- Oil prices remained below $100 after President Trump floated a diesel export ban that analysts warn would tighten global supply.
- The U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed to 7.12% in the week ended Sept. 18, the highest since May 2024, as oil-driven inflation fears and Fed tightening pushed Treasury yields up.
- The Fed raised its benchmark rate by a quarter point to 3.75%-4.00%, and nearly all policymakers projected at least one more hike before year-end.
- Ryanair will keep cutting winter flight frequencies to avoid unhedged fuel prices and shift capacity to lower-fee markets such as Italy and Scandinavia.
- Mortgage applications fell 1.5% week-over-week, with refinance applications down 62% year-over-year and at their slowest pace since February 2025.
Quotes
“With fixed rates much higher, more borrowers opted for ARMs, with the ARM share reaching 9.8%, as rates for 5/1 ARMs were more than a percentage point lower than those for fixed rate loans”
“Seven percent is significant simply because of the psychological effect of people seeing that number be the first digit”