Mortgage rates have retreated off of their steady climb that
took place over the last couple of weeks.
Interest rates had risen approximately ¼% but they seem to have
stabilized for the moment. The financing
lull from the holidays which saw mortgage applications for both purchases and
refinances drop 14.8% and 23.3% respectively turned around for the first week
of the year. Purchase applications
jumped 10% and refinance apps rose 12%.
The week had minimal market moving news keeping the stock
market trading in a narrow range.
Through end of the trading day Thursday the Dow was up a total of 100
points and was poised to remain somewhat flat for Friday morning.
The focus now has turned from the fiscal cliff to corporate
profits. Earnings season, as it is
called, began this week. Major
corporations are releasing their 4th quarter profits and investors
are waiting and listening. Thus far
there have been no major surprises in the profit reports released which has
been reflected in the relatively minimal movement in the markets.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released their new proposed
rules relating to mortgage lending. As expected when a new rule or law is
written, everyone will find a problem with it, except the people who wrote
it.
Both consumer groups and various mortgage lending
organizations have all come out saying the rules are detrimental to their
side. Consumer groups say the lenders
are getting more protection and lenders are saying it will be harder for them
to lend. Attorneys, industry experts,
analysts, mortgage company owners and loan officers are all looking at this new
proposed regulation and everyone is trying to figure out how this will impact
them. The release is only about 24 hours
old and the new rule is not slated to go into effect until January 10, 2014 so
there is still time for things to be modified.
All hopes were that the job market improvement trend would
continue however we hit a bump in the road for the first week of 2013. First time jobless claims were expected to
decline but instead increased by 4000 to 371,000. This continues the trend of claims remaining
higher than what is needed for a real recovery in employment to take hold.
It is a new year, but the nonsense on Capitol Hill
continues. Congress has a lot to do when
it comes to the budget and yet they are still not making this a priority. They have less than two months to come up
with a budget and I can guarantee that it will come down to the last minute
deal being thrown together.
JJ Mack
916-517-1800
jj.mack@apmortgage.com
www.apmcroseville.com
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