Here’s the state of play for the mortgage market after the long weekend
Other important economic updates will arrive later in the week in the form of weekly initial jobless claims data and the latest existing home sales figures for June. Both of those releases are scheduled for Thursday.
Last week, Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater said the latest decline in 30-year mortgage rates offered an “encouraging sign” ahead of a possible heating-up in housing market activity.
Still, while some of the unease that’s gripped the market since the outbreak of the Iran war in late February has eased in recent weeks, there are still plenty of potential storm clouds on the horizon.
Last week, new data showed the US labor market performed well below expectations in June, adding just 57,000 jobs last month – compared with economist predictions of 115,000 – even as the unemployment rate moved lower.
Meanwhile, protracted negotiations could be ahead on the future of the US-Canada-Mexico Agreement (USMCA), which the Trump administration opted not to extend before its deadline at the beginning of July.
