Weekly Economic Update – December 14, 2009
This weeks economic news:
Monday:
- No relevant economic news scheduled for release.
Tuesday:
- The Labor Department announced that the Producer Price Index (PPI) spiked 1.8% last month and that the core data reading rose 0.5%. Both of these readings were more than twice forecasts, meaning inflationary pressures were strong at the producer level of the economy last month. This is bad news for bonds and mortgage rates because inflation erodes the value of a bond’s future fixed interest payments, making them less attractive to investors.
- November’s Industrial Production data was stronger than expected results with a 0.8% increase. Forecasts were calling for a 0.5% increase, indicating that manufacturing activity at U.S. factories, mines and utilities was stronger than thought. This is also bad news for bonds because it points towards a strengthening economy.
Thursday:
- The Labor Department announced that 480,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed last week. This was good news for bonds because it was a higher number of claims than was expected. However, this data usually has little impact on mortgage rates because it tracks only a week’s worth of new claims.
- The Conference Board posted their Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) for November. It showed a 0.9% increase, meaning that they think economic activity will be stronger over the next several months than many analysts had thought. This can be considered negative news for bonds, but since this is only a moderately important report, its impact on bond trading and mortgage rates has been minimal.
Friday:
- There is no relevant economic data scheduled for release.
Morgage Commentary 2009