The Keutla Team's (keutlateam) Blog

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INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE  Last week's January home building report was pretty much as expected. That in itself was a relief, with so many previous reports coming in below expectations. Housing starts were up 0.8% for the month, to an annual rate of 1.012 million units, slightly ABOVE conse...

A THREE-RING CIRCUS OF THINGS TO WATCH... Hey, folks, here in ring number one, we have more housing market data, with Existing Home Sales Monday and New Homes come Wednesday. Ring number two keeps inflation fans busy with the PPI numbers on Tuesday and PCE figures Friday. Ring number three is for...

UP, DOWN, SIDEWAYS... These days the markets seem like New England weather. The old joke goes, if you don't like the weather in New England, stick around -- it's bound to change completely! What you thought of the markets last week depended on when you showed up. Early in the week, we had rising ...

Forecasting Federal Reserve policy changes in coming months. It's still a month until the next Fed meeting, but experts are taking it as a given that we'll get another 25 basis point (0.25%) cut. And don't forget, as we saw in January, the Fed can make a cut at any time, without a formal meeting....

INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE  Last Wednesday, the President signed an economic stimulus package with a provision that raises the conforming loan limit through the end of this year. Conforming loans can offer lower interest rates than jumbo loans. These higher limits for lower rate loans should...

A GOOD GUESS? MORE VOLATILITY... Monday is Presidents Day, so the stock and bond markets are closed. Tuesday, we're all eager to hear earnings from Wal-Mart. If the world's largest retailer isn't the barometer for that industry, we don't know who is. We'll also hear from Hewlett-Packard, JC Penne...

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP AGAIN, UH, SORT OF... To call this market hyper-volatile is truly an understatement. We began the week with a solid three-day rally that ended with the Dow up 178 points on Wednesday. Why? The economy continues to surprise on the upside. Instead of an expected decline, retai...

Forecasting Federal Reserve policy changes in coming months.  The Fed announced another 50 basis point (0.50%) rate cut at their January 30 meeting, following the previous week's surprise 75 basis-point (0.75%) rate cut. Many experts feel last week's FOMC policy statement left the door open for m...

INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE  Last week, new home sales were reported down once again. Rather than dwell on these short-term negatives, it's time to look at the long-term implications of how the housing industry has changed. Remember, in spite of the "doom-and-gloomers", the underlying data is...