Thanksgiving Break Makes for Quiet Mortgage Markets

The prime, 30-year, fixed mortgage rate quoted on Zillow fluctuated in a fairly narrow 10-basis point range over the past seven days, moving between 3.68 percent and 3.78 percent – roughly the same space they’ve occupied since early October.

The Thanksgiving holiday made for a quiet market late last week, with most lenders closed and activity being fairly subdued when the market was open on Friday. A handful of major developments in economic news, including confirmation hearings for Fed Chair nominee Jerome Powell and advances in the tax reform debate in Congress, characterized the early part of this week. The Powell confirmation hearings went largely as expected, and his monetary policy views are fairly well known given his experience at the Fed. Tax reform proposals advanced more than expected in Congress, but the full extent of monetary policy implications remain unknown.

There are no obvious data releases scheduled for the next week that are likely to move markets, though Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s Congressional testimony later this week and continued developments in the tax policy debate are worth paying attention to.