Good morning on this fantastic Thursday,
A little consolidation going on in bonds today.
Not unexpected after the recent gains. We will have an opportunity for the next leg to better rates again soon. No market moving news today. Unemployment claims came in as expected. Yesterday the Bank of Canada hiked rates less than expected and signaled they are ready to pause hikes in the future. We may not be quite there yet, but it is helpful to see other economies are seeing positive impact of rate hikes and the need to pause before causing severe damage. I am sure the Fed is listening. We will see what they say next week.
There is a great piece in the WSJ today on housing. What’s Going On With the Housing Market? – WSJ. It’s a bit long in the tooth so I am sharing one small clip to share how varied forecasts are. I have not seen any of these predictions before and as you may already know, I am in the camp with NAR and the MBA. Prices are more likely to go higher. “Next year’s predictions for home prices are unusually varied, economists say. KPMG LLP, an audit and consulting firm, is calling for prices to fall 20% next year, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. forecasts a 7.5% drop. The National Association of Realtors, meanwhile, is forecasting a 1.2% increase in existing-home prices, and the Mortgage Bankers Association sees prices up 0.7% next year.”
Americans are missing out on billions of dollars in interest by keeping their savings at the biggest U.S. banks. The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates to their highest level since early 2008, just before a near failure of the financial system plunged the American economy into recession. Yet the biggest commercial banks are still paying peanuts to savers. In theory, savers could have earned $42 billion more in interest in the third quarter if they moved their money out of the five largest U.S. banks by deposits to the five highest-yield savings accounts—none of which are offered by the big banks—according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
Please remain safe and stay healthy, make today great!
