by Leroy Prince | Apr 10, 2024 | Banking
Key points
- Home owners in the US are continuing to take mortgages despite high interest rates.
- Applications to refinance homes has now jumped 10% in the past week which is 4% higher than the same period YoY.
- Applications for new homes mortgages fell 5% for the week and also 23% lower YoY.
US home owners have increased their demand for home refinancing mortages over the past week despite interest rates being as high as 7% at the moment. However, the demand for mortgages for new homes has fallen significantly within the same period.
House owners continue to take mortgages in the US despite high interest rates
2023’s rising inflation rates saw the US Federal Reserve raise interest rates several times. Till now, it is yet to cut the rates back as it fears that inflation is still not stable. As a result, the cost of loans and mortgages has been going up within the past 18 months as a result of the hikes in interest rates.
As such, it would be expected that fewer people would be seeking to finance their homes or other assets. Refinance demand usually drops in the event of rates hikes but the rates had fallen back slightly over the past weeks. Also, there is hope in the market that the Federal Reserve will not be increasing rates as it is anticipating for further cuts as the year goes by.
According to data from Mortgage Bankers Association, total mortgage application volume increased by 0.1% over the past week. Applications for home refinancing loans jumped 10% for the week, which is 4% higher YoY. In the same time, the average contract interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with matching loan balances ($766,550 or less) rose to 7.01% from 6.91%, with points remaining at 0.59 (including the origination fee) for the loans that have a 20% down payment.
“Mortgage rates moved higher last week as several Federal Reserve officials reiterated a patient posture on rate cuts. Inflation remains stubbornly above the Fed’s target, and the broader economy continues to show resiliency. Unexpectedly strong employment data released last week further added to the upward pressure on rates,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist.
Now, investors are waiting for key inflation dta that releases later today, and depending on the report, mortgage rates could have sharp movements to either directions.
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by Leroy Prince | Nov 10, 2023 | Banking
Key Points
- UK’s Gross Domestic Product has shown no growth in Q3 2023 after registering a slight rise of 0.2% in Q2.
- The UK Finance Minister now decries high inflation, blaming it as the “greatest barrier” to their economic growth.
Inflation rates in the UK are still running wild and have halted economic growth in Q3 2023. The country had a flatlined GDP in the quarter per initial figures revealed on Nov. 10.
UK GDP flatlines in Q3 2023
There was no quarterly growth in the past three months ending September in the UK despite Q2 showing a slight increase of 0.2%. While inflation rates remain higher in the country, it’s still not as tight as it was in the previous year.
The UK Q3 GDP is 0.6% higher than what was recorded in 2022, but there is still more to be done for the economy to experience a near-full recovery. The Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said that inflation remains the “single greatest barrier to economic growth” in the country, with the Consumer Price Index showing 6.7% YoY in September.
Hunt continued:
“The best way to sustainably grow our economy right now is to stick to our plan and knock inflation on its head.”
He added that their Autumn Statement would focus on how they can get the economy growing healthily again by unlocking investments and getting people to work by reforming public services to allow them to deliver the growth that the country needs.
This material is meant for educational and recreational purposes only. It is not financial advice in any way; therefore, damage caused by the information provided here is not liable to the company or the writer in question. Please make due diligence and conduct your own research before taking any action prompted by the information provided above.
For more resources like this one, keep watching our website and remember to follow our socials to stay ahead of the curve. Thanks for believing in us. Your support is appreciated.
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by Leroy Prince | Oct 18, 2023 | Finance
Key Points
- Tension in the European market rises as investors fear further escalation in the Middle East.
- Pan-European Stoxx 600 index down 0.6% as President Biden tours Tel Aviv
European stocks are trading in the red as President Biden visits Tel Aviv. Investors are now wary of possible war escalation in the Middle East as Israel has requested aid from the US, and President Biden has visited in a show of solidarity.
European stocks still dipping despite President Biden’s visit to Tel Aviv
Eurozone stocks have been affected by political and economic atmospheres in the region, with the markets opening lower. Investors are digesting key corporate earnings, inflation data, and developments in the war in the Middle East.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.6% at noon in London, with the Tech sector dipping by 1.4% and the Energy sector rising by 0.7%. Investors have also been alarmed by a lower-than-expected reporting from the Shares of European semiconductor manufacturers. Dutch chipmaker ASML posted lower-than-expected orders, indicating that 2024 would post flat sales.
The semiconductor industry has been a major concern in the US and the EU as the two entities seek to abandon China as a partner in trading tech products in their latest economic resolutions. The US urged the EU to reduce over-reliance on China’s tech sector products earlier in the year. However, they cannot still decouple from the Asian economic behemoth completely.
Today, President Biden landed in Tel Aviv to show solidarity with Israel in their fight with Palestine over the Gaza Strip. This geopolitical act is expected to have a considerable economic effect. China, Russia, UAE, and other nations have souring business ties with the EU, and the US supports Palestine. However, it is still yet to be seen if the two nations will agree on a ceasefire or if shelling will continue.
by Leroy Prince | Sep 20, 2023 | Regulation
- Brazilian lawmakers are working on a law that could see crypto enter the debtor’s protected assets list.
- This means that significant crypto holdings might start being protected from seizures on behalf of creditors in the country.
Brazilian lawmakers are discussing a motion that seeks to grant strong protection to significant crypto savings as part of a bill to protect the savings assets of debtors.
Crypto may become part of debtors’ personal savings category protected from seizures in Brazil
Bill 4.420/2021, Written by Deputy Carlos Bezerra, has been tabled to the committee on the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship in the Chamber of Deputies of the National Congress of Brazil, seeking to amend the Code of Civil Procedure of 2015 to protect private savings of debtors equals to 40 minimum wages from potential seizure on behalf of their creditors.
The bill’s initial version did not include crypto assets but has now been rewritten to include tokenized assets as well. This discussion is a landmark in the crypto industry as governments are increasing their efforts to streamline the adoption and usage of these assets worldwide.
The new version of the bill refers to digital assets as
“Digital representations of value that can be traded or transferred via electronic means and used for making payments or investments.”
This legal development is not a set-apart event. In August, the Brazilian Congressional Committee approved amendments to a bill that seeks to raise taxes on crypto assets held overseas. Keep watching Fintech Express for more updates on crypto and other FinTech-related developments.
by Leroy Prince | Sep 11, 2023 | Technology
Key Points
- Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is reportedly working on an AI project that is meant to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT
- Wall Street Journal Exclusive story indicates that Meta is in very advanced stages of AI chatbot development
Meta has been on the spot before for training its AI with licensed artwork, and reports leaked that it was working on an AI chatbot. A Wall Street Journal exclusive story now indicates that its AI project will rival OpenAI.
Meta’s AI conversation continues.
Meta, the parent company to multiple social media platforms, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, has indicated that it is working on the world’s most powerful artificial intelligence project.
This project is meant to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT models, with sources close to the company saying it aims to have its AI (Llama) be “several times” more powerful than its earlier version, the Llama 2 model released earlier this year.
Meta has been building data centers necessary for developing such a project, acquiring respectable numbers of Nvidia’s H100 semiconductor chips- the most powerful and highly coveted ones on the market. Wall Street Journal’s sources expect that the company will make the AI project open, allowing other companies to learn from its code and produce similar high-level models.
Llama was trained on over 70 billion parameters, making it one of the most potent AI projects. However, OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4 was reportedly trained on over 1.5 trillion parameters, though official numbers are yet to be released.
At the same time, the claims of Meta having a rival Llama model remains to be certified as no official communication is out yet. Keep watching Fintech Express for updates on this and other tech-related developments.
