Rates climb for 4th week in a row

Rates continue to rise on concerns of rising energy costs

Happy Friday from Local Mortgage!

Rates continue to rise for the fourth week in a row, we are now at 6.25% for our best 30-year fixed conventional scenario.

Rising oil prices continue to be the main cause for an increase in mortgage rates. Crude oil was priced at $65 per barrel the day before the Iran conflict started and is now nearing $100 just 3 weeks later. And now the central banks are citing energy prices as a reason for increased inflation risk, vanishing the thought of future rate cuts and introducing the possibility that central banks might actually move in the opposite direction with rate hikes.

To make matters worse, at Wednesday’s FED Meeting, Chairman Powell cited concerns with sectors outside of energy, saying there had been less progress with inflation than they hoped. Wednesday’s Producers Price Index, albeit a secondary inflation indicator, did nothing to alleviate those concerns with an increase from 3.6 to 3.9%.

Next week will be a light week for economic reports so investors will be focusing on Iran and any commentary from FED officials regarding monetary policy.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and thank you for reading.