How the Stock Market’s Wild Swings Have Helped Homebuyers
The rollercoaster week on Wall Street could pay off nicely for some homebuyers.
The sharp selloff in global markets, caused by the economic uncertainty in China, caused investors running for safety to buy up U.S. government bonds, driving interest rates down. That sent the rate on benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgages down to its lowest level since May.
Related: The Financial Mistake That Can Cost Homeowners
Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average for 30-year fixed-rate loans fell to 3.84 percent, with an average 0.6 points, over the week ending August 27. That’s down from 3.93 percent last week and 4.10 percent a year ago. For 15-year fixed-rate loans, the average was 3.06 percent, down from 3.15 percent last week and 3.25 percent a year ago.
The average on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages has now been below 4 percent for five straight weeks. Just how long they stay there will be determined in part by when the Federal Reserve decides to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006. Many economists had expected the Fed to raise rates next month — but that was before the stock market’s latest shakeup.
"There are indications, though, that the unsettled state of global markets will make the Fed think twice before taking any action on short-term interest rates in September,” Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in a statement. “If that's the case, the 30-year mortgage rate may remain subdued in the short-to-medium term, providing support for continued strength in the housing sector."
Related: Rate-Hike Havoc: Can the Fed Ignore This Market Rout?
Greg McBride, chief financial analyst with Bankrate.com, said mortgage rates may trend a bit higher from here as financial markets settle down, but he added that the Fed’s hike, whenever it comes, isn’t going to dramatically affect mortgage rates that are still historically low.
“That the initial move by the Fed is to a large extent already reflected in mortgage rates,” McBride said. “You might see a little bit of a further bump, but not much. Mortgage rates are not going to skyrocket. That’s the main point. Increases that we see in mortgage rates in the coming months are likely to be very limited."
Top Reads From The Fiscal Times
- The Troubling Truth Revealed by the Stock Market’s Nosedive
- Mark Cuban: The Lesson Investors Can Learn From China
- Why China’s Slowdown Will Lead to Sustainable Growth
Chart of the Day: SALT in the GOP’s Wounds
The stark and growing divide between urban/suburban and rural districts was one big story in this year’s election results, with Democrats gaining seats in the House as a result of their success in suburban areas. The GOP tax law may have helped drive that trend, Yahoo Finance’s Brian Cheung notes.
The new tax law capped the amount of state and local tax deductions Americans can claim in their federal filings at $10,000. Congressional seats for nine of the top 25 districts where residents claim those SALT deductions were held by Republicans heading into Election Day. Six of the nine flipped to the Democrats in last week’s midterms.
Chart of the Day: Big Pharma's Big Profits
Ten companies, including nine pharmaceutical giants, accounted for half of the health care industry's $50 billion in worldwide profits in the third quarter of 2018, according to an analysis by Axios’s Bob Herman. Drug companies generated 23 percent of the industry’s $636 billion in revenue — and 63 percent of the total profits. “Americans spend a lot more money on hospital and physician care than prescription drugs, but pharmaceutical companies pocket a lot more than other parts of the industry,” Herman writes.
Chart of the Day: Infrastructure Spending Over 60 Years
Federal, state and local governments spent about $441 billion on infrastructure in 2017, with the money going toward highways, mass transit and rail, aviation, water transportation, water resources and water utilities. Measured as a percentage of GDP, total spending is a bit lower than it was 50 years ago. For more details, see this new report from the Congressional Budget Office.
Number of the Day: $3.3 Billion
The GOP tax cuts have provided a significant earnings boost for the big U.S. banks so far this year. Changes in the tax code “saved the nation’s six biggest banks $3.3 billion in the third quarter alone,” according to a Bloomberg report Thursday. The data is drawn from earnings reports from Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.
Clarifying the Drop in Obamacare Premiums
We told you Thursday about the Trump administration’s announcement that average premiums for benchmark Obamacare plans will fall 1.5 percent next year, but analyst Charles Gaba says the story is a bit more complicated. According to Gaba’s calculations, average premiums for all individual health plans will rise next year by 3.1 percent.
The difference between the two figures is produced by two very different datasets. The Trump administration included only the second-lowest-cost Silver plans in 39 states in its analysis, while Gaba examined all individual plans sold in all 50 states.