Last week in the mortgage markets was thick with hype and thin with action. Whenever the Fed meets, there is potential for wild swings in mortgage rates. And, although the Fed doesn’t control mortgage rates, it’s views on inflation and the economy carry tremendous weight with traders, with economists, with banks, and with governments across [...]

When consumer spending slips, it can send shockwaves through the economy. Consumer spending, after all, makes up 70% of the economy. The best measure of consumer spending data is Retail Sales, a monthly figure describing how much money Americans are spending, and where they’re spending it. Retail Sales unexpectedly fell in April and that would [...]

The Fed left the Fed Funds Rate unchanged again today for the seventh time in a row after 17 consecutive hikes. But, we knew that was going to happen. The Fed’s press release highlights a growing concern in mortgage markets: growth is slowing overall even as inflation threats remain. This combination is sometimes called stagflation, [...]

The Federal Open Market Committee meets today and markets will be hanging on their every word. There is virtually no chance that the Fed will change the Fed Funds Rate from its current 5.250% level, so its the Fed’s press release that will get all of the attention. We’ll disect the message in tomorrow’s blog [...]

In his weekly syndicated column, Kenneth Harney pulled back the curtain on a nasty piece of IRS tax code that can penalize homeowners with foreclosures and short sales. Because the IRS treats canceled debt as ordinary income, homeowners that “work something out” with their lender may inadvertently add tens of thousands of dollars to their [...]

Data painted a dismal picture for the economy last week including tempering inflation readings, slowing job growth, depressed home sale data, and ever-higher gasoline prices. This gave markets hope that the Fed may start to ease up on the Fed Funds Rate. But, while the stock market rallied on the news, the bond market continued [...]

Relocate-America.com selected Asheville, NC as their #1 city in the annual report “America’s Top 100 Places To Live”. This is the second time that the mid-size city of 70,000 ranked in the list’s Top 10, compiled since 1998. Rounding out the rest of the Top 10: Asheville, NC Traverse City, MI Ithaca, NY Chicago, IL [...]

If yesterday’s ADP Employment Report is any indication, tomorrow’s jobs report may fall short of the 100,000 new job expectation from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. ADP reported 64,000 new jobs were created in April. The ADP report has never been in lock-step with the “official” report from BLS, including this well-publicized event in June [...]

There’s a palpable uneasiness in mortgage markets right now and Friday’s payroll report looms large. Remember: it’s not the actual data that matters — it’s how close the data is to its expected levels. All week, traders have been jockeying for position based on a projected 100,000 new jobs created and if the number is [...]

Pop Quiz: Which interest rate is lower? 8.25% or Prime Rate? If you answered anything other than “they are the same”, then you can understand first-hand why banks refer to Prime Rate by name instead of by number. It’s a neat little piece of sales psychology that keeps people from recognizing their true cost of [...]