whats ahead for mortgage rates: What's Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week : June 8th, 2009. - 06/09/09 05:57 AM

The economy posted stronger-than-expected data last week, reigniting fears of inflation on Wall Street. 
The positive-slanted economic news caused conforming mortgage rates to rise by another 1/2 percent last week.
It marked the second week in a row of soaring mortgage rates and the fifth week out of six that rates have moved higher.
Conforming mortgage rates are now as high as they've been all year and rest at the levels of December 2008.
The biggest news of last week is likely to influence mortgage rates this week, too. 
On Friday, we learned that 345,000 Americans lost their jobs in May.  … (0 comments)

whats ahead for mortgage rates: What's Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week : June 1st, 2009. - 06/01/09 11:26 AM
Mortgage markets took a beating last week, sending conforming mortgage rates soaring Wednesday afternoon.  Despite a modest recovery Thursday and Friday, though, mortgage rates still moved higher on the week overall.
It was the fourth time in 5 weeks that mortgage rates worsened.
By far, the biggest news of last week was Wednesday's mortgage market meltdown. 
Beginning shortly after 1:00 PM ET, and in the span of about 90 minutes, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate soared.  The action was so swift that a number of mortgage lenders shut down their Lock Desks, unwilling to accept new business.
There was no "news"-like reason for … (0 comments)

whats ahead for mortgage rates: What's Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week : May 26th, 2009 - 05/28/09 10:05 AM

Mortgage markets reacted poorly to not-as-strong-as-expected housing data and employment data last week causing mortgage rates to rise on the week overall.
It was the third time in 4 weeks that mortgage rates were up.
To the detriment of rate shoppers, mortgage rates were especially volatile Thursday and Friday. 
As an increasing number of traders punched out ahead of the 3-day weekend, the mortgage pricing swings grew wider and wider.  Rates were at their lowest last week on Wednesday morning.  By Friday, some mortgage rates were higher by as much as 3/8 percent.
This week, with traders coming back to work, the pace … (0 comments)

whats ahead for mortgage rates: What's Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week : May 18th, 2009 - 05/18/09 09:26 AM
After a dreadful start to the month of May, mortgage markets improved last week, pushing mortgage rates lower overall.
It was the first week since late-April in which mortgage rates fell.
The biggest reason rates improved last week was because the economic optimism that was responsible for the stock market's 30% gain since March faded somewhat. 
Retail Sales came in weaker-than-expected as did Initial Jobless claims.  Both of these data points show that the economy may not be recovering as quickly as investors had wanted to believe.  
Combined with gas prices ballooning more than 10 percent over the last 3 weeks, … (0 comments)

whats ahead for mortgage rates: What's Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week : May 4th, 2009. - 05/11/09 04:42 AM
Mortgage markets faced a broad sell-off last week, sparked by the Federal Reserve and consumer sentiment. 
This caused mortgage rates to spike from Wednesday to Friday and it caused the "lowest rates of all-time" to seem like an opportunity lost.
It's the first time in 4 weeks that mortgage rates rose overall.
Last week was a strange week, to say the least. Aside from the large docket of economic data, there was also:
A Federal Reserve meeting. 160 of the S&P 500 firms reporting earnings. A global public health emergency. It all combined to make for a volatile week in mortgages and the biggest … (0 comments)

whats ahead for mortgage rates: What's Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week: March 30th, 2009 - 04/02/09 09:34 AM
The stock markets made strong gains last week but the mortgage markets barely moved in the wake of the Treasury's "toxic asset" plan. 
After carving out wide trading ranges on most days, mortgage pricing ended the week slightly worse overall.
From an economic standpoint, though, last week was an interesting one.
Existing home sales showed unexpected strength. New home sales showed unexpected strength. Data showed home prices rising unexpectedly. In addition, consumer confidence rose unexpectedly, too.
To rate shoppers, these "unexpected" developments are warnings worth heeding because mortgages trade on expectations of the future.  And "the future", you'll remember was widely expected to … (0 comments)