The trade deficit dropped significantly this month, resulting in the smallest gap in the last 16 years. This has been entirely driven by the ongoing gold rush and, to a much less impactful degree, businesses working their way around high tariffs. The unemployment reports, however, have shed another light, showing a steady trend of unemployment rising and reaching a four-year high as of last week. This is somewhat offset by consumer sentiment, which showed a slightly positive increase alongside … [Read more...]

With the only notable item on the schedule being the release of the Federal Reserve minutes, which reflect the current stance of the Fed, virtually nothing has changed since the last rate cut. The Federal Reserve is expected to continue its wait-and-see approach. Primary Mortgage Market Survey Index 15-Yr FRM rates saw a decrease of -0.06% with the current rate at 5.44% 30-Yr FRM rates saw a decrease of -0.03% with the current rate at 6.15% MND Rate Index 30-Yr FHA rates saw no change for … [Read more...]

The Consumer Price Index was scheduled to be released this week but has once again been delayed, with no explanation provided. This left the unemployment data as the only notable economic release from last week. The data showed that unemployment numbers came in higher than expected; however, this result is somewhat tempered by the fact that the figures are supported by a more limited data set. Even so, it is not a positive sign that unemployment numbers are exceeding expectations under these … [Read more...]

The Federal Reserve Interest Rate decision occurred the prior week, with the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates another quarter as expected by many industry analysts. This has given the market a lot of optimism that the trend will still continue and the Chairman Jerome Powell has stated it’s a good time to wait and see where the economy is headed before cutting rates further, giving further confidence more will be coming next year. There was also the U.S. Trade Deficit to gauge where … [Read more...]