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I WILL ACT NOW. I WILL ACT NOW. I WILL ACT NOW." Og Mandino.
The various financial markets took those words to heart last week, with plenty of action ranging from economic reports to interesting announcements from the government, related to homebuyers.
On the economic news front, the headlines were mixed. On the disappointing side was a worse than expected Retail Sales Report, which showed that consumers are continuing to tighten their purse strings. Not entirely surprising, but it did mark the eighth decline in the past ten months for Retail Sales. Initial Unemployment Claims were also reported worse than expected - which some said were due to massive Chrysler layoffs - but still was disappointing after there had been some recent signs of improvement in the labor markets.
However, there was positive economic news as well, including improved readings from the manufacturing sector, as the New York Empire State Manufacturing Index improved for the third month straight. Consumer Sentiment was also better than the previous reading and the best since September of last year. So although the consumer isn't out spending money with abandon just yet, this report shows that most folks are indeed starting to feel better about the economic outlook, likely due in part to the values of their investment accounts improving as Stock values move higher.
the government got in on the action, with the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Federal Housing Administration making a very interesting announcement that ultimately appeared to be slightly premature. They announced a new plan to allow first-time homebuyers to use the Federal tax credit of up to $8,000 for a down payment at closing, rather than making buyers wait to receive the benefit after the fact at tax time. However, no details or logistics of how this will actually work were released, causing them to actually pull some of the industry announcements as they regroup to provide more details. This could be great news for first-time homebuyers, who are slated to account for 53% of home purchases in 2009. I want to learn more on this. On my first read it is a save now and pay it back later program.
Bonds and home loan rates were able to make some improvements in the early part of the week as weak economic reports caused money to flow from Stocks into Bonds. And while Bonds lost some ground on Friday, home loan rates still ended the week slightly improved from where they began.
The week ahead is sure to be just as action packed as the last, including a read on the housing market via Tuesday's Housing Starts and Building Permits report. And given last week's worse than expected Initial Unemployment Claims report, this Thursday's updated number will be one to keep an eye on.
Are your fingers crossed?
