November 25th, 2016 3:20 PM by T. Fanning
Last Updated: 11/25/16Friday's bond market has opened down slightly in light holiday trading. The major stock indexes are showing gains of 62 points in the Dow and 5 points in the Nasdaq. The bond market 3/32 (2.36%), which should keep this morning's mortgage rates at Wednesday's morning levels. We did see some strength in bonds after morning pricing was posted Wednesday, but today's open in mortgage securities will erase those gains, leaving us back at that day's morning levels. The markets were closed yesterday due to the Thanksgiving holiday.Wednesday's 7-year Treasury Note auction went very well with many benchmarks showing a strong level of interest in the securities. That did help boost the broader bond market, leading to many lenders revising rates lower as a result. It appears that this event deserves the credit for Wednesday's move as it came before the second afternoon event was released.The other release late Wednesday was the minutes from the November 1-2 FOMC meeting. They didn't show much of a surprise, reiterating the Fed's previous stance that another key short-term interest rate increase will be justified soon. This left most analysts believing that move will come at the Dec 13-14 FOMC meeting. It is worth noting that this meeting and minutes are pre-election, meaning the significant spike in bond yields and upward move in stocks has not been addressed yet. However, if anything, those events should make the rate hike more likely. Since they brought little that was new, the bond market had little reaction to the release of the minutes Wednesday afternoon.There is nothing scheduled for release today that is relevant to mortgage pricing. The stock and bond markets are set to close early today (1:00 PM ET for stocks and 2:00 PM for bonds) as part of the Thanksgiving holiday. They will reopen for regular trading Monday morning, starting a very busy week for the markets. There is plenty of economic data being posted next week, some of which is extremely influential to mortgage rates. None of it is set to be released Monday though. 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...Lock if my closing were taking place between 21 and 60 days...Lock 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 borrowershttp://www.hlmcolorado.com/DailyRateAdvisory
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