Interest Rates Move Up Slightly again this week

Interest rates for buying a home on the Palos Verdes Peninsula moved up slightly this week.The following are excerpts from the newsletter on interest rates published by HSH Associates :

“The upward trend for mortgage rates which began following the October employment report some eight weeks ago has continued into the first week of the new year.There was little fresh economic news out to push markets around, and with another mid-week holiday it’s to be expected that there would be little change in the pattern.

The quiet of the holiday season will pass us by next week, when the pace of business and life again quickens. If everything goes as planned, all indications are that we should expect a performing economy with somewhat fewer headwinds.

Next week, we’ll get more news about how we finished 2013, with the ISM’s non-manufacturing report, minutes from the December Fed’s meeting where they decided to start to taper QE purchases (and perhaps some clues about future moves), measure of consumer credit growth, wholesale inventory changes and of course, the employment report for December. Mortgage rates have been ticking higher, and probably will do so again; strength (or relative lack thereof) in the employment report will determine by how much rates will move, but we expect perhaps another five or six basis points at most.“

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