Mortgage Rates Showing Little Movement

Mortgage rates are sideways as the roller coaster in regards to mortgage bonds seem to be on a slight hill downward, but nothing of any alarms that should affect anything for the rest of the day.  At 11:00AM, the 10yr is at 2.41% and MBSs are a negative 12BPS. 

The third and final revision of the 4^th Quarter Gross Domestic Product was revised to 2.1%, which was driven by an increase in Consumer Spending which jumped 3.5% in the 4th QTR and follows a 3rd QTR gain of 3.0%, so spending is showing good strength.

Initial Weekly Jobless Claims were higher than expected, which was the second week in a row of which we have seen an increase, also pushing the 4-week average over the 250K mark.   For the past several months, claims have not gotten the attention it did over the last few years but there is a new thought floating around that the US is at full employment and some worries that a labor shortage may be developing in the construction sector and services. Homebuilders are commenting that construction of new home sales is slow due to lack of trades in construction. Many have found other careers after years of few jobs.

Today we hear from four Fed speakers and I wonder what they will be jabbing about? Media likes to report them with some gusto but markets pay very little attention to them in terms of making momentary decisions. Some are sending signals of maybe more than two more increase but couch that with the worn data dependent caveat. Truth is with the Trump campaign promises have had a rough road to accomplishment, it is unclear whether those huge challenges he talked about will occur as be outlined. Health care the first miss and now he is lessening his stance on his distain of Nafta.

There is not much for markets today to digest, as there is lots of continual political chatter about health care and tax cuts. Nothing of substance though. The never-ending talk of Russia influencing the election continues, how long before politicians finally get tired of it. I am looking for mortgage rates to continue to move in a very tight channel, unless something major happens, nothing should push us out of this range.