Mortgage Rates Steady- But Volatile

Mortgage rates held steady today.  Market conditions were exceptionally quiet and after trading opened in the secondary mortgage market, there was almost no movement for the rest of the day.  This follows 2 days at the end of last week that also realized very little of their rate-movement potential, though they did see some volatility.  Unsurprisingly, that leaves rates very much in line with Wednesday's--the day before the volatility showed up.

In other words, financial markets braced for bigger impact from last week's European Central Bank Announcement and the Employment Situation report.  While there was a decent amount of back and forth movement, rates ultimately leveled off as if those events never even happened.  The most prevalently quoted conforming 30yr fixed rate for best-case scenarios is still at 4.25%, but pushing 4.375%.   

Last week's conclusion holds true: the inspiration for the next concerted market movement is anyone's guess at this point.  It's not safe to plan on rates moving in either direction in the short term, but recent levels of volatility suggest there's not much risk in being wrong.

In summary, last week brought us highly anticipated events including Thursday's ECB announcement and Friday's NFP Jobs Report.   These both managed to be almost perfectly in line with the market's expectations, leaving very little movement for rates compared to what might have been.    If your loan is closing in less than 30 days, continue to cautiously float at the moment, but if rates move any higher from this neutral zone (in terms of 10yr Treasuries, 2.62%), I'd strongly consider locking.