February 6, 2009
February 6, 2009 by admin
It could have been worse. This is the driving theme behind todays suprising jump in the stock market. The January jobs report was released early in the morning showing non farm payroll job losses just under 600,000 last month and the new unemployment rate moving up above seven percent. These numbers continue to show a slide with the health of the U.S. economy and a deterioration in the labor sector. The numbers did not scare off investors who are once again rallying the market above the 8,000 point level. Their is a lingering optimism that the U.S. will move forward with a new economic stimulus package as early as next week and the countries new Treasury Secretary will have a new plan to help stabalize the banking industry on Monday. Financial giants such as Citigroup, JP Morgan and Bank of America are all enjoying large percentage increases to their common stock price on the pending news.
On the housing front, fixed mortgage rates continue to trend up. Freddie Mac revealed earlier in the week that long term fixed rates on thirty year mortgage loans were now in the low five percent range. The yield on the ten year bond is now closing in on 3% as the bond market is driving the expected returns up, pushing up fixed mortgage rates as a result.