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Daily Market Update 8/27/10

Mortgage rates held steady early Friday, but faced upward pressure following Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s comments to central bankers from around the world at today’s annual monetary symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Bernanke said the Fed “will do all that it can” to ensure that the economic recovery continues. In economic news, second quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was revised down to +1.6% from +2.4%, but this was above the consensus forecast of +1.4%. Consumer Sentiment came in at 68.9, a bit below expectations. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard stated that he believes housing market activity and home prices will remain roughly flat for the time being. He also suggested that the Fed will probably not resume purchases of mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Next week will be extremely busy in terms of new economic data, which may cause volatility in the MBS market. The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index and minutes from last month’s Fed meeting will be released on Tuesday, the Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index comes out on Wednesday, and the closely-watched Non-farm Payrolls report for August will be released on Friday.

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