Mortgage Rates Hold Their Ground

Mortgage rates held their ground over the weekend.  Not any change today in the bond and mortgage markets. That has been the case now for about three weeks, although through each of the last three weeks during the week there were a number of volatile sessions. Recently the bond and MBS markets are best judged tracking prices and changes from Friday to Friday where there has been very little change. Today, as has been the situation for two weeks now, the bond and mortgage markets moved in tandem with how the stock market.  For top tier scenarios, the most prevalently-quoted conforming 30yr fixed rate remains at 4.25%, with 4.125% coming into the picture depending on fees.

There were no data points today, and not many this week. The absence of domestic data shifts focus to global data or anything else that can be made into a trading point, or at least something to talk about. Tomorrow two of the week’s three key reports are out.

In summary, rates are still in the recent confined range.  I would still recommend locking anything within a 10-15 day window of closing. Not sure what the prospects truly are for a substantial pricing improvement moving forward. We are trading in a tight range of 20-30 bps on the 10 year US Treasury and most would agree that it is more likely we break higher than lower. I would be cautious as we progress into the end of August and into September. Europe's problems can be here today gone tomorrow. I believe this week's data is a non-market mover - therefore we are subject to traders perception, geopolitics, and foreign economic events.