Morning Market Update

Well, rates remained stable today from yesterday, which isn’t a big surprise since the stock market remained very stable yesterday (surprisingly so).  

So what’s on tap for today?

• Retail Sales appeared stronger than expected.   Not good, but better than expected.
• First time unemployment claims were higher than expected.

So kind of a mixed bag of results so far.   The stock market is a small amount softer than it was yesterday.

A couple of things to “consider” as we watch the markets:

• The jobs market remains very weak. See both of these charts:

• So why do I put those in here?   To make you feel bad?   Nope, but to show that even when Citibank says it’s making money, there are a lot of problems right now and those problems are going to keep mortgage rates, while fluctuating, in a trading range in the low 5’s rather than moving higher.

• My friend, Dan Green, at The Mortgage Reports offers some thoughts about why the whole Mark to Market Accounting matters to mortgage rates. Definitely something to keep an eye on.

Today, we’re at 5.375% on a 30 year fixed refi and 5.125% on a 30 year fixed purchase.  Both under $417,000 with 0 pts and a 720 credit score or better.

Recommendation is to cautiously float.  In my mind, nothing substantial has changed since yesterday.

March 12, 2009