January 10th, 2020 1:06 PM by T. Fanning
Last Updated: 1/10/20Friday's bond market has opened in positive territory following favorable employment news. Stocks are showing minor gains with the Dow up 27 points and the Nasdaq up 25 points. The bond market is currently up 3/32 (1.84%) but gains late yesterday should improve this morning's mortgage rates by approximately .250 of a discount point if comparing to Thursday's early pricing. Most of this improvement is a result of strength late yesterday.Yesterday's 30-year Treasury Bond auction went extremely well, especially considering the lackluster demand in Wednesday's 10-year Note sale. The benchmarks showed a strong interest in the securities. Not surprising, yesterday's afternoon bond rally coincided with the release of the auction results. This means that while the auction may not have been the sole reason for the move, it certainly was a contributing factor to Thursday's late strength.Today's big economic news was December's Employment report at 8:30 AM ET that showed only 145,000 new jobs were added to the economy, down from November's revised 256,000. It also revealed the unemployment rate held at 3.5% and that average earnings rose only 0.1%. Forecasts were calling for 160,000 new payrolls, 3.5% unemployment and a 0.3% rise in earnings. The payroll and earnings numbers are both good news for bonds and mortgage rates as they point towards weaker than thought conditions in the employment sector.Next week brings us the release of several important inflation readings and a highly watched consumer spending report along with a couple of other relevant economic reports. The week starts off light with nothing scheduled for Monday, meaning we can expect weekend news and stock movement to heavily influence bond trading and mortgage pricing. 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...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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