April 7th, 2017 8:37 AM by T. Fanning
Last Updated: 4/7/17Friday's bond market has opened in positive territory following favorable economic data and geopolitical news that tends to fuel bond buying. Stocks are relatively flat with the Dow down 3 points and the Nasdaq down 7 points. The bond market is currently up 7/32 (2.31%), which should improve this morning's mortgage rates by approximately .250 of a discount point. If your lender revised rates lower yesterday afternoon, you should see less of an improvement this morning.This morning's positive open in bonds actually started in overnight trading when news broke about the U.S. military strike in Syria. Events such as this tend to rally bonds, at least short-term. The problem with this type of move is that it usually ends up being only temporary. It is not likely that bonds will continue to move higher from this unless actions are taken by other countries that escalates our involvement. Still, it got us off on the right foot this morning.Today's major economic report was March's Employment data. It showed that the U.S. unemployment rate slipped to 4.5% last month and that only 98,000 new jobs were added to the economy. The unemployment rate was lower than the 4.7% that was expected (negative for mortgage rates), but it doesn't draw as much attention as the payroll figure because other factors affect the overall unemployment rate. The good news for mortgage rates was the payroll number. It came in well below the 178,000 that analysts were calling for and the private sector job number was nowhere close to Wednesday's ADP announcement.The third reading in the report that we first look to is the average hourly earnings. Today's report revealed a 0.2% increase in earnings when analysts had forecasted a 0.3% rise. Offsetting that though, was a 0.1% upward revision to February's earnings. While this reading is worth mentioning as it has been a topic of discussion in recent months, it hasn't had much of an impact on today's trading. It is the U.S. military strike in Syria and the payroll number that is driving this morning's bond trading and mortgage pricing.Next week is a holiday-shortened week that brings us the release of several important economic reports along with two Treasury auctions that often affect mortgage rates. All of the week's events take place the middle and latter days, with nothing of relevance taking place Monday. Look for details on next week's calendar in Sunday evening's weekly preview.If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would....Lock if my closing were taking place within 7 days...Lock if my closing were taking place between 8 and 20 days...Float if my closing were taking place between 21 and 60 days...Float if my closing were taking place over 60 days from now...This is only my opinion of what I would do if I was financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.**http://www.hlmcolorado.com/DailyRateAdvisory
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