• November 13, 2022
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By: Matthew Graham Heading into this week, we knew that Thursday’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) would be critically important. It did not disappoint. CPI is one of two key inflation reports in the US.  PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) is the other big index, but because CPI comes out 2 weeks earlier, it gets almost all

• November 10, 2022
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Inflation continued to run near a multi-decade high in October as persistent prices squeezed millions of U.S. households and small businesses. The Labor Department said Thursday that the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price for everyday goods including gasoline, groceries and rents, rose 0.4% in October from the previous month. Prices climbed

• December 19, 2022
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Owning a home is part of the American Dream, and as a mortgage lender, United Mortgage Corporation of America, we are motivated to do everything possible to make sure Americans of all ethnic, educational and professional backgrounds can qualify for a mortgage. Some borrowers may use an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) instead of a

• November 8, 2022
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Hiring in the U.S. remained solid in October, presenting challenges for the Federal Reserve’s inflation fight. Employers added 261,000 nonfarm jobs, more than expected and in line with the previous month’s 263,000. The unemployment rate edged higher to 3.7%, up from 3.5% in September. Hourly pay remained brisk rising at 4.7% year over year, matching

• November 7, 2022
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Powell doesn’t see wage-price spiral or evidence of softening in labor market Fed Chair Jerome Powell says it will take some time for inflation to come down. Powell said the labor market remains out of balance with demand exceeding supply and households still having cash saved up from the COVID-19 pandemic. “The broader picture is

• October 30, 2022
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U.S. consumer spending increased more than expected in September, while underlying inflation pressures continued to bubble, keeping the Federal Reserve on track to hike interest rates by 75 basis points for the fourth time this year. Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, rose 0.6% last month, the Commerce Department

• October 27, 2022
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The U.S. economy rebounded over the summer after shrinking for the first six months of the year, but the rebound does little to allay fears that the world’s largest economy is headed toward a recession as it confronts painfully high inflation and rising interest rates. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services

• November 4, 2022
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The average mortgage rate should be around 6% today and not 7% if the normal spread is applied. A monthly mortgage payment of $1,799 versus $1,996 on a $300,000 loan. Historically the spread between 10-year Treasury bond yields and 30-year mortgage is 170 basis points. Today it is over 300 basis points. The only other

• October 27, 2022
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More comments from St. Louis Fed James Bullard. He expects the central bank to end its “front-loading” of aggressive interest-rate hikes by early next year and shift to keeping policy sufficiently restrictive with small adjustments as inflation cools. “You do have to think about what the reasonable level is,” said Bullard, who has become Wall Street’s

• October 20, 2022
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U.S. existing home sales slowed for the eighth straight month in September as rising mortgage rates, surging inflation and steep home prices continued to push prospective buyers out of the market. Sales of previously owned homes tumbled 1.5% in September from the previous month to an annual rate of 4.71 million units, according to new