Market Update: The Economy is Strong and Rates are Unhappy

Blog posted On April 18, 2024

April has been a month of great economic data. In most senses, this is good. But for mortgage rates, it’s not. A strong economy tends to have a negative impact on the bond market and consequently mortgage rates.

The first bout of bad news came from the jobs reports earlier in the month. They came in above expectations, which sent rates trending higher. Inflation numbers also came in hot, which pushed rates to trend higher. To top it all off, retail sales came in higher than expected earlier this week.

What all of this means overall is that the Federal Reserve will likely not cut the benchmark interest rate in the near future. In fact, the number of projected rate cuts has already gone down for the remainder of the year.

In housing news, existing home sales were down last month, as were housing starts and building permits. Supply remains an ongoing issue in the current market, but for those looking to sell your home (and struggling to find buyers), we might have a solution. Reach out to learn more about our List & Lock™ program.

Sources: Bloomberg, Mortgage News Daily