Daily Commentary by Larry Baer: Retail sales fell in October for the first time
in three months as Hurricane Sandy took a toll on consumer spending.
Overall sales fell by 0.2% while the ex-auto component declined by a matching
0.2%. Mortgage investors yawned.
Other economic data
released this morning showed inflation pressures at the
nation's farm and factory gates remains benign. Wholesale prices
fell in October for the first time since May, giving the Federal Reserve ample
latitude to leave its' benchmark short-term interest rates at historically low
levels - a position very supportive of steady to fractionally lower mortgage
interest rates.
As they do every
Wednesday, the Mortgage Bankers of America have released their weekly Mortgage
Application Survey. The survey period was for the business week ended
November 9th. The data showed after five consecutive weekly
declines, overall mortgage demand rose by during the survey time frame.
The purchase-money
component of the index improved by 11% compared against the week-ago level.
Despite this nice gain, purchase loan demand has fallen by 2.5% over the past
four weeks -- but compared with year ago levels -- it is better by 9.4%,
The refinance index
gained 13.1% on a week-over-week basis. As measured against the month ago
mark refinancing activity is down 12% but it remains 37% higher than this time
one year ago.
Refinance
applications accounted for 81% of all applications taken last week and 79% of
the prospective loan volume.
The contract rate
for 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgages fell by 9 basis-points to
3.52%. The interest rates is 5 basis-points lower from four-weeks ago and
71 basis-points lower than the year-ago mark.
THE
MARKET IS ALWAYS RIGHT! . YOU AND I ARE SOME OF THE TIME
