The latest Consumer Price Index reading is in line with expectations, but progress in fighting inflation has stalled. Forecasts for a slower pace of easing next year might keep mortgage rates above 6 percent.
Category: inflation
Latest inflation data ups the odds of a December Fed rate cut
Progress in taming inflation slowed in October, but futures market investors think the latest numbers up the odds of another Federal Reserve rate cut next month.
Weak jobs, manufacturing reports provide no relief for mortgage rates
Hurricanes and strikes were expected to dent job creation, and bond market investors are looking ahead to next week’s election, Fed meeting and government bond auctions.
Mortgage rates back at 7% as bond market investors stage rebellion
“Bond vigilantes” figure “no matter which party wins the White House and the Congress, fiscal policies will bloat the budget deficit and heat up inflation,” Wall Street veteran Ed Yardeni warns.
Strong economy may prop up home prices, mortgage rates
Fannie Mae economists say surprising strength of the U.S. economy means home prices are likely to keep rising, and mortgage rates may not come down as quickly as previously expected.
Numbers to know: Is the Fed having second thoughts about rate cuts?
Inflation, combined with September’s strong jobs report, suggests that the Fed might be rethinking how quickly to cut the Federal Funds Rate, says Windermere’s Principal Economist Jeff Tucker.
Trump, Harris housing policies emerging from the rhetoric
Housing policy has gotten short shrift in the debates, with a tight focus on immigration and inflation. But the candidates’ platforms — and Project 2025 — provide more details.
Recent survey highlights housing priorities ahead of 2024 election
According to the survey, approximately 41.6 percent of U.S. homeowners believe that Donald Trump is best suited to maintain high home values, while 35.3 percent favor Kamala Harris for this role. Although homeowners generally see high home values as beneficial since much of their wealth is tied to home equity, one-third of Americans do not own.
That big Fed rate cut was no panacea for housing: Fitch analysts
Fed easing was already priced into mortgage rates, but there’s room for more relief if investors who fund most home loans get less skittish about prepayment risk and quantitative tightening.
Investors’ expectations for big Fed rate cut rise on new data releases
Investors who fund most mortgages have already priced in several rate cuts, so further declines could depend on what next week’s “dot plot” says about expectations for the pace of future cuts.