Weekly Information 7/2

Mortgage interest rates improved slightly on the week on generally weaker than expected economic data. Today’s employment report for June showed Non-Farm Payroll losses of 125k on expectations that payrolls would fall by 100k. Most of the job losses were driven by the cut of 225k temporary census workers. The private sector added 83k jobs, lower than the 112k expected. June average hourly earnings fell by 0.1%, its first decline in several months. Other economic data weaker than expected included June Consumer Confidence, the ADP Private Job Estimate for June, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, weekly jobless claims, the June ISM Manufacturing Index, and May Pending Home Sales. May Pending Home Sales fell by 30% on expectations that sales would be down 12.5%. Year over year sales are down 16%. May Personal Income and Spending were in line with expectations.