Mortgage Rate Advisory- 05/08/2009

Here's your Daily Commentary report compliments of Jeff Drew and Star Mortgage!

Friday’s bond market has opened in positive territory despite a stronger than expected reading in today’s Employment report. The stock markets are reacting favorable also with the Dow up 76 points and the Nasdaq up 6 points. The bond market is currently up 12/32, but we will still see an increase in this morning’s rates of approximately .125 of a discount point due to weakness in bonds late yesterday.

The Labor Department reported this morning that the U.S. unemployment rate rose to a 25-year high of 8.9% last month. They also reported that 539,000 jobs were lost during the month, falling short of the 600,000 jobs that latest forecasts had predicted. This was the fewest number of lost jobs since October, giving hope that the shedding may be slowing. The average hourly earnings reading rose 0.1%, when analysts were expecting a 0.2% increase. Overall, the report gave us mixed results on the status of the labor market, but bonds and stocks have reacted favorably to its results.

Next week is very busy with many relevant economic reports on the calendar. There is nothing of importance scheduled for release Monday or Tuesday, but the rest of the week brings us a couple of key inflation readings, an important measurement of consumer spending and a reading on industrial output.

I am expecting to see a fairly calm day Monday unless we get some relevant news over the weekend. But the middle and latter parts of the week will probably be extremely active with several key reports being posted over three trading days. Look for details on next week’s events in Sunday’s weekly preview, but expect to see some volatility late next week.



If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Float if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now.... ©Mortgage Commentary 2009


* Please note that if you have a mortgage rate and monthly payment you are comfortable with you may want to consider locking that rate. It is very difficult to predict the market in these very volatile times. Most lenders have a mortgage rate renegotiation policy. Contact me for details.