Forecast for the Week 
This week brings news on housing and consumer sentiment, and September’s Jobs numbers will finally be reported.
- A double dose of housing news will be reported this week, beginning with Existing Home Sales on Monday and then New Home Sales on Thursday.
- With the government shutdown over, September’s Non-farm Payrolls and the Unemployment Rate will be reported on Tuesday, and they will be closely dissected by both Wall Street and the Federal Reserve.
- As usual, Weekly Initial Jobless Claims will be reported on Thursday. Claims are still in the 350,000 range as the job sector trudges along.
- Durable Goods Orders, which are orders for items lasting an extended period of time, and Consumer Sentiment will be released on Friday.
Remember: Weak economic news normally causes money to flow out of Stocks and into Bonds, helping Bonds and home loan rates improve, while strong economic news normally has the opposite result. The chart below shows Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), which are the type of Bond that home loan rates are based on.
When you see these Bond prices moving higher, it means home loan rates are improving — and when they are moving lower, home loan rates are getting worse.
To go one step further — a red “candle” means that MBS worsened during the day, while a green “candle” means MBS improved during the day. Depending on how dramatic the changes were on any given day, this can cause rate changes throughout the day, as well as on the rate sheets we start with each morning.
As you can see in the chart below, Mortgage Bonds improved at the end of last week, helping keep home loan rates attractive. I’ll continue to monitor their movement closely.
Chart: Fannie Mae 4.0% Mortgage Bond (Friday October 18, 2013)
The Mortgage Market Guide View…
Productivity Pointers
The Art of Dictator-free Delegating
If you’re too busy, there’s good news and bad news.
The bad news: It’s probably your own fault for hanging on to too many activities. You may believe you’re the only one who can do them properly.
The good news: You can become a fearless delegator–even if you’re afraid of coming off like a tyrant or losing touch with your business. When you trust your systems, delegating almost any task will free you up to focus on more opportunities.
Follow these easy to remember guidelines for your next delegation project:
If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. Wrong. There are probably better innovators than you at many tasks. Common problems with delegating are usually attributed to lackluster training, faulty systems, an already time-sapped trainer, or all the above. Taking some time out to create systems that can be taught will cost a little time, but will save you untold hours, money, and headaches for years to come.
Who’s under the bus? Mistakes will be made but throwing someone under the bus–especially in public–will undermine your leadership and cause clients, employees, and everyone else to distrust you.
Be open to innovation! Trust your team to do the job you hired them to do and be open to their ideas that could improve your systems even further.
Give credit where credit is due. Taking all the credit when things go right not only deteriorates your leadership, it diminishes the effort of another person and makes further wins less likely.
Let’s do lunch. Don’t just wave to each other across the hall on Monday and expect everything to come up roses by Friday. Getting regular updates and feedback from helpers is crucial to successful delegation.
I-O-Thank-U. Always acknowledge the effort of your team. They deserve it and appreciate it (often more than monetary compensation). Consider it a bonus that costs you nothing but pays big dividends later on. People are excited to do more when they feel appreciated.
Feel free to pass these tips along to your team, clients, and colleagues so they can learn to delegate more effectively.
Economic Calendar for the Week of October 21 – October 25
|
Date
|
ET
|
Economic Report
|
For
|
Estimate
|
Actual
|
Prior
|
Impact
|
| Mon. October 21 |
10:00
|
Existing Home Sales |
Sept
|
NA
|
5.48M
|
Moderate
|
|
| Tue. October 22 |
08:30
|
Non-farm Payrolls |
Sept
|
183K
|
169K
|
HIGH
|
|
| Tue. October 22 |
08:30
|
Unemployment Rate |
Sept
|
7.3%
|
7.3%
|
HIGH
|
|
| Tue. October 22 |
08:30
|
Hourly Earnings |
Sept
|
0.2%
|
0.2%
|
HIGH
|
|
| Tue. October 22 |
08:30
|
Average Work Week |
Sept
|
34.5
|
34.5
|
HIGH
|
|
| Thu. October 24 |
08:30
|
Jobless Claims (Initial) |
10/19
|
NA
|
358K
|
Moderate
|
|
| Thu. October 24 |
10:00
|
New Home Sales |
Sept
|
NA
|
421K
|
Moderate
|
|
| Fri. October 25 |
08:30
|
Durable Goods Orders |
Sept
|
NA
|
0.1%
|
Moderate
|
|
| Fri. October 25 |
10:00
|
Consumer Sentiment Index (UoM) |
Oct
|
NA
|
75.2
|
Moderate
|
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Mortgage Info By Michelle Wickett 