Affordable Housing Investments & The Pennsylvania Economy

The 10-year Treasury rate increased to 1.92% at the end of December, up 14 basis points from the previous month and its biggest monthly climb since September after the U.S. and China agreed to a “phase one” trade deal. President Donald Trump said he would sign the deal at the White House on Jan. 15 and then head to Beijing to begin negotiations on a second phase of trade discussions. According to Dow Jones Market Data, the benchmark 10-year government paper fetched an average yield of 2.40% for the 2010 decade, down from 4.45% for the 2000s, 6.67% for the 1990s and 10.59% for the 1980s.…

RETAIL SPENDING

With unemployment at historically low levels and noted improvements in both disposable income and household net worth, the National Retail Federation projects holiday retail sales during November and December to increase between 3.8% – 4.2% over 2018 to a total of $727.9 billion – $730.7 billion. Online sales and other non-store sales, which are included in the total, are expected to increase between 11% – 14% to $162.6 billion – $166.9 billion, up from $146.5 billion last…

The Federal Reserve signaled last month that it was done cutting rates after making its third quarter-percentage-point reduction since July, bringing its target rate to a range of 1.5% to 1.75%. At an annual dinner for the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce last week, Chairman Jerome Powell said, “monetary policy is now well positioned to support a strong labor market” and the interest rate policy would likely remain, however, if the economic “outlook changes, policy will change as well.” The FOMC meets again on December 10-11 for its final Summary of Economic Projections of the year…

As anticipated, the Federal Reserve announced it will lower its benchmark funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 1.5% to 1.75% on October 30. This is the third rate cut this year but the Fed signaled that it plans no further cuts unless it sees “developments emerge that cause a material reassessment.” The Fed expects growth to continue and the job market to remain strong. On November 1, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 128,000 in October—economists expected 85,000 jobs—while job gains for August and September were revised up by 95,…