Mortgage Rates Holding in Same Pattern

Mortgage rates held steady again today, keeping them in line on what we have seen the past few days, and the lowest rates in the past 30 days.  There was hardly any news today except for the 10yr Treasury auction, which was decent, but not as strong as most would want to see it.

Right now, it is all about the tax cut, as we are seeing that the stock and bond markets are holding on till any news breaks. Republicans believe they can pass the tax bill by Thanksgiving according to Paul Ryan, Speaker. Then attention will turn to the Senate working on its version, and that is where the timeline becomes questionable.

Tomorrow weekly jobless claims expected +3K to 232K. Also, we get $15B of new 30yr notes auctioned. The 30yr bond in the last week has seen better demand than the 10yr in terms of the declines in the yields.

At the end of the day, we did see MBS prices lower with the bellwether 10yr unable to hold below the resistance I have been mentioning at 2.32%.  It did close at 2.33%, which is not a big move, but something that should be watched tomorrow morning.

In summary, bond markets held their ground today, staying largely unchanged despite a decent treasury auction.  MBS are near key resistance points at their 50 and 100 day moving averages, which may limit short term gains.  I would love to see this rally continue, but it appears we will need some economic woes or geopolitical turmoil for that to happen.  Looks like the best advice is still to lock.