Special offer

Mortgage Rate Lock advisory for New York or Florida Mortgages for Wednesday, May 18, 2011

By
Mortgage and Lending with Bob Amato of Empire Home Mortgage Inc

 

If you are looking for a Mortgage Professional who will give you the type of service that you deserve, contact Bob Amato (NMLS # 8632) and Empire Home Mortgage Inc. (NMLS # 44882). We answer our phones seven days a week until 9PM. Put us to the test! Our toll free number is (866) 742-5227.

 Visit our website, www.empirehomemortgageinc.com . There you can get answers to all of your financing questions, view rates and search for foreclosed properties.

 If you are considering locking in an interest rate for a New York mortgage or a Florida mortgage, read this post.

Wednesday’s bond market opened in negative territory despite a lack of economic data and a relatively calm opening in stocks. The major stock indexes are showing fairly minor gains with the Dow currently up 20 points and the Nasdaq up 14 points. The bond market is currently down 10/32, which will likely push this morning’s mortgage rates higher by approximately .250 of a discount point.

There is no relevant economic data being posted this morning. We do, however, have an afternoon event that we need to watch. This is the release of the minutes from the last FOMC meeting. Market participants will be looking for how Fed members voted during the last meeting and any comments about inflation concerns in the economy and economic growth. The goal is to form opinions about when the Fed may make a move to key short-term interest rates. They will be posted at 2:00 PM ET, so any market reaction to them it will come during afternoon trading.

Tomorrow has three relevant pieces of economic data, but none are considered to be highly important. The Labor Department’s weekly unemployment update will draw some interest since it has shown some volatility recently. It is expected to show that 420,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were field last week, down from the previous week. This data may not have an impact on the markets and mortgage pricing if it does not show a sizable difference between forecasts and its actual results because it tracks only a single week’s worth of new claims.

The National Association of Realtors will give us their Existing Home Sales report late tomorrow morning. This data tracks resales of homes in the U.S. during April, giving us a measurement of housing sector strength. This type of data is relevant because a weakening housing sector makes a broader economic recovery less likely. Current forecasts are calling for a small increase in home sales between March and April. Ideally, the bond market would prefer to see a decline, indicating further housing sector weakness. A large increase in sales could lead to bond weakness and a small increase in mortgage rates tomorrow morning.

The last data of the week also comes late tomorrow morning with the release of April's Leading Economic Indicators (LEI). This Conference Board report attempts to measure economic activity over the next three to six months. It is expected to show no change from March's reading, meaning that economic activity is likely to remain flat over the next few months. A decline would be good news for the bond market and mortgage rates, while an increase could cause mortgage rates to inch higher tomorrow.

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now... This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.

Empire Home Mortgage Inc. is a registered Mortgage Broker with the NYS and Florida Banking Depts and our loans are arranged throught third party providers.

Comments (0)