Neil Coleman Mortgage Matters

The closely watched S&P 500 closed at another record high on Friday of 1,878.04, which is a long way from the close of 676.53 hit five years ago at the height of the Great Recession. The S&P has gained 177% since that day, which is the best 5-year performance since the June 1996 to June 2000 rise...

CLOSING TECHNICAL SIGNAL: After Friday's fireworks supplied by the Jobs Report, we will float into the new week as the 4% coupon seems to have found support at the 200-day Moving Average. MARKET WRAP: The better than expected jobs data pushed Mortgage Bonds considerably lower Friday morning, but ...

Friday: The U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in February, despite the harsh winter weather that blanketed the country. The Labor Department reported that Non-farm Payrolls rose by 175,000, above the 163,000 that was expected, and up from the 129,000 created in January and 84,000 in Dece...

The labor market continues to muddle along as evidenced by today's ADP Private Employment Report for February. Employers added 139,000 jobs last month, below the 150,000 expected. In addition, January's 175,000 was revised lower to 127,000. The ongoing factor behind the weak jobs data continues t...

Two major indicators of home price trends showed a slowing momentum for home prices in December. 1.  Case-Shiller’s seasonally adjusted month-to month reading showed that home prices rose by 0.8 percent as compared to 0.90 percent in November. 2.  David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at...

News from Russia that there is no immediate need to invade Ukraine has sent the Stock markets skyrocketing today, while pressuring the Bond markets lower. The rally in the Stock markets have pushed the closely watched S&P 500 Index to an all-time intraday high of 1,871. In housing news, CoreLogic...

A mortgage pre-qualification is an initial estimate of what type of mortgage a borrower could get. It is limited, though, because it’s only based on what the borrower tells the lender, which might not be the same as what the lender finds out when it goes through a full process of analyzing the bo...

The ongoing turmoil in the Ukraine has sent global and domestic stock markets plunging today to begin the new month of trading. Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared their plan to invade the Ukraine to protect Russia's interests and citizens. The news has caused investing dollars to shift...

Fixed Mortgage Rates, New and Pending Home Sales Rise Freddie Mac reported that average rates for fixed-rate mortgages rose last week, with the rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage rising 4 basis points to 4.37 percent. The rate for a 15-year mortgage also increased by 4 basis points to 3.39 pe...

Economic data was plentiful this morning with reports ranging from U.S. growth to housing numbers. The government reported that the second reading for Gross Domestic Product, a measure of goods and services produced across the nation, was lower than previously reported falling to 2.6% in the fina...