Thursday, August 24, 2017

What's going on and why does it matter?

Mortgage bonds opened lower this morning as the market turns cautious ahead of tomorrow's speeches by Fed Chair Yellen and European Central Bank President Draghi. Mortgage bonds are still trading near the upper end of their recent range. It seems like bond prices may be more likely to back off these levels than to break above them. On the economic calendar, the initial jobless claims numbers came out lower than expected which indicates continued strength in the jobs market. There are also some housing numbers that are scheduled to be released later this morning. The Fed is very supportive of the mortgage market today with a scheduled purchase of up to $2.125 billion of 30-year conventional mortgage bonds.

What should you do about it?It's probably a good idea to lock your rate while mortgage bonds remain near the upper end of their recent trading range.

MBS Chart

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Economic reports that may impact mortgage rates this week:

DateReportPeriodPriorEstimateActual
Wed
23 Aug
New Home
Sales
Jul610,000610,000571,000
Thu
24 Aug
Initial Jobless
Claims
Week of
Aug 14
232,000238,000234,000
Thu
24 Aug
Existing
Home Sales
Jul5.52M5.57M
Fri
25 Aug
Durable
Goods
Jul6.4%-5.7%

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