Stock Markets have their best first quarter in over 10 years - Stocks ended the week with big gains. The first quarter of 2019 marked the largest percentage quarterly gain in a decade. The S&P 500 ended the quarter up over 13%. It is just 3% off its all time high after a dramatic rebound from being down almost 20% from its all time high in mid December. Investors have celebrated lower interest rates, optimism on trade with China, low unemployment, and low inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 25,928.68, up 1.7% from 25,502.32 last week.   It’s up 11.2% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,834.40, up  1.2% from 2,800.71 last week. It is up 13.1% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 7,729.32, up 1.1% from 7,642.67 last week.  The NASDAQ is up 16.5% year to date. 
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Treasury Bond Yields continue to drop - The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 2.41%, down from 2.44% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 2.81%, down from 2.88% last week. We watch treasury bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields. 
 
30-year Mortgage rates hit lowest levels since 2017 - The March 28, 2019 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 4.06%, down from 4.28% last week. The 15-year fixed was 3.57%, down from 3.71% last week. The 5-year ARM was 3.75%, down from 3.84% last week.


Author, 
Syd Leibovitch

Stocks lost ground this week – Stock markets finished the week lower this week for just the third weekly loss of the year. The Fed issued comments this week announcing that they had put interest rate hikes on hold for the remainder of 2019, citing low inflation numbers and increased risk of slowing to the economy due to global pressures. This led investors to fear that The Fed knows something investors don’t and they became more cautious. Bond yields surged which drove down mortgage rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 25,502.32, down 1.3% from 25,848.87 last week.   It’s up 9.3% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,800.71, down 0.8% from 2,822.48 last week. It is up 11.7% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 7,642.67, down 0.6% from 7,688.53 last week.  The NASDAQ is up 15.2% year to date. 
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Treasury Bond Yields drop to the lowest levels since 2017 - The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 2.44%, down from 2.59% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 2.88%,  down from 3.02% last week. We watch treasury bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields. 
 
30-year Mortgage rates dropped to 4% this week - The March 21, 2019 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 4.28%, down from 4.31% last week. The 15-year fixed was 3.71%, down from 3.76% last week. The 5-year ARM was 3.84%, unchanged from 3.84% last week.  Interest rates dropped on Thursday and Friday after the Freddie Mac survey was released.  By the end of the day Friday we had clients locked into 30-year fixed rates below 4%!


California existing home sales rebound in February - The California Association of Realtors released their data for February home sales. Closed escrows on existing homes rebounded from January's 10-year low level of 358,470 units, and increased 11.3% to 399,080 units on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis in February. That marked a 5.6% year over drop from 422,910 closings last February. The median price for a home in California was $534,140 up 2.2% year over year from $522,440 last February. The median price is the point at which 1/2 the homes sell for more and 1/2 sell for less. Inventory levels have risen for the 11th consecutive month after dropping for three straight years to historic lows. There was a 4.6-month supply of homes for sale in February, up from a 3.6 month supply in February 2018. 


U.S. existing home sales surged 11.8% in February - The National Association of Realtors announced that the number of sales of single family homes, condominiums, townhomes, and coops increased 11.8% from January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.51 million in February. Year over year sales were down 1.8% from February 2018. The median price paid for a home nationwide was up 3.2% from last February. That marked the 84th straight month of year over year increases in the median price. Theinventory level was was at a 3.5 month supply at the current sales level. That was just barely higher than a 3.6 month supply in February 2018. 


Author, 

Syd Leibovitch

Stocks have another strong week -Stock markets recovered from last week’s losses and extended one of the strongest starts of the year in history, as major indexes are up 10-16% for the year. U.S. and overseas markets surged to the highest levels since November. Low inflation data, reduced trade fears, strong economic data and lower interest rates encouraged investors.  The S&P 500 bull market has now entered its 10th year.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 25,848.87, up 1.6% % from 25,450.24 last week.   It’s up 10.8% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,822.48, up 2.9% from 2,743.07 last week. It is up 12.6% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 7,688.53, up 3.8% from 7,408.14 last week.  The NASDAQ is up 15.9% year to date. 
 
 
Treasury Bond Yields almost unchanged this week - The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 2.59%, down from 2.62% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 3.02%,  almost unchanged from 3.00% last week. We watch treasury bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields. 
 
Mortgage rates drop to the lowest level in one year - The March 14, 2019 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 4.31%, down from 4.41% last week. The 15-year fixed was 3.76%, down from 3.83% last week. The 5-year ARM was 3.84%, down slightly from 3.87% last week.  
February home sales figures will be released next week. 
 

Author, 
​Syd Leibovitch

February job growth stalls with only 20,000 new jobs added - The Labor Department reported that just 20,000 new jobs were added in February. It marked the fewest jobs added since September 2017. Experts predicted 180,000 new jobs. Considering January job growth was so robust we are have still added about 325,000 jobs for the year. The unemployment rate dropped to a 50 year low of 3.8%. Average hourly wages grew 3.4% from last February, the highest year over year increase since the current expansion began 10 years ago. 

Stocks down for the week - Fears of slowing global growth weighed heavily on investors as stock markets closed lower every day this week. The Bank of Canada, European Central Bank, and The Chinese Government all acknowledged that their economies had slowed and took measures to boost their economies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 25,450.24, down 2.2% from 26,026.32 last week.   It’s up 9.1% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,743.07, down 2.2% from 2,803.69 last week. It is up 9.4% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 7,408.14, down 2.5% from 7,595.35 last week.  The NASDAQ is up 11.6% year to date. 


Treasury Bond Yields lower this week - The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 2.62%, down from 2.76%  last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 3.00%,  down from 3.13% last week. We watch treasury bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields. 
 
30-year mortgage rate slightly higher in survey, but rates dropped at end of the week - The March 7, 2019 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 4.41%, up from 4.35%   last week. The 15-year fixed was 3.83%, up from 3.77% last week. The 5-year ARM was 3.87%, almost unchanged from 3.84%  last week.  Next week’s rates should be closer to last week’s rates. 


Author, 
​Syd Leibovitch