Rates

Tuesday’s bond market has opened down slightly even though this morning’s only economic data gave us favorable results. The stock markets are showing small losses with the Dow down 4 points and the Nasdaq down 10 points. The bond market is currently down 4/32, which will likely push this morning’s mortgage rates slightly higher than Friday’s morning levels. The financial and mortgage markets were closed yesterday in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

The National Association of Realtors gave us today’s only relevant economic data late this morning. They announced that home resales slipped approximately 1.0% last month, falling short of the 1.0% increase that was forecasted. This means that the housing sector was a little softer last month than many had thought. Since a weakening housing sector makes a broader economic recovery less likely anytime soon, we can consider this data good news for the bond market and mortgage rates. However, it was a minor variance in a moderately important report, so it has not had that much of an impact on today’s mortgage pricing.