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Why No Inflation??

Financial FAQs Econoday There is almost no inflation, and the markets love it, as both stocks and bonds are rallying on news. The Consumer Price Index rose just 1.5 percent in February, and its core without more volatile food and … Continue reading

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Homeownership Expands Again

The Mortgage Corner Washington Post “New data indicate that in 2016, in defiance of myriad prognostications, the decade-long decline in the homeownership rate abruptly reversed. Once-rapid growth in renter households stalled, and the long-stagnant number of owner-led households began rising,” … Continue reading

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Why Smallest Jobs Increase in 17 months?

Popular Economics Weekly MarketWatch.com Is US economy running out of available workers? Just 20,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were created in February, per the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the lowest total in 17 months. But it may have been … Continue reading

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Why the Record 2018 Trade Deficit?

Financial FAQs BEA.gov The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $59.8 billion in December, up $9.5 billion from $50.3 billion in November, revised. This was not good … Continue reading

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Can US Service Sector Boom Reduce Our Deficits?

Popular Economics Weekly Econoday.com All 18 non-manufacturing industries reported growth in February, according to the ISM’s non-manufacturing index, which gives a monthly overview of service sector activity. This is huge and says the service sector that makes up two-thirds of … Continue reading

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Q4 Real GDP Growth Still Good

Popular Economics Weekly BEA.gov Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 (table 1), according to the “initial” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third … Continue reading

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Why the Record Low Interest Rates?

The Mortgage Corner fred.stlouisfed.org The 30-year fixed rate conforming mortgage rate fell to a 1-year low, according to Freddie Mac, the GSE still in government conservatorship, and major purchaser of conforming conventional mortgages. The 30-year fixed-rate averaged 4.35 percent in … Continue reading

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Housing Market Still Alive and Well!

The Mortgage Corner Calculated Risk The Mortgage Bankers Association said last week its Builder Applications Survey data for January showed mortgage applications for new home purchases jumped by 43 percent from December, though was unchanged from a year ago.  This … Continue reading

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