Mortgage rates were unchanged on Friday, based on the small minority of lenders who remained open.  Taken together with the first three days of the week, rates moved higher at first and have now leveled off in conservative territory.  In this context, "conservative" means "higher than they otherwise might be," and we'd ascribe that phenomenon to the lack of participation surrounding the holiday.

Mortgage rates once again saw a greater-than-normal degree of stratification between lenders, meaning that some of them offered lower rates today while others moved their rate sheets higher.  This is partly due to the relative mess that the Thanksgiving holiday makes of US markets every year.  Because Friday was only a half day and because Thursday is a full market closure, many lenders are not open on Friday and did not put out rate sheets.  Those that did, may have done so more conservatively than they otherwise would.  On a final note, different lenders had different approaches leading up to the 4 day weekend, thus making for quite the variety of rate sheets between then and now.

Mortgage rates across multiple lenders were much more unified in their movement versus yesterday.  Most lenders where unchanged to moderately improved and the overall range of that movement (or lack thereof) was significantly smaller than it has been in recent days.  The net effect for today is a 30yr Fixed Best-Execution rate that remains at 3.375% for Conventional loans. Financial markets had been waiting for news on Greece's debt-reduction deal with Eurozone Finance Ministers and the IMF.  While a deal was, in fact, reached, it fell short of unequivocally guaranteeing Greece's next bailout payment.

Mortgage rates began the day near their lowest levels since early October as bond markets stayed in strong territory on leftover Fiscal Cliff concerns from yesterday's session.  But a new round of highlights from Congressional leaders sent markets back in the other direction into the afternoon, essentially benefiting stocks and pushing interest rates higher in bond markets.  MBS prices fell enough that several lenders released negatively revised rate sheets in the afternoon.  MBS are the "mortgage-backed-securities" that most directly influence lenders' rate sheets and when their prices move lower, rates move higher.

Mortgage rates moved slightly higher on Thursday, depending on the lender, and whether or not they released negatively revised rate sheets yesterday.  Today, some lenders released positively revised rate sheets in the afternoon as market conditions improved.  Overall, the difference from Wednesday's offerings was quite small.  Bond markets, including the secondary mortgage market, began the day in line with yesterday's closing levels.  After some volatility in the morning surrounding the release of Preliminary 3rd Quarter GDP, MBS (the "mortgage backed securities" that most directly influence mortgage rates) slowly began to improve, but not nearly enough to get rates back to yesterday morning's levels.