November 3rd, 2017 1:03 PM by T. Fanning
Last Updated: 11/3/17Friday's bond market has opened fairly flat following a mixed bag of employment figures. The major stock indexes are also calm with the Dow down 13 points and the Nasdaq up 7 points. The bond market is currently unchanged from yesterday's close (2.34%), but we still may see a slight improvement in this morning's rates due to strength late yesterday.Today's major economic release was October's Employment report at 8:30 AM ET. It showed that the U.S. unemployment rate slipped from 4.2% to 4.1% last month and that 261,000 new jobs were added to the economy. The unemployment rate was expected to rise slightly and October's 4.1% was the lowest we have seen since December 2000. That means we should consider that portion of the report bad news. The good news came in the payroll number that was predicted to show 320,000. September's and August's payroll numbers were revised higher, adding 90,000 jobs over those months though. That news has put a damper on the reaction to October's softer than expected jobs figures.Average hourly earnings, which relates to wage inflation, came in unchanged from September's level. That is good news because analysts were expecting to see a 0.2% increase. Any weaker than forecasted inflation data is usually favorable news for the bond and mortgage markets.The Commerce Department gave us September's Factory Orders data at 10:00 AM ET. They announced a 1.4% increase in new orders for durable and non-durable goods. This was a bit stronger than the 1.2% that analysts were calling for, but not enough of a variance to cause much concern in the bond market. In other words, while the data is unfavorable for bonds, it has not had much of an impact on this morning's mortgage pricing.Next week brings us little to drive bond trading and mortgage rates. The biggest events will be a couple of Treasury auctions mid-week. There is nothing taking place Monday that we need to be concerned with, so if there is a noticeable change to mortgage pricing as the week starts, weekend news will likely be the cause. 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...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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