Mortgage Market Update for the week of September 15, 2008

Here is the Mortgage Market Update for the week of September 15, 2008 brought to you by Larry Iest of Hemet Mortgage.

LAST WEEK

Last week mortgage bonds ended the week on higher than when the week began which helped mortgage rates.  The big news of the week was the Federal Government moving to support Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, this move alone caused bonds and home loan rates to improve significantly.  Tame reads of inflation also helped bonds and moorage rates as well. Import prices declined for the first time since December being helped by the recent drop in oil prices. Also on the inflation front were Wholesale prices, which help measure inflation fell in August for the first time this year. ate since September 2003.

THIS WEEK

This week has started off with a bang it was another big weekend full of shocking news out of the financial sector. It was reported Sunday that Leman Brothers will file Chapter 11 bankruptcy and Bank of America announced that it will acquire Merrill Lynch for $50 billion. This has sent shock waves through the stock market with the DOW falling drastically. We also have Oil prices plunging after Ike's limited damage to oilfields and is now well below $100 per barrel. This is helping bonds and mortgages rates this morning.

Aside from all of the fireworks this morning, we also some big economic news being released this week. On Tuesday will have the Federal Reserve release their Policy Statements and Interest Rate Decision. It is widely expected that the Fed will hold rates steady but as always all eyes will be on the Fed Statement looking for any hints on the Fed's next move. Also on Tuesday the Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be released, measuring inflation at the consumer level. This is a very important report since inflation is the big nemesis to bonds and mortgage rates. Another big report will be released on Thursday when the Philadelphia Fed Report ins released. The Philly Fed measures the health of the manufacturing sector and can move the markets if it varied widely from forecasts.