In case you were busy last Holiday Shortened week (Hope you had a Happy Fourth of July) and missed a couple of important data points …. here they are
MBA Purchasing Index Continues to Do Great
First Mentioned here, back in March, last week (7-1-20) another very strong reading of the MBA Purchase index, which is an index that tracks purchases of homes, (Excludes Refinances) and gives a good future expectation view of home movement, value and transaction…
Click here for the latest release.
On a personal, in-house perspective, with an unusually high 20 and counting residential home movements SO FAR this year, we are seeing a liquid, fair and fast paced market!
Employment Update – BLS
Then, the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statics) released their update on the unemployment rates…
Yes it is still high, but the drop caught many by surprise and was a much greater drop than expected!
A pretty Good Good economic release week…again, that may have slipped by you!
Have a Great ” Good Last Week Economic Numbers” Monday!
John A. Kvale CFA, CFP
Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
A Dallas Texas based fee only
Financial Planning Total Wealth
Management firm.
jkfinancialinc
street-cents
Continued Improvement in the US Economy … Monthly BLS Employment Report .. Unemployment Rate, Interest Rate Reaction
On Friday, August 6, 2021 the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) released the prior monthly (July 2021) employment related report. It is worth noting these are preliminary and will be adjusted in future months, but usually major adjustments are not in the picture….
Bottom Line:
943k hires in the month of July … NICE
5.4% Unemployment Rate as of July …Getting there (lower is better of course)
10 Year Treasuries Took note
BLS Unemployment Report for July 2021
The following Chart from the BLS may look unenthusiastic at first glance….. but hold on!
With the DRAMATIC volatility from the past year, the longer term chart does not give a true recent view…. Let’s look a little closer …. Much Better!
In much the same vein as above, the year view of the Unemployment rate does not look like a big deal as can be seen by the next chart!
On second thought, again with a closer view….. NICE! (We want a downward trending chart when measuring Unemployment)
10 Year Treasuries Wake Up
A measure of future expected growth, after some wrong sided players (shorting the 10 year in expectation of much higher rates faster) blew up pushing yields possibly incorrectly lower….
From Business Insider here
A hedge fund reportedly lost $1.5 billion in a bond market short-squeeze as bets on rising rates turned sour
These Good Economic Numbers put yields on the move higher (far right of chart)!
Continued improvement would likely force the FOMC to slow asset purchases…. as discussed here much desired by many !
Have a Great “Good Economic News” and analysis Monday!
John A. Kvale CFA, CFP
Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
A Dallas Texas based fee only
Financial Planning Total Wealth
Management firm.
jkfinancialinc
street-cents
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Posted in Economy, FOMC, General Financial Planning, Interest Rates, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments, Retirement Planning
Tagged 10 Year Treasury, BLS, FOMC, Interest Rate, Interest Rates, Taper, Unemployment Rate, Unemployment Report