Mortgage Rates Did Not Move Today

Mortgage rates did not move today.  The most-prevalently quoted conforming 30yr-fixed rate for ideal scenarios remains at 4.25%, but 4.375% has lower fees. 

About what we expected today, not a lot of change in the bond and mortgage markets; the stock indexes traded quietly lower all day after the strong June employment report last Thursday. Most recent economic reports have been good, showing nice growth; both ISM indexes held well, however neither showed growth in June compared to may ISM reports. Job growth is nice to see but the economy needs full-time jobs that have higher levels of compensation, and that is not happening yet. The better employment report last week has caused a couple of Wall Street firms to change their outlook for when the Fed will begin to increase rates---sooner than what had been expected. Not sure yet whether we agree about that; the Fed realizes the minute the markets begin to discount higher rates there is a risk that the fragile growth could ebb rapidly. Traders see about a 72% chance officials will raise the key rate from near zero by September 2015, fed funds futures show. That’s up from 56 percent at the end of May.

In summary, rates were for the most part unchanged today as no further sell off from Fridays jobs report impacted the bond market. Mortgage bonds remained fairly flat for most of the session today. We are now at the top end of the rate range. That combined with bonds holding Fridays levels makes floating into tomorrow a pretty easy call to make