Mortgage Rates Stable as Markets Keep Close Eye on Trade War, Earnings

Mortgage rates were flat over the past week as markets struggled to balance incoming data, which overwhelming point to a strong U.S. labor market and economy. However, the escalating trade war could lead to longer-term macroeconomic risks.

While watching closely for reactions to new tariffs, stock and bond investors also have an eye on the start of earnings season.

For the past two years, rates have experienced long periods of stability punctuated by rapid jumps. Right now, rates appear to be in a summer lull, somewhere below recent highs but still higher than they were at the start of the year.

Over the next week, markets will keep an eye on incoming inflation data as well as expected testimony in Congress by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Minutes released last week from last month’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting indicate rising concerns around trade policy.

Rates are likely to remain in the zone where they have stabilized in recent weeks.