News in end use

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 373,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, July 3, 2021. This is an increase of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The 4-week moving average was 394,500, a decrease of 250 from the previous week’s revised average.

A deeper dive into the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) May Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), with a look specifically on the construction sector, reveals that the number of open construction jobs decline in May to 299,000 unfiled positions.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) today (7-7-21) reported its Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for May 2021. According to the JOLTS report, as of the last business day in May, the number and rate of job openings was little changed at 9.2 million.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending July 2nd , 2021, the Market Composite Index , a measure of mortgage loan application volume decreased -1.8% percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.

The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 4 basis points from 3.91% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 3.87% as of June 27, 2021.

According to the latest Nanos Research Group polling, conducted on behalf of Bloomberg News, Canadian consumer sentiment reached a new record high in the week ending July 2nd, 2021. The Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index jumped to 66.4 last week, the highest reading since surveys began in 2008.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) a Federal Government Agency, has just finalized amendments to reinforce the ongoing economic recovery as the federal foreclosure moratoria are phased out. The amendments will also help protect mortgage borrowers from unwelcome surprises as the exit forbearance plans.

Realtor.com is reporting in their Monthly Housing Report for June 2021, that new listings showed signs of a comeback , as home prices broke a new record for the fifth months in a row at $ 385.000.

Statistics Canada (StatCan) is reporting that following four consecutive months of reaching new highs, the total value of building permits dropped a record $1.6 billion (C$) or -14.8% to $9.5 billion in May.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending July 1st 2021. The PMMS reports that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.98% with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.02%.