Daily Mortgage Rate Lock Advisory

Friday’s bond market has opened on positive territory following the release of weaker than expected employment numbers. The stock markets are showing another weak morning with the Dow down 105 points and the Nasdaq down 27 points. The bond market is currently up 10/32, which should improve this morning’s mortgage rates by another .250 of a discount point.

The Labor Department posted August’s Employment figures this morning, saying that the unemployment rate spiked to a five year high of 6.1% when it was expected to remain at 5.7%. They also reported that the economy lost 84,000 jobs last month, exceeding the forecasted decline of 75,000. Both of these numbers are favorable to bonds and mortgage rates because they indicate a weakening employment sector.

A bit of negative news for bonds was the average hourly earnings readings that rose 0.4%. This was 0.1% higher than was expected, but not enough of a concern to prevent stocks from falling and bo nd prices from rising.

Next week is fairly light in terms of the number of economic reports scheduled for release. However, two of the reports on the calendar are considered to be very important to the markets and mortgage rates. There is no relevant data scheduled for release Monday or Tuesday, but look for more details on next week’s event sin Sunday’s weekly preview.

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would…. Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days… Float 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.