Kristine Yakubyan Realty DRE # 02034905

Economic update for the week ending March 9, 2019 February job growth stalls with only 20,000 new jobs added - The Labor Department reported that just 20,000 new jobs were added in February. It marked the fewest jobs added since September 2017. Experts predicted 180,000 new jobs. Considering January job growth was so robust we are have still added about 325,000 jobs for the year. The unemployment rate dropped to a 50 year low of 3.8%. Average hourly wages grew 3.4% from last ...February, the highest year over year increase since the current expansion began 10 years ago. Stocks down for the week - Fears of slowing global growth weighed heavily on investors as stock markets closed lower every day this week. The Bank of Canada, European Central Bank, and The Chinese Government all acknowledged that their economies had slowed and took measures to boost their economies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 25,450.24, down 2.2% from 26,026.32 last week. It’s up 9.1% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,743.07, down 2.2% from 2,803.69 last week. It is up 9.4% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 7,408.14, down 2.5% from 7,595.35 last week. The NASDAQ is up 11.6% year to date. Treasury Bond Yields lower this week - The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 2.62%, down from 2.76% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 3.00%, down from 3.13% last week. We watch treasury bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields. 30-year mortgage rate slightly higher in survey, but rates dropped at end of the week - The March 7, 2019 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 4.41%, up from 4.35% last week. The 15-year fixed was 3.83%, up from 3.77% last week. The 5-year ARM was 3.87%, almost unchanged from 3.84% last week. Next week’s rates should be closer to last week’s rates.

Economic update for the week ending March 2, 2019 Stocks ended the week slightly higher - Gains in January and February marked the best two month start of a year since 1987 - This week the March 1 deadline for a deal with China on trade was officially extended as both sides announced that progress has been made. The fourth quarter GDP, the broadest measure of economic output, came in at 2.6%. It was feared in the fourth quarter of 2018 that tariffs, slowing economies overseas..., and higher interest rates were slowing the economy. While 2.6% did represent a slowing in the economy, it was slightly higher than what analysts expected. For the full year, GDP rose 2.9%. For some reason treasury bond Investors pulled back on purchases and yields rose about .10% this week. That will cause mortgage rates to rise about 1/8%-1/4% after almost three months of steadily dropping. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 26,026.32, unchanged from 26,031.81 last week. It’s up 11.6% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,803.69, up 0.4% from 2,792.67 last week. It is up 11.8% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 7,595.35, up 0.9% from 7,527.54 last week. The NASDAQ is up 14.5% year to date. Treasury Bond Yields up sharply this week - The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 2.76%, up sharply from 2.65% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 3.13%, up from 3.02% last week. We watch treasury bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields. 30-year mortgage rate at lowest level in one year, but rates rose at the end of the week - The February 28, 2019 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 4.35%, unchanged from 4.35% last week. The 15-year fixed was 3.77% almost unchanged from 3.81% last week. The 5-year ARM was 3.84%, unchanged from 3.84% last week. Rates rose late in the week. Next weeks rates will be higher. February employment numbers will be released next Friday. They will be included in next weeks report.

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Economic update for the week ending February 9, 2019 Stock markets ended the week almost unchanged after 5 weeks of solid gains - Stocks were mostly flat this week as renewed trade worries overshadowed a solid earnings reporting season. So far nearly two thirds of companies have reported earnings. Nearly three quarters of them beat expectations. The US and China agreed in December to hold off on any new tariffs until March 1, as it appeared that both countries’ economies were... beginning to suffer. With that date approaching and no deal in place investors are getting anxious. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the week at 25,106.33, up 0.2% from 25,063.89 last week. It’s up 7.6% year to date. The S&P 500 closed the week at 2,707.88, almost unchanged from 2,708.53 last week. It is up 8% year to date. The NASDAQ closed the week at 7,298.20, up 0.5% from 7,263.87 last week. The NASDAQ is up 10% year to date. Treasury Bond Yields lower this week - The 10-year treasury bond closed the week yielding 2.63%, down from 2.70% last week. The 30-year treasury bond yield ended the week at 2.97% down from 3.03% last week. We watch treasury bond yields because mortgage rates follow bond yields. Mortgage rates lower this week - Rates at the lowest levels since March 2018 - The February 7, 2019 Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Survey reported that the 30-year fixed mortgage rate average was 4.41%, down from 4.46% last week. The 15-year fixed was 3.84%, down from 3.89% last week. The 5-year ARM was 3.91%, down from 3.96% last week. We should be getting January real estate sales data at the end of next week. If that data is available it will be included in next weeks update. If not it will be the following week. The California Association of Real Estate usually has numbers tabulated and released by the third week of the month for the previous month.

Economic update for the week ending February 2, 2019 304,000 new jobs created in January - The Bureau of Labor Statics reported that employers added 304,000 new jobs in January. That figure took experts by surprise and shattered their estimates of 170,000 new jobs. It marked 100 straight month of job gains. Furloughed government workers were not counted as unemployed, so the partial government shutdown did not affect these numbers. The unemployment rate rose to 4% from 3.9...Continue reading