Economic update for the week ending March 30, 2019

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