Daily Mortgage Rate Lock Advisory

Friday’s bond market has opened down sharply following the release of stronger than expected employment numbers. The stock markets are reacting favorably to the data with the Dow up 136 points and the Nasdaq up 32 points. The bond market is currently down 28/32, which should push this morning’s mortgage rates higher by approximately .375 – .500 of a discount point compared to yesterday’s morning rates.

The Labor Department reported this morning that only 247,000 jobs were lost last month and that the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 9.4%. Both of these readings were stronger than expected. Analysts had forecasted a job loss of 328,000 and an increase on the unemployment rate of 0.1% to bring it to 9.6%. In addition, average hourly earnings also exceeded forecasts with a 0.2% increase.

Today’s news was definitely negative for bonds and mortgage rates. It indicates that the employment sector is not as bad as many had thought. While it was still softening last month, it was at a much slower pace than expected. That helps support the theory that the recession may be nearing an end. In fact, some analysts are already stating they think it has ended. This is bad for bonds because economic growth often creates an environment with inflation concerns that make bonds less attractive to investors. The result usually ends up being higher mortgage rates as investors shift funds into a growing stock market.

Next week is another busy one for the markets and mortgage rates. There are several very important economic releases scheduled to be posted in addition to another FOMC meeting that can heavily influence bond trading and mortgage rates. None of them is due out Monday, but there is relevant data or events scheduled for every other day of the week. Look for more details on next week’s events in Sunday’s weekly preview.

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…
Lock if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days…
Lock 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.

Rate Lock Advisory – Friday Oct. 31st

Friday’s bond market has opened in positive territory, allowing mortgage rates to recover part of this week’s losses. The stock markets are showing small gains with the Dow up 25 points and the Nasdaq up 3 points. The bond market is currently up 17/32, which will likely improve this morning’s mortgage rates by approximately .375 of a discount point.

None of today’s three economic reports gave us any major surprises. The Labor Department said that the 3rd Quarter Employment Cost Index (ECI), which tracks employer costs for salaries and benefits, rose 0.7% last quarter. This was expected and has not had much of an influence on the markets.

September’s Personal Income and Outlays report revealed a 0.2% rise in income and a 0.3% decline in spending. The income reading was slightly higher than expected, meaning that consumers had a little more income to spend that thought. The drop in spending was bigger than forecasted, meaning consumers were spend ing less than thought. The income reading can be considered negative news for bonds, but the drop in spending offsets that news. Therefore, this report also failed to push the markets either way.

The week’s last report was the University of Michigan’s revision to their Index of Consumer Sentiment for this month. It showed a reading of 57.6 that nearly matched forecasts of no change to the 57.5 preliminary reading. Again, this data had little impact on the markets and mortgage rates.

Next week is fairly active in terms of economic releases for the markets to digest. Monday brings us the first with the release of the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index. This is usually the first report we see each month and is considered to be pretty important. It is expected to show that manufacturer sentiment slipped further in October.

The rest of the week also brings us some important data including October’s employment numbers next Fr iday. Look for more details on next week’s releases and events in Sunday’s weekly preview.

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would…. Float 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.

Friday’s bond market has opened in positive territory following the release of interesting employment numbers. The stock markets are reacting negatively to the news with the Dow down 247 points and the Nasdaq down 43 points. The bond market is currently up 17/32, but we will likely see only a .125 of a discount point improvement in this morning’s mortgage rates due to weakness in bonds late yesterday.

The Labor Department gave us this week’s most important data early this morning with the release of May’s Employment numbers. The biggest surprise of the data was a 0.5% jump in the unemployment rate to bring it to 5.5%. This was the largest monthly increase in approximately 22 years, indicating that the employment sector is much weaker than thought. This is very good news for the bond market.

Also considered a positive for bonds was the loss of 49,000 payrolls. Analysts were expecting to see a loss of 60,000 jobs, but this was the fifth consecuti ve monthly decline in payrolls. That note seems to be more important than the 11,000 job variance between the actual and forecasted numbers.

In a bit of negative news, average hourly earnings rose 0.3% during the month, exceeding forecasts of a 0.2% rise. This means that wages rose more than expected, which raises concerns about wage-inflation that can easily spread to other sectors of the economy. Fortunately, the headline unemployment number seems to be the focus of trading this morning.

Next week brings us the release of a couple of important pieces of data. There is no relevant news scheduled for release Monday. Most of the important data will be posted the latter part of the week. Look for more details on next week’s events in Sunday’s weekly preview.

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… Lock i f my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days… Lock 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.