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.
The Labor Department gave us this morning’s economic data. They reported early this morning that the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 0.2% last month while the core data reading rose 0.4%. Both of these readings were stronger than forecasts, indicating an increase in inflationary conditions at the producer level of the economy. This is certainly negative news for the bond market and mortgage rates because inflation erodes the value of a bond’s future fixed interest payments. That leads to bond prices selling at a discount to offset that loss, causing yields and mortgage rates to rise. Today’s data didn’t raise much concern, but if we see a couple consecutive months of higher than expected readings, we will hear much more chatter about inflation spiking once the economy gains momentum again.
Tomorrow has four pieces of economic news if we include the Labor Department’s weekly update on unemployment claims. They are expected to say that new claims for unemployment benefits rose by 5,000 last week, to 400,000. This would theoretically be good news for the bond market and mortgage rates since it would hint at a weakening employment sector, but unless we see a significant surprise in the number the data will probably have a minimal impact on mortgage rates due to the importance of some of the day’s other reports.88 July’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) is one of the reports that are much more important to the markets. It will be released early tomorrow morning also. The CPI is one of the most important reports we see each month as it measures inflation at the consumer level of the economy. As with its sister release today’s PPI, there are also two readings in the report. Current forecasts call for a 0.2% increase in the overall index and a 0.2% rise in the core data reading. Declines in the readings, especially in the core data, should lead to lower mortgage rates. However, stronger than expected readings will likely cause an increase to tomorrow’s mortgage pricing.
The second report of the day will be July's Existing Home Sales report that will be posted late tomorrow morning. The National Association of Realtors will release this report, giving us a measurement of housing sector strength. It covers approximately 85% of home sales in the U.S., but usually does not have a major influence on bond trading and mortgage rates unless it varies greatly from analysts' forecasts. It is expected to show an increase from June's sales, meaning the housing sector strengthened last month. This would generally be bad news for the bond market and mortgage rates because a strengthening housing sector makes a broader economic recovery a little easier.
The final report of the day will come from the Conference Board at 10:00 AM ET also, who will give us their Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) for July. This index attempts to measure economic activity over the next three to six months and is considered to be moderately important. A higher than expected reading is bad news for the bond market because it indicates that the economy may be strengthening more than thought. However, a weaker than expected reading means that the economy may not grow as much as predicted, making stocks less appealing to investors. This also eases inflation concerns in the bond market and could lead to slightly lower mortgage rates tomorrow if the stock markets remain calm and the day’s other data does not show any surprises. It is expected to show an increase of 0.2 % in the index, indicating minor economic growth over the next couple of months. The CPI will be the focus of the morning, so it will take a sizable difference between forecasts and its actual reading for this report to really influence mortgage rates.
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... Float 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 New York State and Florida Banking Departments and our loans are arranged through third party providers.
Comments (0)Subscribe to CommentsComment