Tuesday, February 6, 2018

What's going on and why does it matter? Mortgage bonds were beneficiaries of the global stock market sell-off yesterday as investors plowed money into the safety of bonds in order to wait out the storm. Today, however, mortgage bonds are giving back some of their gains from yesterday's rally, and market participants may look for some stabilization before mortgage pricing gets too much better.  Much of yesterday's selling pressure in the stock market was due to automated triggers, so it's hard to tell whether the stock market sell-off will continue today.  The Fed is scheduled to purchase a sizable $1.31 billion of 30-year conventional mortgage bonds today, which may help. What should you do about it? Trying to time the market in times like this is a bit like trying to catch a falling knife. So, it may be best just to play it safe and lock your rate. ..... Economic reports that may impact mortgage rates this week: Date Report Period Prior Est. Actual Mon 5 Feb ISM Non-Mfg PMI Jan 55.9 56.5 59.9 Tue 6 Feb JOLTS Job Openings Dec 5.879M 5.90M Thu 8 Feb Initial Jobless Claims Week of Jan 29 230k 238k Fri 9 Feb Wholesale Inventories Dec 0.2% 0.2% Fri 9 Feb Wholesale Sales Dec 1.5% 0.6%