Market Minute for February 7th 2022
The economy continues to improve with job growth surprised on the upside despite surging Covid cases at the start of 2022. While the strong gain in payrolls is great news for the economy, the labor market resilience also provides more reasons for the Federal Reserve to raise rates to keep inflation from rising further. After holding steady since the mid of January, mortgage rates are on the upswing again as the market responds to the big jobs report. The surge in rates may have raised concerns for many potential homebuyers, but it also could have motivated them to get into the market sooner before rates rise further, as evidenced by the increase in mortgage applications in recent weeks.
