After yesterday, so glad that Friday is here. Mortgage backed securities got rather beat up but not nearly as badly as US treasuries. We will see worse rate sheets this morning by about .125 to .25% when comparing them to opening rate sheets yesterday. Many lenders repriced for the worse yesterday due to the sell off of mbs, however, some of our war room members have reported this morning that rates are slightly better then the last rate sheet they received yesterday. Today we received some key economic

Yesterday mortgage backed securities, the investment instrument that sets mortgage rates, managed to squeeze out a slight gain. We have been treading sideways for some time, so it was nice to see a positive day. We managed to close higher by about .25 in discount and so far this morning we are holding onto those gains. I suspect we should see slightly better rate sheets this morning with 30 year fixed conforming interest rates anywhere from 4.5% with the most aggressive lenders to 5%. Today we get

This week is full of economic data that can and has moved the markets. Monday -Existing home sales, economists expecting 4.45m -Leading indicators, economists expecting a -0.1% reading. This report is composed of 10 indicators which are designed to forecast the strength of the economy 6 to 9 months in the future. A weaker economy generally leads to less inflation which leads to lower mortgage rates. Tuesday -Consumer Confidence, economists expecting a 38.0 reading. A weaker number show that consumers

After a slight sell off yesterday of mortgage backed securities, today we have opened in positive territory after weak economic data was released. First, we got the release of the weekly jobless numbers which showed that 589,000 people filed for unemployment and the continuing claims also moved higher by 92,000 to 4.6 million. This shows that the jobless cannot find work so the jobs outlook continues to be very weak. Each week I bring you the jobless numbers but I have never defined it so here is

So far this morning, mortgage backed securities, which is the investment vehicle that sets mortgage rates, have opened down. It appears that Treasuries are pulling them lower. Since Treasuries and Mortgage Backed Securities are both fixed income investments, they generally trend in the same direction. Currently this morning, Treasuries are down big time. There are no economic reports to be released today that will effect the markets. With no economic data to be released today, mbs will take there

This morning the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the monthly report on consumer inflation. The overall reading came in slightly worse at a month over month decline of -0.7%, the core rate which excludes food and energy came in slightly better at 0.0%. Year over year consumer inflation is rising at its slowest pace since the early 1960’s. Industrial production came in worse as well at a -2.0% drop when expectations where for a -0.8% drop. This report is very important as it is one of the

Yesterday was a sleeper of a day for mortgage backed securities, again. We closed at the same level we opened like we did on Monday. We had a few instances of a sell off, but each time the Federal Reserve jumps in to bring the price back up. As the price of mortgage backed securities move higher, the yield they return to end investor drops which causes mortgage rates to drop. As said before, I do not anticipate interest rates to move higher since the Federal Reserve has a huge checkbook ready to

The week starts out with no economic reports but we do get many reports mid and end of week. Wednesday - Import Prices ex-oil, last months reading came in at -1.8%. For lower mortgage rates we want this report to come in lower as lower import prices leads to less inflation. - Retail sales, economists expecting a drop of -1.1%, last month it came in at -1.8%. As retail sales are lower, that is a bad sign for the economy which typically leads to better mortgage rates. - Retail Sales ex-Auto, economists