Friday, May 23, 2008
Existing home sales fell 1% with the largest portion coming from condos. This is a real strong indicator that 1st time homebuyers have been hardest hit by guideline changes or have been spooked by the media. Median home sales also dropped 8%. Although housing inventories are at the highest since 1985, the numbers today were expected. The DOW is down well over 100 points today on the pre-holiday weekend, which is helping the Bond out. It seems that they are both completely intertwined today, as the DOW recovers, the bond drops, so any rally in stocks can spell bad news for rates. Currently the FNMA 30 yr 5.5% is up 12 Bp for the day and floating between the 50 and 100 day moving average, trying to find a level of support. As always, if anything changes, I will be sure to re-post.
Karl Menzer
435-849-0212
