Direction of Mortgage Rates

Hi Everyone,

Here's the latest commentary from our rate lock department:

Not much economic data coming out this week, with the exception of the slighty bearish CPI data released this past Wednesday, which really did nothing to the mortgage markets. The market is off slightly this morning in anticipation of the 5 year treasury note auction.

Weekly jobless claims were lower by 27,000 than the previous week, dropping from a revised 359,000 to 332,000. But, they are still higher than they were for the majority of last year. The four-week moving average pushed up to 328,000. Just a few weeks ago the average was closer to 310,000. Layoffs in construction and manufacturing have been the biggest causes for the increase. Continuing claims actually fell. However, considering that hiring was slower and the unemployment rate rose in January, it is more likely that many of these people have passed their 26-week maximum for collecting unemployment benefits as opposed to finding work. If overall economic activity does soften, then new claims will be in the mid to high 300K range on a consistent basis within the next two or three months.
Based on the lack of data, there will probably be not much market movement the rest of the week.

John Shea
Vice President
Summit Mortgage
781-224-2809 (office)
jshea@summitmortgage.com