Cryptocurrency has given birth to a Renaissance* in digital art. This pixelated pop-tart rainbow cat’s original image and code (non-fungible token) sold for a whopping $590,000. A NFT or non-fungible token cannot be exchanged for another thing of equal value, it’s one of a kind. Which is how cryptocurrency is sold. Ultimately what your buying is not the picture itself (you can just copy and paste) but the property rights and original item and these rights are traceable.
*or maybe just another short lived trend
Rates – moved up slightly this week following the 6th consecutive weekly decline in Mortgage Backed Security pricing fueled by inflationary pressure. On a year over year basis rates are down nearly 3/8%.
Jobs – 379K Jobs were created in February and the unemployment rate decreased slightly to 6.3% If you include people that aren’t able to work due to pandemic reasons that number is closer to 10%. Weekly earnings are up 6% year over year which is down from last month’s reading of 7.5%. There is still 18M people claiming some type of unemployment benefits as of Feb. 13th
Home Appreciation – between January of 2020 and January of 2021 home values increased a scorching 10% nationwide. Core Logic is forecasting a pullback in home appreciation over the next 12 months caused by an increase in rates though many other analysts are predicting stronger appreciation.
Mortgage Applications – increased by 0.5% from the previous week. Purchase applications are up 1% year over year and refinances are only up 7.1% year over year.