Last Week's Mortgage Rate Recap: Rates moved higher 👎
Rates moved higher the early part of last week, but the good news is that they recovered a little bit the second half of the week and showed signs of settling down as markets adjusted to the idea that the Fed is much less likely to be cutting its policy rate until much later this year.
This Week's Mortgage Rate Forecast: Rates should be about the same 👍
Rates are not likely to move much this week, instead markets are waiting for more news from next week's jobs data and Fed meeting. After a couple of weeks of rates moving higher, seeing rates settle down and remain unchanged for the week would actually be a step in the right direction.
What's affecting rates this week:
- Economic data: Only a couple of reports this week that have even a little bit of influence on mortgage rates, including Friday's PCE inflation data (the Fed's favored inflation gauge), not likely to move rates either up or down much though.
- The Fed: Mortgage rates will continue to react to expectations of when and how much the Fed will cuts its policy rate this year. Rates were lower when markets expected 5-6 cuts in 2024, and rates have moved higher now that markets project only 1-2 cuts not likely to start until at least September.