Economic update for the week ending June 15, 2019

Stocks up for the week - High profile mergers and a strong May retail sales report lifted stocks this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 26,089.61,  up 0.4% from 25,983.94 last week. It’s up 11.8% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,886.98, up  0.5%  from 2,873.34 last week.  It is up 15.2% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 7,796.66, up 0.7% from 7,742.10 last week. The NASDAQ is up 17.5%  year to date. 

Treasury Bond Yields hold at 24 month low  - The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 2.09%, unchanged from 2.09% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 2.59%, almost unchanged from 2.57%  last week. We watch treasury bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yield yields. 

Mortgage rates remain at lowest levels in 2 years - The  June 13, 2019 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 3.82%, unchanged from 3.82%  last week. The 15-year fixed was 3.26%, almost unchanged from 3.28% last week. The 5-year ARM was 3.51%, also almost unchanged from 3.52% last week. 

Housing sales and price data for May will be released next week. We are expecting both prices and sales numbers figures to be higher. 

Author, 

​Syd Leibovitch