Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Financial news data

May 15, 2013 Last Week in Review Last week brought some positive economic news. Americans filing weekly Initial Jobless Claims fell to 323,000. This was below expectations and the lowest level since January 2008. In addition, the four week moving average (which evens out any seasonal abnormalities) fell to 336,000, the lowest since November 2007. In housing news, research firm CoreLogic reported that home prices rose 10.5 percent in March 2013 from March 2012. This was the biggest annual increase since March 2006 and the 13th consecutive increase in home prices. There was also a 1.9 percent gain from February to March and prices increased in all states except four. However, home prices remain 25 percent lower than the peak of April 2006. What does this mean for home loan rates? Because good economic news often causes money to flow out of safer investments like bonds and into stocks, it can negatively impact home loan rates, as they are tied to mortgage bonds. However, although home loan rates may have slightly risen, they continue to remain near historic lows. Forecast for the week The economic calendar is filled with several key reports this week. We’ll get a read on inflation this week with the Producer Price Index on Wednesday and the Consumer Price Index on Thursday. There’s a double dose of manufacturing news with Wednesday’s Empire State Index and Thursday’sPhiladelphia Fed Index. Thursday also brings news on the housing sector with Housing Starts and Building Permits for April. Weekly Initial Jobless Claims will also be reported as usual on Thursday. Ending the week on Friday, the Consumer Sentiment Index for May will be released. According to the CoreLogic National Foreclosure Report, 55,000 foreclosures were completed in March 2013. This represents a 15.8 percent year-over-year decline from March 2012. Compared to the 2010 foreclosure peak, it is a decline of 52 percent. On a month-over-month comparison, completed foreclosures were up 6.2 percent from February 2013. Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. (May 13 - 17, 2013)