March 10th, 2017 1:04 PM by T. Fanning
Last Updated: 3/10/17Friday's bond market has opened in positive territory following the release of February's employment numbers. The major stock indexes are showing gains of 36 points in the Dow and 23 points in the Nasdaq. The bond market is currently up 6/32 (2.58%), but weakness late yesterday is going to likely prevent an improvement in this morning's rates. If your lender raised rates intraday Thursday, then you should see an improvement in this morning's rates of the same amount.Yesterday's 30-year Bond auction went fairly well, but not as strong as Wednesday's 10-year Note sale. Bond prices lost ground during afternoon trading yesterday, causing some lenders to review rates upward before closing. I don't believe that selling was a result of the auction. It is more likely that traders were still concerned about this morning's key economic data.Today's big news was February's Employment report at 8:30 AM ET. It revealed that the unemployment rate slipped 0.1% last month, now standing at 4.7%. The average earnings reading came in with a 0.2% increase. Both of these readings matched forecasts and have not had too much influence on today's markets.The not so favorable news came in the payroll number that showed 235,000 new jobs were added to the economy last month. This was higher than the 200,000 that was expected, which by itself is bad news for bonds and mortgage rates. However, it appears that market participants were actually expecting a higher number than printed forecasts after Wednesday's ADP release showed a significant spike in private sector jobs. In other words, the 235,000 beat forecasts, but traders had built in a higher number. We can call this morning's positive reaction a relief rally, fueled by the fact that the payroll number was not higher than it was.I would not be surprised to see some swings in the major stock indexes and bond prices throughout the day today. This could lead to an intraday revision to mortgage pricing, although it likely would be a minor change. Next week is packed with economic data and mortgage-relevant events. There is something of interest set for every day except Monday with Wednesday being the key day of the week due to a couple of important economic reports, followed by an afternoon of Fed events. 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...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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