Rate Lock Advisory

Wednesday, February 19th

Wednesday’s bond market has opened down slightly even though we got some much stronger than expected economic news and stocks are showing early gains. The Dow is currently up 58 points while the Nasdaq is up 67 points. The bond market is currently down 2/32 (1.56%), which should keep this morning’s mortgage rates at yesterday’s early levels.

2/32

Bonds

30 yr - 1.56%

58

Dow

29,290

67

NASDAQ

9,800

Mortgage Rate Trend

Trailing 90 Days - National Average

  • 30 Year Fixed
  • 15 Year Fixed
  • 5/1 ARM

Indexes Affecting Rate Lock

High

Negative

Producer Price Index (PPI)

January's Producer Price Index (PPI) started today’s batch of events at 8:30 AM ET. It revealed a 0.5% rise in the overall reading and the same in the more important core data. Both increases exceeded forecasts, meaning inflationary pressures at the producer level of the economy were stronger than thought. Because rising inflation makes long-term securities less appealing to investors, this was bad news for mortgage rates.

Low

Negative

Housing Starts (New Residential Construction)

The second release of the day was January's Housing Starts that showed a 3.6% decline in new home groundbreakings. While a decline in housing starts is favorable news for mortgage rates, the size of the decrease was much smaller than analysts were expecting to see. That causes us to consider the data slightly bad news for rates.

Medium

Unknown

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Minutes

We also have release of the minutes from the most recent FOMC meeting later today. Traders will be looking for any indication of the Fed's next move regarding monetary policy, which is currently expected to keep key short-term interest rates unchanged for the foreseeable future. Comments and discussion amongst Fed members could be helpful to shape trader opinions on when the Fed may act next. The Fed’s next move may not be adjusting short-term rates. It could be making changes to their balance sheet and the amount of bonds they buy each month or let roll off when the security matures. The minutes will be released at 2:00 PM ET, therefore, any reaction will come during afternoon trading. These minutes may lead to afternoon volatility, or they may be a non-factor. However, they do carry the potential to influence mortgage rates, so they should be watched.

Medium

Unknown

Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) from the Conference Board

Tomorrow’s sole monthly release will be January's Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) at 10:00 AM ET. This Conference Board report attempts to predict economic activity over the next three to six months. It is expected to show a 0.3% increase, meaning that economic activity should expand moderately in the near future. A smaller increase would be good news for the bond market and mortgage rates. This data is not considered to be highly important, so a sizable variance from forecasts is needed for it to directly affect mortgage rates.

Float / Lock Recommendation

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Float if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Float if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now... This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.


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