Interest Rates

The minutes -- from the FOMC's January 28-29 meeting -- were seen as supportive of loose monetary policy. Stocks and futures rallied as a result.   Several Fed policymakers provided commentary on the Coronavirus outbreak that -- at the time -- was mostly contained to mainland China. Fed President Patrick Harker stated, "if the situation gets significantly worse, and we start to see a significant impact on the U.S. economy, then we'd have to think about accommodation." Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the Fed would act "as appropriate."

Interest rates remain low, and homeowners in the United States are taking advantage. On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve announced that the mortgage origination volume in the final quarter of 2019 surged to $752 billion. That represents the highest level since 2005 and a nearly 50% increase over the $528 billion recorded in the third quarter of 2019.