Forecast for the Week

This week’s economic calendar is on the light side, with housing data the highlight.

• On Tuesday, look for September’s Existing Home Sales. New Home Sales for September follow on Friday.
• On Wednesday, we’ll get a read on inflation at the consumer level via the Consumer
  Price Index.
• As usual, Thursday brings Weekly Initial Jobless Claims. Last week’s reading hit a
  14-year low.

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 on which home loan rates are based.

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 continued their improving trend, helping home loan rates reach 18-month lows. I’ll continue to monitor them closely

Chart: Fannie Mae 3.5% Mortgage Bond (Friday October 17, 2014)

The Mortgage Market Guide View…

3 Habits for Better Productivity

We all tend to work long days, but how many hours are truly productive? And who can blame us with online distractions, office snacks and interruptions every few minutes? The beginning of the day is critically important, according to James Reinhart, CEO and co-founder of thredUP. Here are three ways he recommends to help optimize your day:

Pick three wins for the day. Decide on the top three things you want to see accomplished that day—then, text them to yourself. Even if you don’t “win” every day, this ritual will help you clarify your goals faster.

Block your calendar, achieve more. Take your to-do list and block off the amount of time you estimate each task will take. Then, add 33 percent. If a project is multi-day or has dependencies, break it into chunks—and allow no interruptions!

Power up after lunch. Take 15 minutes after lunch to refocus: turn off your computer or sit in a conference room and review your list of three wins. This check-in will help you identify distractions and derailments, and put you back on track with the remainder of your day.

As always, please feel free to pass these great productivity tips along to your team, colleagues and clients!

Source: Inc.com

Economic Calendar for the Week of October 20 – October 24

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