Mortgage rates – Every Thursday, Freddie Mac publishes interest rates based on a survey of mortgage lenders throughout the week. The Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported that mortgage rates for the most popular loan products as of October 1, 2026, were as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 7.28%, up sharply from 7.03% last week. The 15-year fixed was 6.6%, up from 6.42% last week.
The graph below shows the trajectory of mortgage rates over the past year.
Employers added fewer jobs than expected in September – The Bureau of Labor and Statistics released the September jobs report on Friday. It showed that the U.S. economy added just 29,000 jobs in September, well below the 90,000 economists surveyed expected. Hiring also slowed sharply from August’s revised gain of 133,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate edged up to 4.2% from 4.1% the previous month. The disappointing figures suggest employers remain cautious about expanding their workforces and could give the Federal Reserve reason to pause further interest rate increases. However, part of the rise in unemployment reflected more people entering the workforce, rather than a broad increase in layoffs.
Fed’s preferred inflation gauge came in below expectations -This week’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation report offered some encouraging news, with prices rising 0.3% in August, below economists’ expectations of 0.4%. Annual inflation stood at 3.4%, while core inflation, which excludes food and energy, was 3.0%. Consumer spending also rose a strong 0.9%, suggesting the economy continued to hold up despite higher borrowing costs. The milder inflation reading could give the Federal Reserve room to hold interest rates steady, although inflation remains above its 2% target.
U.S. Treasury Bonds – The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 5.28%, up sharply from 5.17% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 5.63% up sharply from 5.49% last week. We watch bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields.
Stock markets – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 51,176.96, up 0.1% from 51,828.62 last week. It is up 7.8% year-to-date from 48,063.29 on December 31, 2025. The S&P 500 closed the week at 7,722.72, up 1.2% from 7,743.41 last week. The S&P is up 13.1% year-to-date from 6,845.50 on December 31, 2025. The Nasdaq closed the week at 27,190.86, up 1.9% from 27,068.72 last week. It is up 16.5% year-to-date from 23,241.99 on December 31, 2025.