Home Builders and Sellers Vie for Buyers.

WSJ 10/12/24(Mon)

• Competition is heating up, which will force companies like Lennar and KB Home to beef up incentives.

• Home builders had one thing working in their favor over the past four years: Regular home sellers weren’t willing to budge on prices, so competition from the existing home market was low. This is starting to change, which will hurt builders’ already diminished profit margins.

• Lennar and KB Home said recently that they are facing tougher competition from regular owners who are more motivated to sell.

• KB Home lowered the midpoint of its average sales-price estimate for the fourth quarter from $500,000 to $480,000.

• In the four weeks through Sept. 20, 21% of sellers in the existing home market dropped their asking price, data from Redfin shows. The most significant activity is happening with concessions, which don’t show up in headline prices.

Stocks And Bond Yields Just Keep Climbing

WSJ 10/6/26(Tue)

• Bond yields just keep marching higher. That hasn’t stopped stocks from doing the same.

• The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasurys touched a 24-year high on Monday, while the Nasdaq composite cinched a record close.

• It was another example of stock prices and bond yields both drifting in the same direction, as a global bond rout coincides with the unrestrained momentum of the artificial-intelligence investing boom.

• Bond yields and equity prices often move in opposition to one another—in part because rising yields can drag on corporate profits by hiking borrowing costs.

• But in recent weeks, bond yields and equity indexes have advanced in tandem. Sky-high earnings expectations and AI optimism have bolstered share prices, while inflation worries and signs of resilient economic growth have fueled a weekslong bond selloff.

Fast Rise In Rates Hobbles Property Rebound

WSJ 10/6/26(Tue)

• Commercial buyers seek new terms as market distress begins to take hold.

• A growing number of commercial real-estate buyers are threatening to walk away from recent transactions unless the seller offers better terms — Rapidly rising interest rates are to blame.

• The typical six to 12 months between when a buyer signs a contract and when the sale is completed can make a substantial difference in financing costs when borrowing rates are rising as rapidly as they are now.

• The fallout extends beyond property owners. Falling real estate values and fewer sales squeeze property- and transfer- tax collections. Higher rates also make it harder for developers to earn their targeted returns. That cuts demand for construction workers, architects and building materials. “The hurdle is simply higher,” said Alfonso Munk, co-head of investment management at Houston-based developer Hines.

Mortgage Rates Hit 3-Year High Amid Rising Treasury Yields

Korea Daily 10/12/26(Mon)

• Due to the rise in Treasury yields, interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages surged to their highest level in three years.

• According to Reuters on the 7th, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) stated that the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage for the week ending on the 2nd rose by 0.19 percentage points from the previous week to 7.49%. This is the highest level since November 2023.

• Mortgage rates are closely tied to the 10-year Treasury yield.

• The 10-year yield reached a new annual high during intra-day trading on the 7th at 5.366%—driven by inflation concerns following a sharp rise in oil prices and strong economic indicators—before closing at 5.286%.

• Mortgage applications last week fell by 4.2% from the previous week, dropping to their lowest level since February 2025. In particular, refinancing applications declined significantly.

Further Rate Hikes Within the Year Are Appropriate

Korea Daily 10/12/26(Tue)

• The Federal Reserve (Fed) left open the possibility of additional rate hikes within the year at its September Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, but appeared not to suggest an immediate need for a hike in October.

• According to the September FOMC minutes released by the Fed on the 7th, “most” participants evaluated that raising the Federal Funds Rate (FFR / policy rate) target range one more time by the end of the year would be appropriate.

• “Many” participants evaluated the decision as a measure of “risk management” to prepare against the risk that inflation could remain above the target rate due to stronger-than-expected demand or additional supply shocks. Some members viewed higher interest rates as necessary based on the baseline economic outlook.

A Credit-Score Shift Shakes Up Mortgages

WSJ 10/13/26(Tue)

• Regulators and lenders recently opened the door to using VantageScore, a joint venture by credit-reporting firms Equifax, Experian and Trans-Union, for their mortgage-underwriting decisions.

• It is the latest chapter in the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s crusade against Fair Isaac’s near monopoly over the $13 trillion mortgage market—one that sent the company’s stock down about 60% this year.

• Bill Banfield, chief business officer at Rocket, said the company ran 1.4 million credit reports from May through September that pulled both scores. On the mortgages that Rocket originated, VantageScore 4.0 ran 11 to 12 points higher than FICO Classic on average, he said. “What that meant, in the most simplest terms, was that the vast majority of people got the same price or a slightly better price by using Vantage-Score,” he said.

Samsung Forecasts $80 Billion Profit(Qt)

WSJ 10/8/26(Thu)

• Samsung Electronics forecast quarterly operating profit exceeding $80 billion for the first time, confirming that its run of record earnings has room to go as the world’s largest memory-chip maker continues to cash in on the AI boom. ( Samsung 6 companies invested $1B to a data center start up, Helix)

• The staggering preliminary estimate— more than twice what Samsung made for the whole of 2025— comes as the company remains a beneficiary of global demand for advanced chips as companies invest heavily in AI infrastructure and applications.

• Operating profit for the three months ended in September likely surged nearly ninefold from a year earlier to 107.400 trillion won, equivalent to $80.18 billion, the company said, which makes Samsung the first South Korean company to surpass 100 trillion won in quarterly operating profit. Samsung said it was the first major global technology company to surpass the mark.