“There is nothing new in Wall Street. There can’t be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again. – Jesse Lauriston Livermore

1. Bank of England Buys Bonds in Bid to Stop Spread of Crisis — the Bank of England launched an emergency intervention to restore order in bond markets after a government tax-cut plan sent borrowing costs soaring and triggered a meltdown in complex financial instruments held by pension funds. The move aimed to stanch the damage from a furious selloff in U.K. government debt in recent days and stop the losses from running out of control, analysts said. The bank said it offered to buy £5 billion of bonds late last week (equivalent to $5.4 billion) but only took in £1 billion, indicating a limited amount of firepower was required to move markets.
2. Home Prices Suffer First Monthly Decline in Years — U.S. home prices slid in July from June, the first monthly decline in years and the latest sign that higher mortgage rates are starting to weigh on home prices in many of the country’s biggest markets. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which measures the average change in home prices across the nation, fell 0.3% in July from June, the first month-over-month decline since January 2019. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the national index fell 0.2%. That was the first monthly decline in more than a decade by this measure. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.29% in the week ended Sept. 22, up from 2.88% a year earlier, according to housing-finance agency Freddie Mac.
3. Mortgage Rates Rise to 6.7%, Highest Since 2007 — mortgage rates rose to their highest level in more than 15 years, a new high since the 2008-09 financial crisis that adds pressure to the already cooling U.S. housing market. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage climbed to 6.7%, according to a survey of lenders released Thursday by Freddie Mac. lt was the highest rate since July 2007 and marked the sixth week in a row of rising rates. A year ago, rates were 3.01%.
The surge in mortgage rates follows a series of interest-rate increases from the Federal Reserve. The central bank has moved aggressively to try to cool the highest inflation in decades, raising its benchmark rate five times this year. Officials have indicated more increases are likely in the months ahead.
4. U.S. Jobless Claims Hit Lowest Level in Five Months — initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, decreased to a seasonally adjusted 193,000 last week from a revised 209,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The total was the lowest since late April and below the prepandemic average of 218,000 in 2019, when the labor market was also tight. The Commerce Department separately said inflation in the second quarter was higher than previously estimated, pointing to the difficulties the Federal Reserve faces in tamping down persistent price increases that have spread through the economy. The department didn’t revise its estimate that the U.S. economy, as measured by gross domestic product, contracted 0.6% in the April to June period, however. Consumer spending was stronger than previously estimated, it said, but revised estimates of U.S. exports and inventories offset the improved spending picture.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:

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