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Economic update for the week ending April 9, 2016

Stocks down for the week – This week several Fed members as well as Fed chairperson, Janet Yellen, made statements about interest rate policy. They stated that rates will rise much slower than previously expected due to more uncertainty in the economy. This helped to weaken the value of the dollar which is good for manufacturers who export goods. The weaker dollar caused oil prices to rise. Oil was up 7% for the week with U.S. Crude closing above $39 a barrel. U.S. Crude hit a low of $27 a barrel in February, so oil prices have been on a good path to recovery. Energy stocks ended the week higher. Unfortunately, retail stocks got hit hard when Gap and several other retailers announced that same store March sales were down considerably. This and The Fed comments caused investors to wonder where the economy is heading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 17,576, down from 17,972.75 last week. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,047.60, down from 2,072.78 last week. The NASDAQ closed Friday at 4,850.69, down from 4,914.54 last week.

 
Bond yields lower for the week – The 10 year U.S. Treasury bond closed Friday yielding 1.72%, down from 1.79% last week. The 30 year U.S. Treasury bond closed Friday yielding 2.55%, down from 2.62% last week. Mortgage rates follow bond yields so we watch bonds carefully.

 
Mortgage rates near three year low -The Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey released on April 7, 2016 showed that average mortgage rates from lenders surveyed for the most popular products were as follows: The 30 year fixed average rate was 3.59%. The 15 year fixed average rate was 2.88%. The 5/1 ARM average rate was 2.82%.

This was a slow week for data. Next week we should start getting housing sale numbers and California March employment figures.

Have a great weekend!

Syd

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The Hustle features Rodeo Realty’s Ben Bacal property video

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The real estate industry just got about 1,000,000x cooler, that’s according to online website The Hustle.

By “cooler” they are referring to Rodeo Realty agent Ben Bacal’s 864 Stradella video.

The article is headlined, “This Video Advertising a $48.5m Home Could Be a Sign of Things to Come”. Writer Kendall Baker talks about Bacal’s video changing the real estate industry in a way that no one predicted.

“It feels and looks like a Super Bowl ad, not a modern day replacement for the classifieds,” said Baker.

So amazed by the real estate video—Baker said he decided to reach out to the creative producer that put the video together, Brian Bell.

Bell talks about his partnership with Bacal and how the two have been working together to create incredible high-quality videos.

“We never thought we’d get into filming real estate, but within two weeks, we’d completed two projects for him,” said Bell.

He says the Stradella video took 2.5 weeks, which included 2 full days of shooting.

“Our budget for the shoot was $40k, which included casting, crew, equipment rentals (we rent the top of the line cinema cameras, lenses, and equipment), all drone expenses, and post production,” said Bell.

Bell also tells Baker there are more exciting developments on the horizon.

To read the entire article, click HERE

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