Rates Return, The Holiday Gasoline Miracle and The Bigger Economic Picture
For the first time since January 2025, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has climbed back to 6.75%, according to Mortgage News Daily, with borrowers still paying roughly one-half to three-quarters of a discount point simply to obtain that rate.
Learn More
Where Do WE Go From Here…
Inflation, mortgage rates, and gasoline prices have all surged to three-year highs, placing significant pressure on the U.S. housing market and causing real estate activity to slow sharply in recent weeks.
Learn More
This Week’s Market Reflection: Inspired by Styx’s “Mr. Roboto”
This week’s musical inspiration is drawn from the 1983 Styx hit, “Mr. Roboto.” The iconic opening lyric— “Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,” or “Thank you very much” in Japanese—serves as an ironic backdrop for interpreting recent policy commentary from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues.
Learn More
The “War” Is Showing Up in More Than Just Gas Prices
The war is no longer content to express itself at the gas pump. It has begun diffusing across asset classes with a speed and synchronicity that feels less like coincidence and more like a real-time demonstration of macroeconomic transmission under stress.
Learn More
Keep On Knocking….But You Can’t Come In…
Last week, the bond market looked like it was knocking on Heaven’s door. This morning? That door appears to have installed a deadbolt, a chain lock, and possibly a security camera.
Learn More
Friday’s Employment Report: The Market’s Next Hurdle
For much of the recent conflict involving Iran, financial markets operated under a relatively comfortable assumption: geopolitical disruptions would be temporary, energy markets would stabilize, and inflation would remain contained.
Learn More
Washington Promised Lower Rates. Homebuyers Are Still Waiting.
If you’ve been waiting for mortgage rates to fall because those on Capitol Hill and the Federal Reserve have signaled potential rate cuts, you’re not alone.
Learn More
Falling in Love With Houses You Can’t Afford: A National Pastime
There’s a peculiar modern ritual in homebuying: you scroll listings, tour a few homes, imagine where the couch goes, maybe even name the future dog—then discover you can’t actually buy the place.
Learn More
Inflation, Shrinkflation, Stagflation: Pick Your Poison
If the current economic moment feels like a vocabulary test no one studied for, that’s because it is.
Learn More
This Week’s Market Reflection: A Beautiful Day for Housing and the Economy
Inspired by U2’s 2000 hit “Beautiful Day,” this week’s economic outlook carries a similar message: after three turbulent years, the horizon is finally brightening. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has pushed past the 45,000 mark
Learn More