Interest Rate Hike Hurts Homebuilders Well, folks, the talk of the week has certainly been about the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting this past Wednesday. As we talked about on Thursday , the Federal Reserve voted unanimously to raise key interest rates by 75 basis points for the third-straight time. The Fed’s decision on Wednesday was, of course, fully expected. I was hoping for a 100-basis-point increase, but the Fed doesn’t listen to me! What was a little surprising was that the Fed revealed it wants to get the Fed Funds rate to 4.25% by year end. So, we can expect another 75-basis-point hike in November and a 50-basis-point increase in December. And then the Fed is going to hold rates at that level for an extended period of time until they make sure that inflation is defeated. The reality is the Fed has done a number on the market. They are purposely deflating assets, stocks, real estate – anything sensitive to interest rates. And, simply put, folks, what the Fed is doing destroys the housing market. In today’s Market 360, we’re going to talk about what the Fed’s rate increases mean for the housing market… and what it means for homebuilder stocks.