The chances for a hike to the Fed Funds Rate are moving lower, due in part to low inflation levels. Fed Fund Futures show a 26% chance of a hike to the Fed Funds Rate in December, down from 44% last week. With no chance of a hike at the mid-September meeting and a slimmer chance of even seeing another hike this year, the markets are keying in on any rhetoric regarding the unwinding of its massive $4.5 trillion balance sheet at the mid-September meeting.
Fannie Mae released its Home Purchase Sentiment Index this week as it rose 1.2 points to 88.0 in August. The net share who reported that now is a good time to sell a home rose 8 percentage points in August and is now up 21 percentage points compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the net share who said it’s a good time to buy fell 5 percentage points in August and is down 16 percentage points year-over-year. Americans also expressed a reduced sense of job security, with the net share who say they are not concerned about losing their job falling 1 percentage point.
Credit reporting agency Equifax reported on Thursday that 143 million customer accounts were breached between mid-May and July. The breach exposes the massive amount of consumers to identity theft as Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some cases, drivers license numbers have been exposed. A security analyst said "on a scale of one to 10, this is a 10 in terms of potential identity theft.'' Three days before the breach was uncovered, three executives at Equifax sold a combined $1.8 million in shares of the company, A company spokesperson said the sellers had no knowledge of the breach at the time of the sales.
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