The economic calendar is relatively quiet this week, with just last week’s initial unemployment numbers due for release on Thursday, and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment numbers due for release on Friday. That said, mortgage pricing may be volatile as the market continues to react to last week’s deluge of economic news.
As expected, the Fed increased short-term rates by 0.25% last Wednesday and indicated that rate cuts weren’t on the agenda at all for 2023. Then, the jobs report for January came in last Friday, showing a whopping 517,000 jobs were created last month. This not only completely dashed hopes for a Fed rate cut this year, but it made it likely that the Fed may need to continue hiking rates in order to fight inflationary pressures and slow down the red-hot economy. Mortgage bond prices plunged on Friday, and they opened sharply lower this week, causing mortgage pricing to get measurably worse.
Be prepared for more volatility in mortgage pricing and the financial markets this week as investors readjust their positions to the new realities presented by last week’s economic news and data.
NUMBR OF THE WEEK:
517,000 – That’s how many jobs were created in January.
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The article is provided with content from Momentifi.
