Economic update for the week ending December 29, 2018

Economic update for the week ending December 29, 2018

Stocks rebound to end week higher - Stock markets snapped a three week losing streak to end the week higher. It was a wild week. Monday marked the largest Christmas eve loss ever. Tuesday markets were closed. Wednesday stocks had their best point gain in history, with the Dow up over 1,000 points! Thursday stocks were down all day, but rebounded with the Dow ending the day up over 200 points,  a swing of over 800 points for the day. Friday the Dow lost 76 points.  
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 23,062.49, up from 22,445.37 last week. It is down 6.7% year to date.  The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,485.74, up from 2,416.62 last week.  It is down down 7% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 6,584.62, up from 6,332.99 last week.   It is down 4.6% year to date.  
Treasury Bond Yields ended the week slightly lower - The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 2.72%, down from 2.79%  last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 3.04%, unchanged from 3.03% last week. We watch treasury bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields. 
 
Mortgage rates near the lowest level of the year  - The December 27, 2018 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 4.55%, down from 4.62% last week. The 15-year fixed was 4.01%, down from 4.07%  last week. The 5-year ARM was 4.00%, almost unchanged from 3.98% last week. 


Southern California housing market was less active in November - CoreLogic reported this week that the number of homes sold in Los Angeles County fell 16% in November from the number of homes sold November 2017. The median price paid for a home in Los Angeles County was up 5.8% from one year ago. The median price in all of Southern California was up 3.5% from November 2017. 13% fewer homes sold in Southern California this November compared to last November. 


Author, 

Syd Leibovitch