Economic news this week – On Thursday it was announced that the U.S. economy grew at a solid 3.4% annual pace in the last quarter of 2023, up from a previously estimated rate of 3.2%. The PCE (personal consumption expenditures) index, the Fed’s favorite gauge of inflation, was released on Friday. It showed that the core PCE increased 2.8% year-over-year. That was in line with analysts’ expectations.

Stock markets – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 39,807.37, up 0.8%from 39,475.90 last week. It is up 5.6% year-to-date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 5,254.35, up 0.4% from 5,234.18 last week. The S&P is up 10.2% year-to-date. The Nasdaq closed the week at 16,379.46 down 0.3% from 16,428.82 last week. It is up 9.1% year-to-date.

U.S. Treasury bond yields – The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 4.22%, down from 4.31% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 4.39%, down from 4.43% last week. We watch bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields.

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 March 28, 2024, were as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.79%, down from 6.87% last week. The 15-year fixed was 6.11%, down from 6.21% last week.

The graph below shows the trajectory of mortgage rates over the past year.

Home sales data is released on the third week of the month for the previous month by the National Association of Realtors and the California Association of Realtors. These are February’s home sales figures.

U.S. existing-home sales – The National Association of Realtors reported that existing-home sales totaled 4.38-million units on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate in February, down 3.3% from an annualized rate of 4.53 million in February 2023. The median price for a home in the U.S. in January was 384,100, up 5.7% from $363,600 last February. There was a 2.9-month supply of homes for sale in February, up from a 2.6-month supply one year ago. First-time buyers accounted for 32% of all sales. Investors and second-home purchases accounted for 21% of all sales. All-cash purchases accounted for 33% of all sales. Foreclosures and short sales accounted for 3% of all sales.

Year-over-year home prices jumped almost 10% in California – The California Association of Realtors reported that existing-home sales totaled 290,020 in February, up 12.8% from 257,040 closed sales in January and up 1.3% from a revised 286,290 homes sold on an annualized basis last January. There was a 3-month supply of homes on the market in February, down up from a 3.2-month month supply of homes in January and down from a 3.1-month supply one year ago. The statewide median price paid for a home in February was $809,460, up 9.7%from a revised median price of $789,480 last February.

The graph below shows home sales figures by county in Southern California.

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 March 28, 2024, were as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.79%, down from 6.87% last week. The 15-year fixed was 6.11%, down from 6.21% last week.

The graph below shows the trajectory of mortgage rates over the past year.

Freddie Mac was chartered by Congress in 1970 to keep money flowing to mortgage lenders in support of homeownership and rental housing. Their mandate is to provide liquidity, stability, and affordability to the U.S.

This week the Fed left interest rates unchanged. In their remarks, they said that they still expect to make three rate drops in 2024 despite inflation remaining above their target rate. They also commented on the strength of the labor market and that they expect unemployment to remain low. They also made reference to easing of other quantitative policies designed to slow the economy. Investors took the news well and stocks surged while bond yields and mortgage rates dropped on expectations of lower rates soon.

Stock markets – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 39,475.90, up 2% from 38,714.77 last week. It is up 4.7% year-to-date.  The S&P 500 closed the week at 5,234.18, up 2.3% from 5,117.09 last week.  The S&P is up 9.8% year-to-date. The Nasdaq closed the week at 16,428.82 up 2.8% from 15,973.17 last week. It is up 9.4% year-to-date.

U.S. Treasury bond yields – The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 4.22%, down from 4.31% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 4.39%, down from 4.43%last week. We watch bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields.

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 March 21, 2024, were as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.87%, up from 6.74% last week. The 15-year fixed was 6.21%, up from 6.16% last week.

The graph below shows the trajectory of mortgage rates over the past year.

Year-over-year home prices jumped almost 10% in California  – The California Association of Realtors reported that existing-home sales totaled 290,020 in February, up 12.8% from 257,040 closed sales in January and up 1.3% from a revised 286,290 homes sold on an annualized basis last January.There was a 3-month supply of homes on the market in February, down up from a 3.2-month month supply of homes in January and down from a 3.1-month supply one year ago.  The statewide median price paid for a home in February was $809,460, up 9.7% from a revised median price of $789,480 last February.

The graph below shows home sales figures by county in Southern California.

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 March 21, 2024, were as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.87%, up from 6.74% last week. The 15-year fixed was 6.21%, up from 6.16% last week.

Both the CPI (Consumer Price Index) and the PPI (Producer Price Index) showed that consumer prices and wholesale prices jumped more than expected in February. It was widely thought that inflation would continue to drop in 2024, but that was not the case in February. This drove up home mortgage rates to about 7%. They were almost at 8% in October and worked their way down to 6.5% by the start of the year, but have increased on strong economic news which included a jump in hiring, strong consumer spending, corporate profits above what was estimated, and the inflation rate ticking up. For investors it is not a matter of if the Fed will drop rates below their 24-year highs, it’s a matter of when they will begin dropping rates. Unfortunately, the stronger the economy the longer the Fed will wait to begin rate reductions. It seems strange to hope for bad economic news but that’s what it will take to curb inflation which will allow the Fed to reduce rates. Stock markets – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 38,714.77, almost unchanged from 38,722.69 last week. It is up 3.7% year-to-date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 5,117.09, down 0.1% from 5,123.69 last week. The S&P is up 7.7% year-to-date. The Nasdaq closed the week at 15,973.17, down 0.1% from 16,085.11 last week. It is up 8.4% year-to-date. U.S. Treasury bond yields – The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 4.31%, up from 4.09% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 4.43% up from 4.26% last week. We watch bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields. 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 March 14, 2024, were as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.74%, down from 6.88% last week. The 15-year fixed was 6.16%, down from 6.22% last week. Unfortunately, rates rose at the end of the week as higher inflation data was released. The graph below shows the trajectory of mortgage rates over the past year. Freddie Mac was chartered by Congress in 1970 to keep money flowing to mortgage lenders in support of homeownership and rental housing. Their mandate is to provide liquidity, stability, and affordability to the U.S. Home sales data for February will be released next week by the National Association of Realtors and the California Association of Realtors. We have that data tabulated now and you can view that data for your city or zip code at RodeoRe.com.

Have a great weekend!

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 March 14, 2024, were as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.74%, down from 6.88% last week. The 15-year fixed was 6.16%, down from 6.22% last week.

The graph below shows the trajectory of mortgage rates over the past year.

Freddie Mac was chartered by Congress in 1970 to keep money flowing to mortgage lenders in support of homeownership and rental housing. Their mandate is to provide liquidity, stability, and affordability to the U.S.

Economic news this week centered around hiring, jobs, and Tech stocks. The job market remained hot, but not as hot as it appeared last month. Tech stocks that have had a giant rally this year gave up some ground this week. There was really no news that led to a slight sell-off except for Investors taking profits. Perhaps they feel that the sector has been overbought. Next week the Consumer Price Index will be released. With the Fed looking mainly at the tight labor market as inflationary, investors are waiting to see if the inflation rate will continue to tick down. The lower the inflation level and the higher the unemployment rate, the sooner the Fed will begin lowering interest rates from their 24-year high.

February hiring points to another robust month of job growth, while a downward January revision indicates that the job market is not as “red hot” as it appeared a month ago. – The Department of Labor and Statistics reported that 275,000 new jobs were added in February. That was higher than the 200,000 new jobs that analysts expected, and it marked the third straight month with job gains above 200,000 and the 38th consecutive month of job growth. January’s new jobs number was adjusted downward from 353,000 new jobs to 229,000. That was much closer to the 175,000 experts expected in January. The Department of Labor gave no explanation for such a large difference between the initial number and the revised number. The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% in February, up from 3.7% in January. While that is the highest unemployment rate in two years, unemployment is still at a level not seen since the 1960s. The Fed is looking to get the unemployment rate to the low to mid 4% range. With employers struggling to find workers, wage gains are outpacing the inflation rate. That leads to higher consumer spending which fuels inflation. Average hourly wages increased 4.3% year-over-year in February, down from 4.5% in January. Economists expected a 4.4% increase. Bond yields and mortgage rates ended the week lower. Investors and experts reported that they now feel that a rate drop by the Fed could be sooner than they thought a month ago due to the January revision, the rise in unemployment, and the slight year-over-year drop in wages.

Stock markets – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 38,722.69, down 0.9% from 39,087.38 last week. It is up 3.7% year-to-date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 5,123.69, down 0.3% from 5,137.08 last week. The S&P is up 7.7% year-to-date. The Nasdaq closed the week at 16,085.11, down 1.2% from 16,274.94 last week. It is up 8.4% year-to-date.

U.S. Treasury bond yields – The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 4.09%, down from 4.19% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 4.26%, down from 4.33% last week. We watch bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields.

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 March 7, 2024, were as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.88%, down from 6.94% last week. The 15-year fixed was 6.22%, down from 6.26% last week.

The graph below shows the trajectory of mortgage rates over the past year.

Freddie Mac was chartered by Congress in 1970 to keep money flowing to mortgage lenders in support of homeownership and rental housing. Their mandate is to provide liquidity, stability, and affordability to the U.S.

Have a great weekend!
Remember that the time moves one hour forward at 2 AM on Sunday!

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 March 7, 2024, were as follows: The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.88%, down from 6.94% last week. The 15-year fixed was 6.22%, down from 6.26% last week.

The graph below shows the trajectory of mortgage rates over the past year.

Freddie Mac was chartered by Congress in 1970 to keep money flowing to mortgage lenders in support of homeownership and rental housing. Their mandate is to provide liquidity, stability, and affordability to the U.S.

Stay connected with this week’s leading tech news headlines, from Adobe AI to Nikon Acquisitions and more! Our weekly round-up of what’s happening from across the web provides a bite-size version of the week’s news. Read on for the latest tech news!

Apple Aims to Simplify Transition from iPhone to Android Due to EU Regulations

Apple is set to introduce changes for EU-based iPhone users to align with the European Union’s new Digital Markets Act, aiming to facilitate the uninstallation of its Safari browser by late 2024 and enhance the process of transferring data to non-Apple phones by fall 2025. A compliance document from Apple highlights efforts to comply with the EU regulations, including a browser switching solution and the ability to select alternative default navigation apps by March 2025. While it remains unclear if these changes will apply globally, Apple’s initiative reflects an effort to develop more user-friendly data transfer solutions, potentially addressing gaps in current transfer tools like Google’s “Switch to Android” app, which does not support the migration of certain data types.

Adobe Introduces Generative AI Capabilities of Firefly in the Latest Express Mobile Application

Adobe has unveiled a new Adobe Express app for mobile devices, extending the creative, editing, and Firefly-powered generative AI functionalities of its desktop version to iOS and Android users. Available in beta, this app offers free access to features like generative fill and text-to-image effects, enabling users to create social media posts, posters, and website banners, with the added advantage for Creative Cloud members to access and edit Photoshop and Illustrator files directly on their mobile devices. While the app is currently free, Adobe plans to transition its premium features to a subscription model post-beta. The beta version promotes collaborative workflows across devices, though not all smartphones are supported, and iOS users face beta access restrictions. This mobile integration of Firefly AI positions Adobe Express competitively against platforms like Canva, offering a consolidated design solution on mobile platforms.

Nikon to Purchase American Camera Maker RED

Nikon is set to acquire RED Digital Cinema, a leading digital cinema camera manufacturer. While financial details remain undisclosed, the acquisition will see RED becoming a fully integrated subsidiary under Nikon. This strategic move aims to bolster Nikon’s presence in the professional digital cinema market, leveraging RED’s advanced cinema camera technology, including its unique image compression and color science. RED’s impressive portfolio, featuring work on major Marvel films, acclaimed nature documentaries, and popular TV shows, underscores the brand’s industry impact. RED, founded in 2005 with about 220 employees and based in Foothill Ranch, California, also made a brief foray into the smartphone sector in 2018 with the RED Hydrogen One.

Target to Introduce Unlimited Expedited Shipping Service, Competing with Amazon Prime

Target is rolling out Target Circle 360, a subscription service priced at $99 per year. The service also offers free, unlimited delivery and expedited shipping on online orders. Target’s service is set to launch on April 7, with an early bird price of $49 until May 18. The service also provides free two-day shipping and same-day delivery for orders over $35. Target Circle 360 is essentially an enhancement and rebranding of existing services. Subscribers will also gain access to the Shipt Marketplace for free delivery from additional stores. 

Meta Details Integration of WhatsApp’s Encrypted Conversations with External Services

With the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) now in effect, Meta is outlining how WhatsApp and Messenger will maintain end-to-end encryption. Likewise, they are also seeking to ensure interoperability with third-party chat services as mandated. Although Meta is required to prepare for service interoperability within three months of a request, actual public deployment may take longer. Initially, this interoperability will support individual chats and file sharing. In addition, the plans to extend to group chats and calls. Third-party services must agree to certain conditions. 

Meta Introduces ‘Lying Down Mode’ for Quest 2 and Pro VR Headsets

The latest v63 software update for Meta’s Quest 2 and Pro VR headsets introduces a “lying down mode.” The feature enables users to comfortably use their headsets while reclining. Of course, the feature’s comeback is celebrated for enhancing accessibility. Activation is simple via the Experimental Settings in the headset menu. The update also launches Quest Cash, a payment system for the Meta Quest store. There’s no confirmation yet on whether the anticipated Quest 3 headsets will feature this accessibility option.