Today there will be a vote in the House on the Fair Trade Act which basically will designate China as a currency manipulator. The next step is for the bill to be sent to the Senate. It is not expected to pass in the Senate, at least before the November 2 elections and the November G-20 meeting (Korea Nov 11-12).
The Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey showed purchase loan applications UP 1% from the week before, refinance applications UP 6%, and Austin mortgage rates at record low levels
Fed Governor Fisher (Texas) comments about no need for further asset purchases but with a slowing second half of the year in his forecast, low inflation and a weak economy seem to be in play. This follows the Fed thinking and projects a low Austin mortgage interest rate environment until sustainable employment growth materializes.
In the "for what it’s worth" department, top analyst Meredith Whitney has a bearish call on equities (stocks) and expects the U.S. economy to have a rough second half. If true, expect Austin mortgage rates to stay low into 2011.
This week, uncertainty about the pace of the economic recovery caused investors to shift to relatively safer assets, including government insured mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Also positive for mortgage markets, the economic data released this week showed that inflation remains extremely low. As a result, mortgage rates declined during the week, reaching the lowest levels of the year.
Since the Fed meeting on Wednesday of last week, Austin mortgage rates have improved a little each day. There was no major economic data released during the week, and even a weak 30-yr Treasury auction on Thursday failed to stall the rally in mortgage markets. As a result, Austin mortgage rates ended the week moderately lower.
Recently, Fed officials have sent mixed signals about how soon the Fed may need to begin to tighten monetary policy. Wednesday, the Fed's Hoenig said that the Fed should begin raising interest rates "sooner rather than later," and that this action wouldn't end the economic recovery. He explained that the Fed has a long way to go just to return to a neutral monetary stance and that it will take a while for the impact of rate hikes to be felt. Thursday evening, Bernanke held with the stated view that low rates will likely be justified for "an extended period", but he added that the Fed will be ready to remove stimulus as the economy recovers. When the Fed eventually indicates that it's ready to act, Austin mortgage rates will be likely to move higher.
