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    Mortgage Rates Fell, Then Rose. What Comes Next?

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    Many would-be home buyers are still hoping for mortgage rates to come down as the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates. How much they will fall is unclear.Rafael Corrales, a real estate agent in Miami, recently showed houses to a young couple hoping to move from a rental into a home. They had been lured to the market after hearing that mortgage rates had come down.But when the couple went to get approved for a home loan, they found that the borrowing costs had ticked up once again.“They were very confused,” said Mr. Corrales, 49, an agent for Redfin. It pushed them back onto the sidelines of the housing market, and they’re now staying put in the hope that rates will fall again.Mortgage rates fell steadily from this spring through September, as economic data slowed and as investors began to expect a steady string of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. But the rate on a 30-year mortgage has reversed course and climbed sharply over the past month to 6.79 percent nationally, from about 6.1 percent at the start of October.The move has come as a shock to some home buyers, who had waited many months for Fed officials to begin lowering borrowing costs, hoping that they would bring relief to the mortgage market.The logic was fairly simple. When the Fed lowers its benchmark interest rates, the downward shifts tend to trickle through financial markets to lower other interest rates. While the biggest impact is on short-term rates, the effect can extend to 10-year Treasury notes, which mortgages closely track. And the Fed is, in fact, adjusting policy. Officials cut interest rates for the first time in four years in September, and they followed with a quarter-point rate cut on Thursday.

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    U.S. average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage
    Source: Freddie MacBy The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    How to survive a trade war with the United States

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    Standard DigitalStandard & FT Weekend Printwasnow $29 per 3 monthsThe new FT Digital Edition: today’s FT, cover to cover on any device. This subscription does not include access to ft.com or the FT App.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts10 monthly gift articles to shareGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionEverything in PrintWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisPlusEverything in Premium DigitalEverything in Standard DigitalGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresFirstFT newsletterVideos & PodcastsFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit app10 gift articles per monthExclusive FT analysisPremium newslettersFT Digital Edition10 additional gift articles per monthMake and share highlightsFT WorkspaceMarkets data widgetSubscription ManagerWorkflow integrationsOccasional readers go freeVolume discountFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Standard DigitalFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Premium Digital More

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    Butter thefts highlight cost of Russia’s war economy

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    Consumer anger over high prices piles pressure on politicians

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    The British government’s Trump dilemmas

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    $75 per monthComplete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print edition More

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    China’s cleantech boom fuels its confidence on the climate stage

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    Chinese diplomats will arrive in Azerbaijan with a message for the UN COP29 climate conference. In the “real world”, they will argue, China is racing ahead of schedule in its efforts to decarbonise its economy. It is also helping the developing world do the same via its booming renewable energy and electric vehicle industries, as well as its Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.Chinese officials, meanwhile — in line with recent discussions with diplomats and other foreign visitors — are expected to push back at moves from Washington and Brussels that link negotiations over climate change to Beijing’s industrial policy and trade practices. They will also be increasingly assertive in highlighting China’s efforts to finance the green transition in the developing world, despite western calls for Beijing to be more ambitious.And, with COP29 opening after Donald Trump’s US presidential election win, expectations that the country will withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change have been raised.Li Shuo, an analyst of Chinese climate and energy policy, says global climate diplomacy is at risk of becoming “more politicised, more divisive” and drifting to “a rather irrelevant status” because of the US government’s insistence on linking climate and trade issues.“China’s impressive success when it comes to embracing the low-carbon economy . . . is not a political story but a ‘real economy’ story,” argues Li, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute think-tank. “Which part of the world wins that ‘real economy’ competition?”Beijing’s growing confidence in climate diplomacy marks a significant change after years of pressure from western leaders, who have argued that the world’s biggest polluter — accounting for about a third of global emissions — needs to act more quickly to help the world tackle global warming. Several statistics point towards China’s decarbonisation efforts outstripping Beijing’s expectations, and progressing towards the dual goals of peak emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060 that President Xi Jinping announced four years ago. Beijing achieved its target of having 1,200 gigawatts of installed solar and wind capacity — enough to power hundreds of millions of homes annually — in July, six years early. The government’s original goal of electric vehicles to account for half of car sales by 2035 is on course to be achieved next year.Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.At the same time, China’s foreign direct investment outflows are tracking at record levels. They are underpinned by cleantech investments in the developing world and supported by one of Xi’s hallmark foreign policies, the Belt and Road, which Beijing is now refocusing on green investments.China’s emissions could even fall this year: CO₂ output in the third quarter hovered around last year’s levels and declined in the previous three months, according to an analysis by UK-based climate news site Carbon Brief. This reflects, in part, both the surge in low-carbon electricity generation in China, which is home to about two-thirds of the world’s solar and wind power projects under construction, and transport sector electrification. It also raises the possibility that China’s total emissions peaked in 2023 — seven years ahead of Xi’s 2030 target. The China-Laos high-speed railway, a key project of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, connects Kunming, capital of the Yunnan province, with Vientiane More

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    Stellantis, partner Leapmotor scrap plan to make second EV model in Poland, sources say

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    Chinese automakers were told at a meeting with China’s Ministry of Commerce on Oct. 10 that they should pause their large-scale investment plans in European Union countries that had backed the tariff proposal, Reuters has previously reported.Leapmotor and Stellantis displayed the upcoming B10 EV at the Paris Motor Show four days after that meeting in an Oct. 14 debut both carmakers hailed as a milestone in their partnership.      Poland is among the 10 EU members which supported the EU’s decision to impose tariffs of up to 45% on imported Chinese-made EVs.Five EU members, including Germany and Slovakia opposed the tariffs, and 12 other member states abstained from the vote to approve the tariffs, which took effect on Oct. 30.      Stellantis and Leapmotor have not disclosed where the B10 SUV will be produced, and it was not clear if factors other than the pressure from Beijing on China’s automakers had played a role in the decision to shift planned production of the B10 from Poland.      China’s State Council Information Office, the agency that speaks for the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China’s Ministry of Commerce also did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.      Polish industry ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.      Stellantis’ Tychy plant in Poland has been producing the T03 compact EV with components shipped from China. It is not immediately clear whether the T03 assembly was also under review and whether the plan would have impact on jobs.      Production in Germany, an option under consideration for the new joint-venture EV, would be more expensive than Poland in terms of utility costs and labour, the first person familiar with the review said.Leapmotor has said the B10 is the first of a B series of EVs it will roll out designed for markets outside China, including Europe, where it began sales in September.      Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said the partnership with Leapmotor and the B10 was a way to bring “high-tech, affordable” EVs to consumers outside China.Stellantis owns a 51% stake in the joint venture with its Chinese EV partner. Leapmotor owns the remaining 49% of the partnership, Leapmotor International.      German and Slovakian governments did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Reuters. Opel was not immediately available for comment.      Chinese companies have to seek approval from Beijing for their direct investments overseas under Chinese laws and regulations. More