Over the past few month I have been using a very well defined strategy to gauge lock/float opportunities. The idea is to lock when mortgage backed securities approach their recent range's price highs, and float when MBS are near the bottom of their recent price range. This "play the range"...
Mortgage rates continue to hold below 5% despite some better than expected economic data last week. As a general rule, better than expected economic data usually leads to higher mortgage rates while worse than expected data improves rates (that has not been the case recently though). At the close on...
Stocks opened higher and continued their climb in the first hour of trading, as retail sales came in slightly better than expected and a weekly labor report said claims for unemployment benefits were moderating. As of 10:30, the S&P 500 was up 0.90% to 947, the Dow was up 0.91% to 8819, and the Nasdaq...
Thursday offers a pretty heavy schedule before the week ends on a light day of data on Friday. Stock futures point to a higher open as markets are optimistic about the two data reports set for release at 8:30. Meantime, crude oil has breached $72 per barrel, ten-year Treasuries have eased from as high...
It looks like this week could be a quiet one, at least as far as new developments from economic data are concerned. Few of this week’s releases have the potential to put a damper on the recent upswing in financial markets, and the biggest release, Retail Sales , is expected to show confirm with...