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Business Events Scheduled for Thursday
Major business events and economic events scheduled for Thursday:
The nation's largest retailers announce their sales figures for July.
WASHINGTON -- The Labor Department reports on weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- The Commerce Department reports on factory orders for June, 10 a.m.
NEW YORK -- The Institute for Supply Management issues its report on activity in the non-manufacturing economy during July.
WASHINGTON -- Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reports on mortgage rates.
FRANKFURT, Germany -- European Central Bank's governing council meets to set interest rates for the 12-nation euro zone.
NEW YORK -- CBS Corp. releases second-quarter earnings.
NEW YORK -- Marsh & McLennan Cos. releases second-quarter earnings.
NEW YORK -- Warner Music Group Corp.
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Mortgage rates dip for second straight week
WASHINGTON -- Mortgage rates around the country dipped for the second week in a row, a dose of encouraging news for people thinking about buying a home.Mortgage company Freddie Mac, in its weekly survey released Thursday, said that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dropped to a nationwide average of 6.63 percent for the week ending Aug. 2. That was down from last week's rate of 6.72 percent and was the lowest since mid-June.
Economists viewed the back-to-back dips as a nice reprieve from rates that have slowly moved upward this year."Although lower rates are a welcome sight, we still feel that the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rate will drift up and down somewhat over the next few months, but will average less than 7 percent for the year," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist.Two weeks ago, rates on 30-year mortgages climbed to 6.80 percent, the highest in more than four years.