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The Amateur Economist Report 07/13/2013

This week the Federal Reserve tried to calm investor's nerves and smooth out the markets.  That seemed to work fairly well, but we don't know what next week will bring in the way of investor concerns and confusion. Monday we'll see the retail sales data which is always watched very closely, and Tuesday brings the consumer price index.  Both of these are important gauges of inflation, and even though we don't expect any major inflation worries to come out of these reports, they can still produce more volatility.

Mortgage rates will likely stay within their current range for a while, and I doubt that we will see rates below 4.00% on the 30 year fixed loans again for a very long time.  

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