Short term, Austin mortgage borrowers are encouragerd to stay defensive. Fast money is selling the long end of the curve, dragging the 10 year note along with it. Not a lot of downside is expected from here. The week ahead will feature Case Shiller Home Prices, Consumer Confidence, Durable Goods, Weekly Claims, and GDP on Friday.
Tuesday, June Housing Starts came in down 5.0% from May to a 549,000 annual rate. This was below expectations, but still up 15.1% from the low they hit in April 2009. Most of the drop came from volatile multi-family starts. Single-family starts were down a mere 0.7%. Most significantly, housing completions shot up 26.2% in June, the biggest monthly gain going back to the late 1960's. Builders clearly shifted focus from starting to finishing, as they pushed to close sales qualifying for the homebuyer tax credit. Finally, Building Permits were UP 2.1% for June, beating expectations, so things are looking up for the months ahead.
Just a heads up as stock traders have put a positive spin on the Euro Bank stress tests. Currently, the Dow is 90 points with financial equities having a pretty good day.
7 of 91 Euro zone banks failed the stress test. As we expected, two of the Spanish banks didn’t make the grade along with one German institution, a couple of Greek banks, and an Irish bank.
Austin Mortgage rates moved even lower during the week, as uncertainty about the pace of the economic recovery has increased investor demand for relatively safer assets such as government guaranteed mortgage-backed securities (MBS).
Today’s “big deal” will be the results of European bank stress tests, due out at 11:00 am cst. Street talk has it that the tests will show a couple of Spanish banks failed portions of the test. Others are rumored to have done ok.
With the market being so psycho and at historic lows in Austin mortgage rates, best to be careful. You never know if tomorrow will be Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde.
The Fed Chief is on the hill, still speaking about the state of our economy. I haven’t caught much of his speech, only been following the market reaction. Stocks don’t like it, down 120 on the Dow. Bonds like it, up 8/32’s on the 10 year note.
Failure to rally isn’t bad, just paints the chart neutral which will cause Austin mortgage rates/pricing to stay close to current levels. Kinda like being all dressed up and no place to go.
Publicity can heighten awareness and "buzz" about you, giving your business a real boost. Media coverage gives you the kind of credibility you just can't get from ads and brochures. So how can you get the media interested in you?
