August 25th, 2017 1:09 PM by T. Fanning
Last Updated: 8/25/17Friday's bond market has opened in positive territory despite strong gains in stocks. The major stock indexes are showing strength, pushing the Dow up 118 points and the Nasdaq up 29 points. The bond market is currently up 4/32 (2.18%), but a little weakness late yesterday should keep this morning's mortgage rates close to yesterday's early pricing. If your lender revised rates lower intraday yesterday, you should see a slight improvement in this morning's pricing.The Commerce Department posted July's Durable Goods Orders at 8:30 AM ET this morning, revealing a 6.8% decline in new orders for big-ticket products. Analysts were expecting to see a 6.0% decline, so the results are technically good news for bonds and mortgage rates. However, it is worth noting that this data is known to be extremely volatile. That makes the variance less significant than if it came in other reports. Also, a secondary reading that excludes more volatile airplanes and other transportation-related orders showed a 0.5% increase, matching expectations. Accordingly, we are seeing little reaction to the news.Fed Chair Janet Yellen is speaking at the annual central banker conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Her prepared speech so far has not addressed monetary policy topics such as change to key short-term interest rates or balance sheet holdings. It appears the content of her speech is more about financial regulations dating back to the meltdown and their minimal impact on the economy. There still is a possibility of her saying something in response that could affect the markets. As of now though, we haven't seen an impact on mortgage rates.Next week has plenty scheduled that is expected to affect mortgage rates. It starts off with a couple of moderately important Treasury auctions and closes with two extremely important economic reports. In between is more data for the markets to digest also. 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...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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