Vital Statistics:
| Last | Change | |
| S&P futures | 3396 | -11.25 |
| Oil (WTI) | 51.06 | -0.95 |
| 10 year government bond yield | 1.55% | |
| 30 year fixed rate mortgage | 3.69% |
Stocks are lower this morning after Apple warned that revenues will be light in Q1 based on Coronavirus issues. Bonds and MBS are up.
We have a lot of housing data this week, with the NAHB Housing Market Index, housing starts, and existing home sales. We also quite a bit of Fed-speak, but not much in the way of market-moving data.
New home purchase applications started off the year strong, rising 40% from December and 35% from a year ago. “New home applications and sales activity surged in January. This was a continuation of the end of 2019, which saw strong residential construction and increased purchase applications activity,” said Joel Kan, MBA Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “Even with some global and domestic economic uncertainty, builders have ramped up production in recent months to meet increased homebuyer demand.” Strength in homebuilding may turn out to be the economic surprise of 2020.
Democratic hopeful Michael Bloomberg proposes tightening the regulatory grip on the financial industry, by imposing a 10 basis point financial transaction tax, merging Fannie and Freddie, banning payday lenders. and ending the use of mandatory arbitration. This is interesting since he was critical of Obama-era financial regulation when he was Mayor of NY.
Top fintech names which are changing the housing market.
The Daily Tearsheet 