Mortgage Rates Leveled Off Today, But Volatility Could Return

Mortgage rates managed to hold mostly steady on Wednesday despite several headwinds that threatened to push them higher. 
The first headwind falls into the very broad category of “momentum in the bond market.”  Lenders set their rates each morning based on trading levels in the bond market, and bonds have generally been doing poorly over the past 3 weeks (i.e. pointing toward higher rates).  In fact, bonds were at their weakest levels in months at one point in the overnight hours, but things changed as trading ramped up domestically.  
The second headwind was the stronger-than-expected result in this morning’s ADP Employment report.  This data is viewed as one of several predictors of the all-important jobs report that comes out on Friday.  While the correlation between the two is hit and miss, when ADP’s numbers are significantly different than forecasts, the bond market tends to react.  …(read more)Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.
Source: mortgagenewsdaily.comNew feed