Morning! This is MF Lending - the fool-proof way to serve up mortgage and real estate market knowledge without any of the guesswork. So you’ll look like the smartest agent in the room (and you are!)

Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

1. A Massive Fed Week Has Begun; CPI & Fed Meeting 🚀

2. Welcome - Onward Real Estate! 🥳

3. Best Clips from Last Week 🎥

By the way, this article on CPI Print - how it impacts your clients is the most clicked link in this newsletter, you should check it out if you are interested.

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[Read Time: 5-6 min]

Rates Today 📈

A Massive Fed Week Has Begun; CPI & Fed Meeting 🚀

Last week, was set to be an incredible week in the market - and then came the Jobs Report.

On Friday, “Non-farm payrolls” was released and smashed expectations. This was not good for interest rates.

Before the Fed will start cutting rates, they need to see the job market and inflation cool. Until that happens, there is no reason for them to cut interest rates. This report cemented that the job market is strong (whether you want to believe it or not).

At the start of the week, we saw rates as low as 6.75%. Friday, we saw rates shoot back up over 7%.

The big news this week is CPI - the Fed’s favorite measure for inflation. This report is printed at 7:30am Wednesday morning.

The impact of this report could be massive. Each month, the CPI print has caused the largest volatility in the market - and it has been that way for the last year or so.

Expect volatility because…

We also have a FED Meeting Wednesday!

While it’s a near certainty the FED will hold rates where they are (99.4%) - the bigger set of eyes will be on the Dot Plot. This infamous report shows us the Fed members projections for interest rates over the next 2-3 years.

The big question: Should we still expect 1-2 cuts in 2024?

In my opinion, a lot will be based on the CPI print that comes out hours before the meeting. The current forecast is projecting continued slowing in CPI. If that holds, I expect the expectations of rate cuts to remain intact. If we see hotter data, we may not see any cuts this year…

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The fan favorite “Fed Coffee Corner” will be ready for you all Wednesday as we wait for the dust to settle.

Until then, expect rates above 7% as investors wait for the next 48 hours.

Welcome - Onward Real Estate! 🥳

Bob Parks recently launched a new real estate venture with some of Nashville’s best agents - Onward Real Estate.

See more details from Sophia Young’s article in Nashville Business Journal.

I am excited to see what these local powerhouses will bring to the market. They have top-tier leadership and I am excited to watch them grow. 🙂 

Best Clips from Last Week 🎥:

Thanks for reading - that is all we have for today 😎

Please forward this to your friends and colleagues if you found it valuable.

— Michael F DiLucchio