Category: Banking

Good News! Business Applications Booming As Inflation Remains Calm (No Negative Impacts From Tariffs)

Let the good times roll! Booming business applications under Trump and calm inflation.

The latest inflation report continues to show no negative impact from tariffs. Core goods prices were up 0.2% in July. They are up just 1.1% over the past 12 months and are actually up a lesser 0.8% since President Trump began phasing in tariffs.

Business applications are booming under Trump’s economy.

While consumer prices are calm (2.7% YoY).

Shelter inflation is higher than the average price increase (3.7% YoY).

Mortgage Applications Increased 3 Percent From Previous Week (Purchase Apps Rose 1 Percent WoW)

They can’t accuse Fed Chair Jerome Powell of trying too hard to help Donald Trump. Mortgage rates moved lower last week, following declining Treasury yields as economic data releases signaled a weakening U.S. economy. As a result, the 30-year fixed rate decreased for the third straight week to 6.77 percent. As a result …

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 3.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 3 percent compared with the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 1 percent compared with the previous week and was 18 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

The Refinance Index increased 5 percent from the previous week and was 18 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

And the number of sellers in the housing market is greatly outweighing the number of buyers.

Mortgage and housing economists should breathe a sigh of relief that Bidenomics is over, but I doubt it they will.

Case-Shiller National Home Price Index Falls For 3rd Straight Month In May -0.3% MoM (Despite Fed Money Printing) 

US home prices fell for the 3rd straight month In May. The MoM decrease in the seasonally adjusted (SA) Case-Shiller National Index was at -0.29% (-3.5% annual rate).

Despite continued money printing by The Fed.

The Fed Lost Another $653 Million Last Week (Bring Total Realized Losses To More Than $236 Billion Since Sept ’22)

Nobody pisses away money like Washington DC.

The Fed lost another $653 million last week, bringing total realized losses to more than $236 billion since Sep ’22.

Nothing has been the same since the financial crisis and Bernanke’s overreaction.

California Governor “Greasy Gavin” Newsom wants to be President of the USA. He will fit right in with the other spendthrifts in Washington DC.

China, Fauci And Home Prices? Mortgage Demand Plummeted With Covid As Federal Spending Soared (New Home Sales Declined 6.6% YoY In June)

China unleashed the Wuhan virus on the globe, Anthony Fauci convinced Congress to binge spend like drunken sailors on Covid prevention and relief. Homes prices soared, mortgage demand sank and nothing has been the same.

Here is a chart of the Case-Shiller national home price index post Covid outbreak and the hysterical overreaction by Congress and the Administration (including Anthony Fauci).

Another example? New home sales are down 6.6% YoY.

Who do we blame? China? Yes. Anthony Fauci? Yes. Congress? Yes.

US Existing Home Sales Drop 2.7% In June As Median Price Hits Record Of $435,300 (Sales Near 15 Year Low)

US existing home sales dropped 2.7% MoM (vs -0.7% MoM expected) in June leaving existing home sales unchanged year-over-year.

The median sales price increased 2% in June from a year ago to a record high of $435,300.

Meanwhile, The Fed keeps on printing money.

This is a new world for housing and mortgage finance. Outrageous, unafforable housing for millions.

Gov’t Gone Wild! Bitcoin And Ethereum Soars As Central Banks Keep On Printing Money

Keep on printing is the song of The Federal Reserve. But its the same all over the world as global central banks are printing zads of money too.

Bitcoin keeps on growing in price as global M2 Money supply keeps on growing.

And the same is true for ethereum. It keeps growing as M2 Money keeps growing.

It is another example of government gone wild!

Mortgage Applications Increased 9.4 Percent From One Week Earlier While Purchase Index Decreased 13 Percent Compared With The Previous Week

Thank goodness “Statist Joe” Biden is gone. Kamala Harris is still lingering around the edges, while the mortgage and housing markets are still suffering from the Biden/Harris regulatory overreach.

Mortgage applications increased 9.4 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 4, 2025. Last week’s results included an adjustment for the July 4th holiday.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 9.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 13 percent compared with the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 9 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 13 percent compared with the previous week and was 25 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

The Refinance Index increased 9 percent from the previous week and was 56 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

Mortgage rates moved lower last week, with the 30-year fixed rate decreasing to 6.77 percent, its lowest level in three months. After adjusting for the July 4th holiday, purchase applications increased to the highest level of activity since February 2023 and remained above year-ago levels.

Biden claims the foreign leaders have been calling him for advice. Here is one example.