| A BIT OF A DOWNER… Following Fed chair Powell’s hawkish Congressional testimony, the February jobs report, and the FDIC’s shutdown of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) to protect insured depositors, stocks tanked big time.
SVB is a very small institution with specialized lending practices, so the shutdown should only be a temporary shock to Wall Street. The $19.8 trillion U.S. banking system remains very well capitalized.
Powell told Congress the Fed still has more work to do to cool the economy and inflation, but we later got February’s weak 0.2% gain in hourly earnings and rising 3.6% unemployment rate to show that the Fed’s making progress.
The week ended with the Dow down 4.4%, to 31,910, the S&P 500 down 4.5%, to 3,862, and the Nasdaq down 4.7%, to 11,139.
Bond prices overall benefited from a flight to safety, although the UMBS 6.0% slipped 0.71, to $100.31. In Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the national average 30-year fixed mortgage rate edged up again. Remember, mortgage rates can be extremely volatile, so check with your mortgage professional for up-to-the-minute information.
DID YOU KNOW… CoreLogic reports annual home price growth fell to 5.5% in January, slowing for the ninth straight month. Their chief economist sees “price declines modest, which are projected to top at 3% peak to trough.” |
