Welcome to The Carnival With This Week’s Three Things to Know

By Ryan Casey Stephens,  FPQP®
Special Contributor

Did you enjoy that beautiful Labor Day weekend with such great weather?

When I was a kid, September often brought a circus or carnival into my small East Texas town. Now that the weather has begun to turn I’m looking forward to the arrival of those fun fall events, the biggest being the State Fair of Texas, which begins later this month.

Markets have been a bit of a circus lately, to say the least, so let’s run with the theme in this week’s Three Things to Know. 

Interest Rate Roller Coaster

Interest rates started September at the highest they’ve been in 75 days. In fact, there have only been three days this year with worse rates than we saw Thursday of last week. That’s wild because August gave us the best rates we’d seen since May. We’re beginning this short week cautiously optimistic for better rates ahead, but we’ll need to be on guard. 

The Strong Man Takes Center Stage

On Wednesday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will be speaking via live stream at the Cato Institute’s Annual Monetary Conference. Speculation is soaring about whether the Fed will hike .5 percent or .75 percent later this month, so experts will be listening closely for clues on what’s ahead.

Who Fired The Clowns?

This Friday we’ll get the latest initial jobless claims report, and it’s sure to be quite telling.

The number of folks filing for unemployment has steadily risen since April. If that trend continues it could be an indication that a drawn-out recession might lay ahead, something that normally signals interest rates could be dropping in the future.

Ryan Casey Stephens FPQP® is a mortgage banker with Watermark Capital. You can reach him at [email protected].