Economic indicators

Only 65.8% of surveyed households said they would be able to come up with $2,000 if an unexpected need arose within the next month.

The so-called core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy costs, increased 0.2% from September, Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed Tuesday.

Broader economic factors, including growing household debt, are also likely to keep the housing market stagnant, Freddie Mac said.

High mortgage rates and the lack of inventory for sale pushed the sector into a downturn twice recently - between May and November last year and in May of 2023 - according to First American

More than half of 526 respondents to a Markets Live Pulse survey said that personal consumption — the most important driver of economic growth — will shrink in early 2024, which would be the first quarterly decline since the onset of the pandemic.

"There is nothing that is saying we need to do anything imminent anytime soon," the Federal Reserve governor said in an interview on CNBC Tuesday.

Stock futures fluctuated on Wednesday as the latest data showed the U.S. economy expanded at a slower rate than previously thought in the second quarter, fueling speculation the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its rate-hike cycle.

Rising interest rates during June worked to hold potential new homebuyers out of the market, the Mortgage Bankers Association's Builder Application Survey found.

The U.S. economy has a better chance of avoiding a recession in the next 12 months following recent positive data on economic activity and inflation, according to Jan Hatzius, the chief economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. 

Americans are so desperate to break free from credit card, mortgage and auto loan debt that they'd resort to dangerous deeds, a survey by Beyond Finance found.

Nearly all Fed participants support additional increases in interest rates in 2023, with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President as an exception who has called for holding steady for the rest of this year and "well into 2024."

Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment Index recorded a little more optimism in July.

Researchers at the government-sponsored enterprise also maintained their outlook for a modest recession but moved anticipated onset to the fourth quarter this year.

Gross domestic product is now forecast to only contract in the final three months of the year, and it's projected to merely stagnate in the third quarter instead of shrink, a June survey showed. 

"We will continue to make our decisions meeting by meeting, based on the totality of incoming data and their implications for the outlook for economic activity and inflation, as well as the balance of risks," he wrote in prepared remarks to be delivered to the House Financial Services Committee.

A larger share of sellers were optimistic in May, but the percentage of enthusiastic buyers fell, according to Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment Index.

Treasury bills maturing in the first half of June rallied as trading resumed following the Memorial Day holiday, after a deal to lift the debt ceiling eased concern over the prospect of a calamitous U.S. default. 

Recent bank troubles mean agency MBS, multifamily and jumbo mortgage activity are set for changes, analysts said at an industry conference.

Bets are piling up on a wide range of trajectories for the Fed's path — with some expecting it to mount a major about-face as growth stalls and others hedging the risk it will tighten policy further as elevated inflation persists.

Heightened worries about the strength of consumers and the global economy have been put on hold — at least for now — after some of the world's best known companies delivered a slew of better-than expected numbers.