This week has been another roller coaster when it comes to interest rates! Last week we saw the bond market start to get better. Then Tuesday came with more issues in the Middle East. Oil prices jumped and President Trump signaled that it looked like the ceasefire had ended. With that interest rates jumped. Wednesday continued with more concerns about oil prices and inflation.
The Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is steering the Fed committee away from the traditional guidance and wants to lean more on incoming data than guiding markets ahead of time. The June Fed minutes came out this week and left the door open to a lower policy rate down the road. That is assuming inflation cools and the labor market holds steady.
The June Consumer Price Index will be released on Tuesday, July 14th. That will help guide how the markets read the Fed’s next move.
As the week is coming to an end, the bond market is starting to slowly come back. Where interest rate head this month is still unknown. Currently they are higher than they have been for the past few weeks. Most of what we hear is it depends on inflation and employment – the same story we have been hearing. But as tensions rise in the Middle East, interest rates tend to also rise due to inflation concerns.
Remember rates are still lower than they were a year ago, hopefully we see them move lower but you never know! Please reach out if you have questions on qualifying and how this can affect your mortgage approval.
Leslie Vanderwerf, NMLS ID#335509, CrossCountry Mortgage LLC, An Equal Housing Lender, NMLS#3029 – Email – Website
