Investors focus on targeted MBS buying as Fed nears goals. However, Fed Chair Powell did not provide an updated timeline for policy changes. As a result, mortgage rates ended the week slightly higher.
While significant economic news came out this week, retail sales dropped. In spite of this, the travel and entertainment industries saw a major a boom.
In June 2021, the United States saw attractive mortgage rates alongside continually looming inflation. As a matter of fact, annual inflation rose to its highest level in June since August 2008.
This week, GDP fell short for a roughly neutral takeaway while inflation reached a new milestone. Overall, analysts saw an abundance of news.
After last year's partial economic shutdown, the outstanding economic rebound slows its growth while inflation explodes, leading to worry.
As the U.S. returns to "normalcy", analysts see strong inflation data while the economy reopens. Job openings hit record highs. The housing market continues to grow. More Americans are getting their COVID-19 vaccinations. And inflation shows renewed intrigue. But most importantly, investors observe how each of these components affect mortgage-backed securities. Analysts See Strong Inflation Data While the Economy Gains Jobs April's release of labor market and manufacturing data proved stronger than expected. While the stronger than expected return contributed to analysts seeing strong inflation data, mortgage rates barely changed. Employment Report The highly anticipated monthly employment report revealed very impressive results. In March 2021, the economy gained 916,000 jobs. Overall, this rose far above the consensus forecast of 625,000. In addition, analysts supplied added 156,000 jobs to prior month results. In particular, the hospitality and construction sectors displayed strength. This is especially interesting because both of these sectors suffered blowbacks during the pandemic. Average Hourly Earnings Average hourly earnings, an indicator of wage growth, fell slightly from February. Thus, the result did not reach the consensus, but saw a modest increase. Compared to 2020, average hourly earnings jumped 4.2% higher than a year ago. However, average hourly earnings dropped [...]
This past week marked disappointment in the labor market as job gains see a startling plummet. The major economic data accompanied by Friday's labor market report fell well below analyst expectations.
This week’s story focused on how the service sector growth fuels the expanding economy, though mortgage weeks declined slightly.
In this past week’s labor market reporting, the economy realized impressive employment gains and manufacturing sector strength. As a result, both exceeded expectations. In spite of this positivity, mortgage rates ended the week with little change. Impressive Employment Gains Analysts finally learned the latest on Employment in the report released Friday, April 2nd, 2021. To the surprise of many, the data displayed impressive employment gains. Overall, the United States economy gained 916,000 jobs. This result is far above the consensus forecast of 625,000. In addition, the prior month showed revised results to the addition of 156,000 jobs. In particular, the hospitality and construction sectors exhibited strength. This is fantastic news given that both the hospitality and construction industries suffered at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Impressive Employment Gains Lead to Unemployment Rate Decline Because of the impressive employment gains, the unemployment rate saw a decline. Thus, the unemployment rate dropped from 6.2% to 6.0%. This result matched expectations. On the other hand, the economy expressed a decline in average hourly earnings. Generally, economists consider average hourly earnings to be an indicator of wage growth. The average hourly earnings fell slightly from February, below the consensus for a modest increase. [...]
The Democratic Party swept the 2021 Georgia Senate runoff election, an unfavorable result for mortgage rates. While Friday's labor market report was mixed, this week's other major economic data was extraordinarily strong.
