Weekly Interest Rate Movement & Foreclosure News

Foreclosure Rates Fall
In another sign of an improving housing market, the number of Americans receiving foreclosure notices was down 9.7% last month.

While there continues to be a lot of media hype about foreclosures, it is important to note that 408 out of every 409 homes are not in foreclosure!  Foreclosures will continue to be a significant source of inventory entering the market in 2010 but at diminished levels from 2009.

Initial Jobless Claims Fall 
Initial Jobless Claims are the number of people filing for new unemployment benefits.  Every Thursday the weekly numbers are released and closely watched by the financial markets.

This Thursday Initial Jobless Claims fell 43,000 from the previous week to 440K and was one of the lowest readings since 2008.  This report comes on the heels of last week's surprising decline in the Unemployment Rate from 10.0% down to 9.7%.  The housing market is directly impacted by employment levels.  While we certainly still have a long way to go, this is a good sign.

What Happened to Rates Last Week: 

Mortgage backed securities (MBS) lost 59 basis points last week which caused 30 year fixed rates to rise for both government and conventional loans.  We saw our best rates on Monday but had lost all of our gains by Wednesday.  We had very mild to poor results in both the 10 year Treasury and the 30 year Treasury auctions.  MBS and therefore mortgage rates react inversely to positive domestic and international news.  The combination of stronger than expected Initial Jobless Claims and the global expectations that Greece and the European Union will hammer out a solution to their debt problems helped to push mortgage rates upward.

What to Watch Out For This Week:
The following are the major economic reports that will hit the market this week.  They each have the ability to affect the pricing of Mortgage Backed Securities and therefore, interest rates for Government and Conventional mortgages.