Economic update for the week ending July 11, 2020

The NASDAQ closed the week at a record high – More economic data showing that the economy is recovering quicker that expected, despite a surge in Coronavirus cases, pushed stocks higher again this week. Although all sectors did well, technology stocks saw the highest gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 26,075.30, up 1% from 25,827.36 last week. It’s down 8.6% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 3,185.04, up 1.8% from 3,130.01 last week. It’s down 1.4% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 10,617.44, up 4% from 10,207.63 last week. It’s up 18.3% year to date.

U.S. Treasury bond yields – The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 0.65%, down from 0.68% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 1.33%, down from 1.43% last week.

Mortgage rates – The Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey released on July 9, 2020, reported mortgage rates for the most popular loan products as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 3.03%, down slightly from 3.07% last week. The 15-year fixed was 2.51%, down slightly from 2.56% last week. The 5-year ARM was 3.02%, almost unchanged from 3.00% last week.

Housing sales results for June should be out by the end of next week. That data will be included in next week’s update.