After nearly 2 Decades Visa and Mastercard announced $30 Billion antitrust settlement over fees charged to businesses every time a credit or debit card is swiped. This settlement caps fees until 2030 and then companies will need to re-negotiate. Swipe fees typically include small, fixed fees plus a percentage of total sales, which average 1.5% to 3.5% per transaction.
Mortgage Rates increased this week as the price of Mortgaged Backed Securities (MBS) declined in response to a strong job’s report. Rates are up approximately 0.125% from this time last year.
Jobs – the BLS Jobs Report showed 303,000 jobs were created in March while previous reports were revised positively by 22,000 jobs over the previous two months. This was a stronger than anticipated report and MBS responded unfavorably. Most job gains (68%) came from Leisure and hospitality, Government, and Education & Health Services. Average weekly earnings rose 0.6% and are up 4.1% year over year. The headline unemployment figure fell from 3.9% to 3.8% which won’t be pushing the Fed to cut rates sooner.
Home Values – CoreLogic reported that home values increased a whopping 0.7% in February and are up 5.5% year over year. This is a slight moderation from last months’ 5.8% reading. CoreLogic anticipates a 3.1% gain over the next 12 months, an increase from the previous months’ prediction of 2.6%.
Manufacturing – the Institute for Supply Managment reported hotter than expected numbers in March as the index rose from 47.8 to 50.3 in March, breaking above 50 for the first time since October 2022. Anything over 50 signals expansion and this report does not help motivate the Fed to cut rates.
Mortgage Applications to purchase home remained stable for the second consecutive week and are down 13% year over year. Refinances declined 2% last week and are down 5% year over year.