Many people feel pressure during the holiday season. Many people feel happier, more joyful thoughts. The mortgage market this morning is feeling pressure to start the week as investors and analysts are feeling happier—if not yet joyful, due to fresh prospects for a more concrete deal to address the Euro-Zone debt and banking crisis. On top of that more good economic news relative to the US economy is expected this morning as well.
Does it seem to anybody else that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy meet every single day? If not daily they must be meeting weekly over the past month to discuss the crisis and potential solutions. Today the meeting is taking place in Paris—which I have always heard is lovely this time of year! Analysts and observers are expecting news of an agreement that would lead to “concrete budget discipline” for member nations of the Euro-Zone. Such an agreement would set the stage for a slow, but perhaps manageable, recovery in the troubled nations, primarily in southern Europe. It also may give the European Central Bank more confidence to provide additional support through the purchase of the bonds from these countries.
In the US today, two economic reports will offer new insight into the health of the US economy. At 10 AM both the Institute for Supply Management’s Index of non-manufacturing and US Factory Orders reports will be released. Consensus estimates for the ISM Index is for strong growth in service sector activity, while expectations are for a slight decline in factory activity from last month.
The balance of the week is light on additional economic data. However there are a few reports of note. Weekly Jobless Claims will be released as always on Thursday and Friday will provide looks at the US trade balance and consumer sentiment. Given this sparse data on the US, the focus of the markets will stay on Europe. If news remains positive there, then the pressure for current mortgage rates to rise will continue.
Loading ...
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Leave a comment