30 YEAR FIXED =                     5.75% NOTE RATE. 

                                                5.87%**  APR

LOCK RECOMMENDATION =    RECOMMENDED

Happy Monday!  It looks like the mortgage market had it's head in the bushes on friday to a small extent, waiting to make sure there was not going to be a huge rebound in the Dow.  Even though the Dow did rebound, it didn't affect mortgage rates as much as one would normally anticipate. 

Now Monday has arrived and stocks are down slightly.  With no significant economic data set to release, this lack of rebound in the stock market has nudged traders even slightly more toward the bond market.  When competition increases in the bond market, prices go up, and rates go down.

The 10 year note is at 3.97% yield, which is just slightly lower than Friday.

The more important 30 year mortgage-backed-securities are also down just slightly with the 6.0% note changing 4/32nds for the better.

This is an action packed week in terms of economic data that will affect mortgage rates.  There will be plenty of news and speculation about retail sales as we enter the busy retail season.  The worse retail sales, the better mortgage rates.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the extremely important Consumer Confidence report to be released at 10AM EST.

For now, I'm still recommending locking your loan even though we may go lower.  This is due to the technical factors of the mortgage rate average.  In other words, even though we might go lower, the technical reading of the numbers suggest it's more likely that we stabilize or go higher.  It's the more conservative bet.  If you think that retail sales and consumer confidence will be weak, then float.

** Annual Percentage Rate takes loan fees into account.  There are lower and higher rates available depending on how you structure your loan.  Not everyone would qualify for today's best 30 year rate.