Weekly Mortgageews From Rodney Anderson - August 28, 2006

"CALM CONTINUETHOT LONG WITHOUT A STORM"And these wise words dating back to 1576 sure still hold true today. Bond prices and home loan rates have been absolutely flat for the past seven trading days. Traders haveot had much in the way of economicews to chew on lately, and seasonably lower volume has added to the sluggish market activity. But this quiet period could just be the calm before the storm, as an action packed economic calendar is due to get some movement stirring over theext week.
Last week did bring someews from the housing sector, in the form ofew and Existing Home Salesumbers for Julyand it looks like the housing market is behaving just like Fed Chairman Bernanke predicted, with an "orderly slowdown". Theumber of bothew and Existing homes sold came in slightly lower than expectations, and theumber of month's inventory or supply available of each rose as well. But across the board, home prices are still up over the past yearthat's goodews. And here's an interesting point - the median home price in the US isow $230,000. How does that compare to your own market
AND SPEAKING OF STORMS, IF YOU'VE EVER BEEN THROUGH A DIVORCE OR KNOW SOMEONE WHO HASYOU KNOW THAT IT'S RARELY SMOOTH SAILIING DURING THE PROCESS OF MAKING TOUGH FINANCIAL DECISIONS. BUT THERE IS A VERY COMMON DECISION MADE THAT CAN UNKNOWINGLY COST A BUNDLEDON'T MISS THIS WEEK'S MORTGAGE MARKET VIEW.
Forecast for the Week
So what's the forecast for the week ahead that could cause some storour seas for home loan rates A big blast of economicews is on the horizon, including the "Meeting Minutes" or commentary from the last Fed Meeting, Consumer Confidence, 2nd Quarter GDP, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), the Institute of Supply Management (ISM), Consumer Sentiment and the "big boy"the monthly Jobs Report. And whirling around in the mix is the seasons first potential hurricane headed towards the Gulf of Mexico"Ernesto" is on the way. If the hurricane does develop, it could disrupt supply to an already jittery oil market. This would lead to higher oil prices, and more inflationary pressuresnot good for Bond prices or home loan rates.
But technical factors willow give up the helm, and take a back seat to the important upcomingews events. Because Bond prices and home loan rates tend to benefit from weak economicews, and vice versa, worsen on positive economicewsthis gives us some hints as to which way the wind might blow when theews starts hitting. But because Bonds would stilleed to power through the tough technical ceiling overhead to bring some improvement to home loan rates - it will take some dismalews indeed to see significant change for the better in rates.
The Mortgage Market View
LOVE AND MARRIAGE, LOVE AND MARRIAGE, GO TOGETHER LIKEWell, you know the song. But more than 50% of marriages end in divorce, and the lyrics quickly change from "love and marriage" to "alimony and child supp

Weekly Mortgageews From Rodney Anderson - August 28, 2006