Market Moving Monday With Danny Caro CMG Financial

Mortgage rates increased slightly last week, though they continue to remain in a historically low range. Job openings rose marginally. New purchase application submissions dropped while refinance application submissions rose. Jobless claims dropped significantly. Consumer prices did not increase after four consecutive months of gains. Consumer sentiment unexpectedly dropped to a three-month low.

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• On Tuesday, the Labor Department reported a gain of 50,000 jobs in September. Though job openings were initially reported at a level of 6.5 million in August, the Labor Department later revised this number to 6.35. In September, job openings reached 6.4 million. The hiring pace has also normalized as 5.87 million people were hired in September, down from 5.95 million in August. Job separations (those who quit, are laid off, or retire), dropped 30,000 from 4.69 million in August. The number of quits inched up 0.1% for private-sector employees.

• For the week ending 11/6, mortgage application submissions had a composite decrease of 0.5%. While refinance application submissions increased by 1%, new purchase application submissions decreased by 3%. Refinance applications accounted 70% of all submissions for the week ending 11/6.

• Jobless claims dropped for another week in a row, with initial claims hitting a seasonally adjusted level of 709,000 the week ending 11/7.  This was the fourth week in a row that initial claims reached a pandemic low. Surging to nearly 7 million in March, initial jobless claims are slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels. Continuing jobless claims sank as well, reaching a level of 6.79 million for the week ending 10/31.

• Following four consecutive months of gains, the consumer price index was unchanged from September to October. Year-over-year, however, consumer prices increased by 1.6%.

• The index is not based on actual activity but is used to predict consumer spending habits. The consumer sentiment index for November dropped almost 5 points, from 81.8 to 77.0.

• Retail sales

• Home builder sentiment index

• MBA applications

• Housing starts and building permits

• Jobless claims

• Existing home sales

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 16, 2020