Financial Reports

Feb

Financial ReportsFinancial Reports, FOMC, Mortgage Rates

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week – February 22, 2016

Last week's economic news included the NAHB Housing Market Index, Commerce Department releases on housing starts and building permits and minutes of the most recent meeting of the Fed's FOMC meeting. Home Builder Confidence Falls in February According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), home builders had less confidence in market conditions for newly built homes. The reading for February was three points lower at 58 than the upwardly adjusted reading for January. Analysts had expected a reading of 59; any reading over 50 indicates that more builders are confident about conditions than those who are not. Builder…

Jun

Financial ReportsFinancial Reports, FOMC, Unemployment

FOMC Statement: Quantitative Easing Tapered by $10 Billion

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) determined that current economic conditions warranted another $10 billion reduction in the Fed's asset purchases. Citing improvements in economic indicators including labor markets and national unemployment, committee members said that further tapering of its quantitative easing (QE) asset purchases was warranted. The Fed will now purchase a total of $35 billion monthly in treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities. While continued reductions in the Fed's asset purchases could contribute to rising mortgage rates, the FOMC statement said that the Fed's "sizeable and still increasing" holdings of long-term securities is expected to hold down long term…