The beginning of the end of the Fed’s third round of Quantitative Easing, aka QE3, has now begun. The Fed will begin to taper its bond purchases next month, with QE3 likely to be terminated by the end of next year. As expected, mortgage rates increased, but as the market was mostly expecting the move, the increase was not huge. Other economic news also helped to pressure rates higher. The third revision to the third quarter’s GDP was adjusted to 4.1%, a fairly robust number. Additionally, Industrial Production moved higher than expected, and Housing Starts blasted almost 23% higher.
For this Christmas week, we have limited economic data and fewer working days for rates to move. If stock markets continue to rise on the expectation of improving economic growth, then mortgage rates are also likely to move slightly higher. If the week also includes more significantly better-than expected economic data, then rates will feel even more upward pressure. However, with the holiday shorted week, at-expectation data could help hold rates level, or even push them slightly downward.
Courtesy of Joe Massey, Castle & Cooke Mortgage, LLC: Denver