Interest Rates Move back up again this week

Interest rates for buying a home on the Palos Verdes Peninsula moved back up this week by a bit less than a tenth of a point.The following are excerpts from the newsletter on interest rates published by HSH Associates :

“Indications are starting to accumulate that not only was the economy not seriously disrupted by the October government shutdown, but that it wallowed though that mire comfortably and perhaps has begun to accelerate.

Although we are by no means rocketing ahead, the more solid nature of the latest set of data does, to a degree, put a “taper” of QE purchases by the Federal Reserve back on the December table. That’s not to say that there’s a huge chance of this occurring at the moment, but the chance is no longer zero. The Fed meets next in about ten days’ time, when a decision to make a change (or not) will come. Taper or no, the firmer economic news means firmer mortgage rates are in the market.

The firmness of the data has spilled over into mortgage rates, which have now nudged upward to about two-month highs, approximating those seen during the first full week after the Fed decided not to tinker with the QE program in September.

Next week features a much lighter calendar of data to consume, and rates will probably be content to hold around these levels, perhaps ticking a little higher.“

The following are interest rate quotes from Al Hermann of American California Financial: