{"id":88801,"date":"2025-08-23T01:00:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T08:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=88801"},"modified":"2025-08-27T08:45:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T15:45:16","slug":"black-coffee-23-aug-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id88801-black-coffee-23-aug-2025.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Downbound Train"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe …<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance.<\/p>\n

I hope everybody had a wonderful week. And with that, let’s get right to this week’s commentary, shall we?<\/p>\n

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0\u2013 Dwight D. Eisenhower<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credits and Debits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? There was good news and bad news for first-time homebuyers. The good news is that mortgage rates drifted lower<\/a> last week to their lowest level since October 2024, with the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate settling at 6.58%. The bad news is that in most cases, lower mortgage interest rates typically do very little to make homes more affordable as sellers have typically been raising their asking price to keep the potential monthly payments from falling. The real solution is higher<\/strong><\/em> interest rates \u2013 they offer the best chance of breaking the housing market, which will lead to more affordable prices.<\/p>\n

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Credit:<\/strong><\/span> On Wall Street, market analysts are pointing out that last week the S&P 500 closed above its 20-day moving average for 68 straight days<\/a>. Stock market bulls point out that when that milestone is reached, the S&P 500 is almost always higher in the following year. That\u2019s a great news for stock investors because history suggests that the S&P can now expect an average annual return of 11% in 2026. Then again, rules are made to be broken. Take decorum, for instance …<\/p>\n