Economic update for the week ending May 11, 2019

Economic update for the week ending May 11, 2019


Stocks retreated this week among trade tensions - After several months of optimism that a trade deal with China was imminent, talks broke down this week causing stocks to lose ground and mortgage rates to fall. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 25,942.37, down 2.1% from 26,504.95 last week.   It’s up 11.2% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,881.40, down 2.2% from 2,945.64 last week. It is up 14.9% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 7,916.94, down 3%, from 8,164.00 last week.  The NASDAQ is up 19.3% year to date. 
 
Treasury Bond Yields lower this week - The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 2.47%, down from 2.54% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 2.89% down from 2.93% last week. We watch treasury bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yield yields. 
 
Mortgage rates dropped this week - The  May 9, 2019 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 4.10%, down from 4.14% last week. The 15-year fixed was 3.57%, down slightly from 3.60% last week. The 5-year ARM was 3.63%, down  from 3.68%  last week.


Author, 

Syd Leibovitch