December 28th, 2018 2:51 PM by T. Fanning
Last Updated: 12/28/18Friday's bond market has opened in positive territory despite early strength in stocks. The Dow is currently up 85 points while the Nasdaq is up 22 points. However, as yesterday's wild ride for stocks showed us, early position in the morning means little during afternoon trading. The bond market is currently up 7/32 (2.75%), which should improve this morning's mortgage rates slightly if comparing to Thursday's early pricing.Yesterday's 7-year Treasury Note auction was met with a much better demand than Wednesday's 5-year Note sale. The benchmarks used indicated a much stronger interest in the 7-year securities. The bond market improved slightly after results were posted at 1:00 PM ET, but it was not enough to improve mortgage rates. In fact, the positive reaction was short-lived as bonds eventually worsened as stocks continued their surprising rebound.There is no relevant economic data set for release today. If we see an intraday move in rates today it most likely will be a result of stocks. If the major stock indexes significantly extend this morning's early gains, the safe bet would be bonds would suffer and an increase in rates would follow. But if stocks go into selling mode, bonds and mortgage shoppers should benefit.Next week starts off slow with nothing of importance set for Monday and the markets closed Tuesday for the New Year's Day holiday. The rest of the week is very active with moderately and highly important economic releases each day that will not be affected by the partial government shutdown. The two big ones we get early each month (ISM and Employment reports) will be released on schedule. Stocks will be open for a full day of trading Monday, but the bond market will close early ahead of the holiday. Look for details on all of 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...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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