Mortgage Rates Improved Yesterday and Today

Mortgage rates added a second day of improvement to yesterday's more tentative gains, falling just slightly faster than any other day this month.  While the improvements scarcely make a dent in the recently severe collection of losses, they're part of the consolidation that would necessarily precede any attempt to bounce back.  The question remains whether or not such a bounce back is in the cards, and that may not get a fully informed answer until next week.  That doesn't mean we can't improve in the short term, however, and today is evidence of that as 30yr Fixed  best-execution fell out of 4.75's reach and is once again centered on 4.625%. 

Shorter term rates are still under 4.00%! Today, you could get a rate of 3.875% with NO POINTS!

Markets were somewhat motivated by today's GDP data, but we saw plenty of evidence of the bigger picture ebbs and flows being in place regardless of data.  That evidence points to the consolidation that's taking place heading into the last trading day of the quarter on Friday.  The economic data can still play a part in pushing rates higher or lower within that bigger range, but that range is more likely to define the highs and lows that are possible for the rest of the week.  The conclusion is that we're temporarily in the most balanced position we've seen since before the FOMC events that kicked off all the nastiness. 

This doesn't necessarily mean we've turned the corner, but we have leveled off for now.  For safety seekers, this is a good opportunity to lock.  For risk takers, this is sets up a baseline from which to take more risk, provided you lock if rates move back to yesterday's levels or above.  Unfortunately in this environment, those levels could be overshot significantly with one rate sheet. For those of you simply watching rates and "hoping" for an improvement, there is still some hope, but markets are still clearly being cautious about next week's Jobs report, and barring the unforeseen, don't look eager to undertake a significant correction before then.