The Mortgage Man
Get more out of your mortgage experience!Archive for The Mortgage Market
Friday November 14, 2008
This weeks financial news wrap up.
It is interesting the times that we live in right now. The 500 point intraday swings in the stock market have become so commonplace that no one even gets excited about it anymore. Even yesterday, there was an intraday low of -331 only to rally in the afternoon to +552, a nearly 900 point intraday swing. What is even more curious is a buying rally after incredibly bad economic reports.
All of this leads to the conclusion that the markets are trading almost entirely on emotion. Fundamentals appear to have no affect, and that uncertainty bleeds over to the bond market as well.
Mortgage bonds started the week on a downward slide, then recovered Wednesday and Thursday morning with a nice rally. That rally began losing steam yesterday afternoon and continues to show weakness this morning. Daily volatility aside, mortgage rates long term are better than they have been in about a month and continue to trade in a near sideways channel.
Conventional wisdom would lead us to believe that as poor economic data comes out, investors would pull money out of stocks, invest in bonds, driving up the yield and driving down mortgage rates. But, as previously discuss, conventional wisdom does not appear to have a place in this market.
All in all, if you have a mortgage loan in process that you have not yet locked, my bias would be towards locking to protect against uncertainty.
For today’s mortgage rates, or to apply for a mortgage loan, go to SteveRussellOnline.com. Or call 888-257-8383 for a free consultation.
Thursday November 13, 2008
Mortgage Bonds move higher.
After a sharp sell off earlier this week, mortgage bonds are making a comeback today and appear to be holding steady right at the 50 day and 200 day moving averages. This has had a positive affect on rates this morning as I am quoting 30 year fixed conventional rates below 6% for the first time in over a week.
Initial jobless claims came out significantly worse than expected at 516,000 vs. the expected 479,000. In addition, continuing jobless claims reached a 25 year high at 3.89 million. This bad news for the economy is generally seen as a positive for the bond market as the likelihood of inflation lessens.
At the time of this post, the stock market is up slightly.
To keep up with the latest mortgage rates, go to www.SteveRussellOnline.com, or call 888-25-STEVE (78383)
Monday November 10, 2008
Stocks are higher this morning following a rally in the Chinese market after a government stimulus plan for $586 Billion was announced to help relieve their struggling economy. As the stock market shows signs of life, it will continue to put pressure on bonds this week to hold their current levels above established resistance.
Also scheduled this week, the Treasury Department will be auctioning off $55 Billion in treasury notes which will no doubt put even greater pressure on the bond yield. If the yield on mortgage bonds falls, mortgage rates will go up to meet the market demand.
Watch rates carefully this week. If you have a loan in process, it would probably be prudent to lock ahead of potentially bad news in the financial markets. If you are still looking for a house, or are not ready to lock, it may cost you on your mortgage rates later this week.
The Mortgage Man 
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