Every year from October to April we are blessed with thousands of humpback whales in Hawaiian waters.
This the a most fascinatiing natural phenomemon that occurs in Hawaii. They make their 3,000 mile journey from Alaska to Hawaii. The whales come to mate, give birth and raise their calves.
The Hawaiian islands is a unique location that is virtually predator fee with warm waters and a variety of ocean depts and the wonderful visibility that is believed to brings them here.
Just a few facts about the Humpback Whale;
- Adult humpbacks may get up to 45 feet and 40 tons.
- Life expectancy is 50 years.
- They do not sleep.
- They have very few predators...Humans...sharks and orcas.
- They do not feed while in Hawaii, they live off their fat built up while feeding in Alaska.
- Gestation is 11-12 months.
- Average calf is 1 to 1.5 tons and is 12 - 14 feet long at birth
- Mother humpback with teach the baby things like breaching, tail slapping and other whale behavior while in Hawaiian waters.
- Calf will gain about 100 pounds and one inch per day.
- The humpback whale was once near extinction due to hunting. They are still on the endangered list but their number are growing.
Maui Whale -
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This week brings us the release of five economic reports for the markets to digest. Only one of these reports is considered to be highly important to mortgage rates, but this by no means leads me to believe we will have an uneventful week. This will be an extremely busy week for corporate earnings, which usually translates into stock volatility. The lack of important economic data on this week's calendar makes it more likely that any significant swings in stock prices will influence bond trading and mortgage rates.
September's Producer Price Index (P PI) is the first report of the week and the most important of the five. This index measures inflationary pressures at the producer level of the economy. Analysts are expecting to see no change in the overall index and a 0.1% rise in the core data reading. The core data is the more important of the two because it excludes more volatile food and energy prices. A larger than expected increase could fuel inflation concerns in the bond market and push mortgage rates higher. However, weaker than expected readings should lead to lower rates Tuesday.
September's Housing Starts is the second report of the day, but is one of the week's least important pieces of data. It gives us an indication of housing sector strength and mortgage credit demand, but usually is not a mover of mortgage rates. It is expected to show an increase in starts of new homes last month. If it varies greatly from forecasts, we could see the bond market have some reaction to the news, but probably not enough to cause much movement in rates. The PPI report should be much more of an influence on mortgage rates Tuesday than this housing report will
Mortgage rates spent the first part of last week sliding lower again, but rates began creeping upward as the week progressed. With limited economic data to drive bond markets, much of the movement came
from money flowing into stock markets, which rallied as the week progressed.
Mortgage rates will likely start the week with some upward pressure hanging on from last week,
but with a week full of economic data and some potential news from Washington, we could see rates go
either way next week. Both Retail Sales and Industrial Production data are due next week. With
consumers still struggling, a near unchanged sales reading might help propel rates higher, as would a
higher-than-expected IP reading. However, we’ve got the Consumer Price Index due with
expectations of continuing low inflationary pressures. If the CPI remains unchanged, and Congress
begins to move in earnest to extend or expand tax credits for homebuyers, we’re likely to see
mortgage rates return to the slow march downward, similar to the trend of last few months.
