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The most mortgage rate influential event of the day was supposed to be the Treasury's auction of $24 billion of 10 year notes. However the auction results came and went, demand was healthy and once again there was no reaction in the markets. The was a theme today...all the way up until the last minutes when stocks rallied to their intraday highs and benchmark Treasury yields rose which pushed mortgage-backed security prices to their lows of the day. Fortunately the selloff was not big enough to warrant reprices for the worse, but we are however now heading into tomorrow with greater potential for higher mortgage rates. Reports from fellow mortgage professionals indicate that lender rate sheets are once unchanged from yesterday. The par 30 year conventional rate mortgage remains in the 4.75% to 5.00% range for well qualified consumers. ...

Tomorrow morning we get the Retail Sales, Consumer Sentiment and Business Inventories. Of the three, the Retail Sales report has the highest potential to move the markets. Better than expected results would move rates higher while worse than expected results would only improve mortgage borrowing costs by a few basis points. I continue to advise my clients and readers to lock as rates continue to hold at the best levels of the year and market participants show no willingness to drive mortgage rates lower. Same exception as yesterday, if you can float overnight and lock on a shorter term tomorrow, I would float. ...

So far today yesterday's modest improvements have extended over into today, however instead of being "modest", the gains have been substantial! This has allowed lenders to improve mortgage rates this morning. The par 30 year conventional rate mortgage remains in the 4.875% to 5.125% range for well qualified consumers. To secure a par interest rate you must have a FICO credit score of 740 or higher, a loan to value at 80% or less and pay all closing costs with an estimated one point loan origination/discount/broker fee. ...