Will They — Or Won’t They?
April 22, 2025 The initial reaction to the tariff wars has been a major retrenchment in the stock markets and extreme volatility for bonds as well. With many analysts using the word recession repeatedly, an important question has arisen — should the Federal Reserve step in and implement an “emergency” rate cut.” We say “emergency” […]
Read MoreCan Tariffs Lower Interest Rates?
March 18, 2025 Thus far, we have just heard about the fact that the implementation of tariffs will increase prices. Another term for higher prices is the dreaded word inflation. And we all know what increased inflation brings to the table – higher interest rates. Gulp. The Federal Reserve is much less likely to lower […]
Read MoreThe Fate of the CFPB
February 25, 2025 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created by the Dodd-Frank Act in the wake of the financial crisis which spawned the Great Recession of 2008. Unlike the pandemic-induced recession of 2020, the recovery of the economy from the Great Recession was long and painful, especially within the real estate industry which is […]
Read MoreA Big Ho-Hum?
February 11, 2025 By all rights, we should have seen extreme market volatility during the past several weeks. After all, we have a new President implementing many new initiatives – from back to the office for federal employees to a constant threat of tariffs toward various countries. Yet, the stock and bond markets have been […]
Read MoreWhat’s With The Fed?
January 7, 2025 A lot of interest rate watchers were very confused late last year. As was expected, in their last meeting of the year, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee lowered rates for the third time in 2024. But interest rates such as mortgages reacted instantly by increasing. How can that be? Doesn’t the […]
Read MoreThe Inflation Picture
October 15, 2024 Last week we had the latest inflation readings. The Consumer Price Index was reported to be up 0.2% monthly and 2.4% annually in September. The core readings excluding food and energy were higher. The Producer Price Index was reported unchanged for the month and up 1.8% annually, but again higher at the […]
Read MoreWe Want More!
October 8, 2024 The Federal Reserve has lowered their Federal Funds Rate. As we have indicated, the move was expected – and the bond markets had strongly anticipated this move. But the Fed lowered their base rate by 0.5%, yet mortgage rates have moved down approximately 1.25% from their peak earlier this year. Why is […]
Read MoreFinally!
September 24, 2024 It has been a full two and one-half years since the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates in reaction to the post-pandemic inflation surge. While many expected inflation to react immediately to the Fed’s medicine, the period of higher rates became very drawn out as inflation showed its stubbornness. Thus, the use […]
Read MoreIt is Time!
September 17, 2024 We have received news that the job market has slowed down – including a major downward revision of jobs over the past year to the tune of 818,000 jobs. We have seen major progress on the war against inflation. The most recent consumer price index came in at 0.2 % monthly and […]
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