Mortgage Rates Continue Lower After Yellen Testimony

Mortgage Rates continued lower today following the Janet Yellen's confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee.  Yellen is the nominee to replace Bernanke as the Chair of the Federal Reserve, and her stance on monetary policy is tremendously important to bond markets (including mortgage-backed securities, which most directly influence mortgage rates).  The most prevalently quoted conforming 30yr fixed rate for ideal scenarios is now well into 4.375%, and at this point it's closer to 4.25% than 4.5% though there are lenders on either side.

 

The past two days have been a big relief for mortgage rates as they've undone a measure of damage done by Friday's jobs report.  This sort of strength is not typical following such a big dose of weakness (when the weakness is due to the official monthly jobs numbers).  For those who missed the opportunity to lock a rate before that jobs data, would you have taken the opportunity to lock today's rates on Tuesday afternoon?  If the answer is yes, then the desire to lock should be no less today.

 

The past two days of improvement go a long way toward arresting the slide higher in rates, but they fall short of carving out a new trend lower.  That said, if you set a personal limit where you'd lock your rate at a loss if rates begin to rise again, those inclined to float wouldn't be outside their rights to do so here.