Economic update for the week ending April 13, 2019

Economic update for the week ending April 13, 2019

Stock markets slightly higher this week - Stocks recorded solid gains on Friday to erase losses earlier in the week. Markets ended the week just slightly higher. Investors are waiting for companies to report first quarter corporate profits. Financial stocks led the market following a solid quarterly earnings report from JPMorgan Chase. The week also marked the 10 year anniversary of the S&P 500 bull market. It’s just 1% below it’s all time high set September 20, 2108. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 26,412.30, almost unchanged from 26,424.99 last week.   It’s up 13.3% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,907.41, up  0.5% from 2,892.74 last week. It is up 16% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 7,984.16, up 0.6% from 7,938.69 last week.  The NASDAQ is up 20.3% year to date. 
 
Treasury Bond Yields higher for the second straight week - The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 2.56%, up from 2.50% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 2.97%, up from 2.91% last week. We watch treasury bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yield yields. 
 
Mortgage rates higher this week - The April 11, 2019 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 4.12%, up from 4.08% last week. The 15-year fixed was 3.60%, up slightly from 3.56% last week. The 5-year ARM was 3.80, up from 3.66% last week.


Home sales data is usually released by The California Association of Realtors and The National Association of Realtors around the 20th of the month. Hopefully, they will be released in time for next weeks update. 


Author,

Syd Leibovitch