Daily Mortgage Rate Lock Advisory

Rate Lock Advisory – Wednesday Apr. 22nd

Wednesday’s bond market has opened in negative territory with no relevant economic news and early stock gains making bonds less attractive. The Dow is currently up 60 points while the Nasdaq has gained 28 points. The bond market is currently down 13/32, which should equate to an increase in this morning’s mortgage rates of approximately .250 of a discount point.

There is no relevant data scheduled for release again today, so look for any movement in bond prices and mortgage rates to come as a result of a swing in stock prices. Yesterday’s afternoon weakness in bonds was not a complete surprise and we may have more of it today. Accordingly, this may be a good time to lock a rate if closing in the immediate future.

We do have some relevant data scheduled for release tomorrow. The National Association of Realtors will post March’s Existing Homes Sales early tomorrow morning. They are expected to show a drop from February’s sales, but this data is not considered highly important. It can however, influence trading and lead to slight changes in mortgage rates if it varies greatly from forecasts.

Also tomorrow is the weekly release of unemployment figures from the Labor Department. They are expected to show that 639,000 new claims for benefits were filed last week. This would be an increase from the previous week’s total. The higher the number of claims, the better the news for bonds and mortgage rates.

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would…. Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days… Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days… Float if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days… Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now… This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.
©Mortgage Commentary 2009