Friday, January 24th
Friday’s bond market has opened flat following contradicting results in today’s moderately important economic data. Stocks are mixed with the Dow down 145 points and the Nasdaq up 10 points. The bond market is currently unchanged from Thursday’s close (4.64%), which should keep this morning’s mortgage rates close to yesterday’s early pricing.
0/32
Bonds
30 yr - 4.64%
145
Dow
44,420
10
NASDAQ
20,064
Trailing 90 Days - National Average
Medium
Negative
The National Association of Realtors announced late this morning that home resales rose 2.2% last month, indicating modest growth in the housing sector. That was a little stronger than what analysts were expecting to see and the best month for sales since February of last year. However, last year was the worst in sales in almost 30 years. Market traders are more focused on recent data, causing us to label the report slightly negative for bonds and mortgage rates.
Medium
Positive
Also posted late this morning was January's Index of Consumer Sentiment from the University of Michigan. It came in at a lower than predicted 71.1. This was a decline from the previous reading of 74.0, meaning surveyed consumers were not as optimistic about their own financial situations as previously thought. Since waning confidence often translates into weaker consumer spending, the decline was good news for bonds and mortgage pricing.
High
Unknown
Next week has plenty scheduled for the markets to digest. It starts light with just a lower-tier New Home Sales report Monday morning, but the rest of the week includes the first FOMC meeting of the year, the initial GDP reading for the 4th quarter and the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge. In addition to those events, there are a few moderately important reports and a couple of Treasury auctions. We can expect to see much stronger moves in the markets and mortgage rates than we did this week. Look for details on all of the scheduled activities in Sunday evening’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... 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.