Another week, and once again uneventful events happening on Wall Street.

By: Fred Arnold | American Family Funding

The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded within 100 points plus or minus almost the entire week. The biggest news for the week was the ability for Congress to pass the spending bill and avoid a government shutdown.

Other than this agreement, it is clearer with each passing day that Democrats and Republicans could not be further apart on everything else in running this country.

The awaited release of the FOMC Announcement from their meeting this week arrived with little more than a thud on Wednesday.

• The Fed continues to remain upbeat regarding growth in the economy, however they do acknowledge that some of the fundamentals in the economy are showing slight signs of weakness.
• There was nothing in the Fed’s report that gave investors reason to feel that they may be changing course on the anticipated rate increases likely to happen later in the year.

One of the areas that has showed signs of slowing is manufacturing.

• The latest index for the Institute For Supply Manufacturing (ISM Mfg Index) declined for the first time after 7 straight months of beating expectations.
• Not only did it fall short, it was hit much harder than anyone expected.
• However, although the index did not meet expectations for April, the report standing on its own is quite solid with a reading of 54.8.
• Any reading above 50 is considered very strong.

April’s ISM Non-Manufacturing Index showed significant acceleration.

• New orders outside of manufacturing jumped 4.3 points all the way up to 63.2.
• This is the highest level in almost 12 years.
• Not only does this report reflect strong orders currently, there is a significant growth in backorders which means that this sector should remain solid for the coming months.

With mortgage rates not moving much in either direction, applications for refinances declined by 5.0 percent for the week ending April 28th.

• The home purchase market continues to remain red hot as indicated by the MBA’s report of an increase last week of 4.0 percent in purchase loan applications.

Many areas of the country continue to report that bidding wars are taking place on many homes coming on the market for sale.

• This is leading to frustration by some prospective buyers in which they are making a decision to step out of the market for a while to let things settle down.
• The frustration of not being able to get an accepted offer on a property is taking its toll on some of them.
• The good news is that reports from real estate professionals indicate that in many areas more homes are starting to come on the market.
• It appears that homeowners are wanting to take advantage of the hot market.
• The demand is still much higher than inventory so don’t expect the bidding wars to end anytime soon.

Next week is going to be quiet as far as economic reports that may impact the market.

• Monday May 8th – Labor Market Index
• Tuesday May 9th – JOLTS Report
• Wednesday May 10th – MBA Mortgage Applications Data
• Thursday May 11th – First time Jobless Claims, Producer Price Index
• Friday May 12th – Retail Sales, Consumer Price Index

As your mortgage and real estate professional, I am happy to assist you with any information you may need regarding mortgage or real estate trends. I welcome the opportunity to serve you in any way I possibly can. Please feel free to reach me at (661) 505-4300.