Rate Lock Advisory

Thursday, October 29th

Thursday’s bond market has opened in negative territory following stronger than expected economic news. Stocks are showing early gains after yesterday’s significant sell-off with the Dow up 45 points and the Nasdaq up 121 points. The bond market is currently down 3/32 (0.78%), which should keep this morning’s mortgage close to Wednesday’s early pricing.

3/32

Bonds

30 yr - 0.78%

45

Dow

26,565

121

NASDAQ

11,126

Mortgage Rate Trend

Trailing 90 Days - National Average

  • 30 Year Fixed
  • 15 Year Fixed
  • 5/1 ARM

Indexes Affecting Rate Lock

Medium

Unknown

Treasury Auctions (5,7,10,20,30 year)

Yesterday’s 5-year Treasury Note auction did not go as well as hoped. The benchmarks we use to gauge investor demand in the securities indicated a lackluster interest. Fortunately, the broader bond market had little reaction to the results, meaning they had no impact on mortgage rates. However, yesterday’s sale leaves us little to be optimistic about in today’s 7-year Note auction. If there is a reaction, it will come shortly after results of today’s sale are posted at 1:00 PM ET. A strong demand could help lead to a slight downward revision to rates this afternoon.

High

Neutral

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Today’s big economic release was the initial GDP reading for the 3rd quarter. It revealed that the economy strongly rebounded from the 2nd quarter shutdown with a 33.1% annual rate of growth during the July through September months. That was a bit stronger than the 30% that was forecasted, but considering the overall number, the size of the variance isn’t concerning. The economy came to a screeching halt during the second quarter, so it is no surprise that there was a spike in activity as the country continued to reopen. Technically, the larger increase is bad news for bonds and mortgage rates. Although, the data has failed to move this morning’s mortgage rates.

High

Negative

Weekly Unemployment Claims (every Thursday)

Also posted early this morning was last week’s unemployment update that showed 751,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed during the week. This was a decline from the previous week’s revised 791,000 new filings and lower than expectations. That means while the employment sector did improve last week, it still shows significant weakness. As with the GDP, by theory, the lower number of claims is considered to be bad news for bonds and rates. However, the bigger picture about the sector remains the same. That has prevented this morning’s mortgage pricing from reacting negatively.

Medium

Unknown

Personal Income and Outlays

Tomorrow has three pieces of data that we need to be concerned with. The first is September's Personal Income and Outlays report at 8:30 AM ET. This data gives us an indication of consumer ability to spend and current spending habits. There also is an inflation reading in the data that the Fed heavily relies on. It is important to the markets because consumer spending makes up such a large part of the U.S. economy. Rising income generally indicates that consumers have more money to spend, making economic growth more of a possibility. This is bad news for the bond market and mortgage rates because it raises inflation concerns that make long-term securities, such as mortgage-related bonds, less attractive to investors. Analysts are expecting to see a 0.3% increase in income and a 1.0% rise in spending. Smaller than expected increases in both readings would be good news for the bond market and mortgage pricing.

Medium

Unknown

Employment Cost Index (Quarterly)

The 3rd Quarter Employment Cost Index (ECI) will also be released early tomorrow morning. This data tracks employer costs for salaries and benefits, giving us an indication of wage inflation pressures. Rapidly rising costs raises wage inflation concerns and may hurt bond prices. It is expected to show an increase in costs of 0.6%. A smaller than expected increase would be good news for mortgage rates, but this is not one of the more important reports of the week.

Medium

Unknown

University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment (Rev)

This week's last report comes at 10:00 AM ET tomorrow when the University of Michigan updates their Index of Consumer Sentiment for this month. This report is moderately important because it helps us measure consumer confidence and willingness to spend. Current forecasts show this index remaining nearly unchanged from its preliminary reading posted two weeks ago. Good news for mortgage rates would be a sizable decline in the index, meaning consumers are likely to not spend as much in the near future.

Float / Lock Recommendation

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.


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First Equity Home Loan, Inc.

256-New-Loan

Equal Housing Lender
We don't advertise rates on our Home search site but handy links to our main corporate site at Mtgquote.com and our ProQuote.Mortgage app are readily available. Rates are subject to change any business hour with market fluctuations. All loan approvals are conditional, not guaranteed, and subject to lender review of all information. Loan is conditionally approved when lender has issued approval in writing, but until all conditions are met, the loan cannot be funded. Specified rates may not be available for all borrowers. First Equity Home Loan, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Mortgage Lender/Broker, licensed as a consumer lender in Alabama, NMLS #204559 Call 256-New-Loan for Gadsden Corporate office or 256-Refi-Pro for our Fort Payne branch.
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