August 23rd, 2019 10:00 AM by T. Fanning
Last Updated: 8/23/19Friday's bond market has opened in positive territory following favorable comments from Fed Chairman Powell. The major stock indexes are showing relatively minor losses of 44 points in the Dow and 25 points in the Nasdaq. The bond market is currently up 11/32 (1.57%), which should improve this morning's mortgage rates by a little less than .125 of a discount point.Today's only relevant economic release was July's New Home Sales that showed sales of newly constructed homes fell 12.8% last month. This was a much weaker than expected but a significant upward revision to June's sales is skewing July's monthly change. The number of sales did come in lower than forecasts, making the report good news for bonds and mortgage rates. However, because of the revision and the fact this is not a highly important release, mortgage rates had little reaction to the news.What is mostly driving bond trading this morning is Chairman Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Fed Conference. He stated that the economy has some challenges to deal with. Specifically, he noted slower economic activity in China and Germany, the potential hard Brexit where Britain leaves the European Union on October 31 without a deal made, volatile stocks and geopolitical issues. Those hurdles all could contribute to a weaker global economy that will undoubtedly affect ours to some degree, at the very least. Since bonds become more appealing to investors during weaker economic conditions, we are seeing bonds and mortgage rates react favorably to this news.Next week has a handful of economic reports for the bond market to watch in addition to a couple of potentially influential Treasury auctions. The week starts with the pretty important Durable Goods Orders report that gives us a measurement of manufacturing sector strength. There are also some other relevant reports that can cause changes to mortgage rates scheduled throughout the week. Look for details on all of next week's activities 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...Lock 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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