Austin Klar breaks down the August 2024 jobs report: 142,000 new payroll jobs, below expectations, and unemployment up 0.5 points year-over-year. The softer data pushed the 30-year mortgage rate down to 6.27%, making a Fed rate cut in September more likely.
If you've been waiting for interest rates to drop, then the latest jobs report was the most important economic report to be released in years, and it is good news for you. August gained 142,000 non-farm payroll jobs, which came in under forecast, and unemployment remained fairly steady month over month, but was about half a percent higher than it was last year at the same time. The 10-year Treasury yield fell a little bit in response to this news, and because mortgage rates track the 10-year Treasury yield pretty closely, mortgage rates fell as well. As of Friday, September 6th, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate, about 6.27%, down from about 7.5% just a couple of months ago. So that should really unlock some affordability for buyers and it paves the way for some level of Federal Reserve rate cut later this month. Whether it's a 50 basis point cut or a 25 basis point cut, we don't know yet. We'll have to see how the data shakes out in the lead up to that meeting. Things are constantly changing and I'm always staying up to date. So if you wanna be up to date, follow along. Hello.
