by Mark Chandik | Sep 11, 2023
Weekly Market Commentary Mortgage rates soared last year, rising from nearly 3% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to as high as 7.08%, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage survey. Predictably, housing sales fell sharply last year, and there were plenty of...
by Mark Chandik | Sep 5, 2023
Weekly Market Commentary It sounds like a contradiction. Jobs increased last month, but the unemployment rate also rose. What happened? Nonfarm payrolls rose by 187,000 in August, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), while the unemployment rate rose...
by Mark Chandik | Aug 21, 2023
Weekly Market Commentary Recession talk earlier this year and a belief that the Federal Reserve was nearly finished hiking interest rates kept a lid on longer-term Treasury yields. That’s changed. Last Thursday, the 10-year Treasury yield closed at 4.30%, according to...
by Mark Chandik | Jul 17, 2023
Weekly Market Commentary Inflation has bedeviled consumers and investors for over a year. The Federal Reserve waited far too long in responding to high prices, and its abrupt reversal in 2022 pushed equities into a bear market. But the Fed’s kinder, gentler approach...
by Mark Chandik | Jun 20, 2023
Weekly Market Commentary The Federal Reserve held the fed funds rate at 5.00–5.25% following ten consecutive rate increases that began in March 2022. The move was anticipated as policymakers had previously expressed their intention, allowing them time to assess the...
by Mark Chandik | May 15, 2023
Weekly Market Commentary In the past, investors paid close attention to the monthly employment report. Today the focus has shifted to the CPI. Blame high inflation for the jump in interest rates, which has pressured the major stock market averages. The U.S. Bureau of...
