Doug Short | Feb 15, 2013 01:09AM ET
: I've updated the charts below today's close. The S&P 500 is at a new interim high of 1,521.38 and is a mere 2.8% from its historic high set in October 2007. The 10-year note closed today at 2.00%, where it has been hovering for the past three weeks. Many pundits expect the yields to move higher from here. But a healthy stock market correction could spoil those expectations.
The latest Freddie Mac Weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey puts the 30-year fixed at 3.53 percent for the third consecutive week, 22 basis points above its historic low set last November.
Here is a snapshot of selected yields and the 30-year fixed mortgage starting shortly before the Fed announced Operation Twist.
For a eye-opening context on the 30-year fixed, here is the complete Freddie Mac survey data from the Fed's repository. Many first-wave boomers (my household included) were buying homes in the early 1980s. At its peak in October 1981, the 30-year fixed was at 18.63 percent.
The 30-year fixed mortgage at the current level is a confirmation of a key aspect of the Fed's QE success, and the low yields have certainly reduced the pain of Uncle Sam's interest payments on Treasuries (although the yields are up from recent historic lows of this summer). But, as for loans to small businesses, the Fed strategy is a solution to a non-problem. Here's a snippet from the latest NFIB Treasury Yields in Perspective .
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