Over the past several weeks leading up to the Federal Reserve meeting today, the "hawks" had been stealing the headlines. Based on interviews with several members a September rate hike seemed like a forgone conclusion to some analysts. After the release of the meeting minutes this afternoon analysts believe they've pumped the brakes some on that. Several market analysts have downgraded the likelihood of a September increase to a level that can be read as "possible, not probable" while others still hold concern that a September rate hike will happen. The Fed showed again they are committed to a rate hike in the near future but not in agreement on the appropriate timing.
Mortgage backed securities rallied after the release of the minutes gaining 45 basis points at the time of this writing. This rally is in part to the loss in the stock market today, which many of the more "dovish" members of the Fed pointed to when arguing that it's still too soon for a hike. If you were hoping for a concrete yes or no on a September rate hike from this meeting you're coming away disappointed. If you had loans in process waiting to lock you're probably pretty happy with the results of the meeting.
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