The fall below and subsequent close above that level paints a bullish scenario. Float, don’t lock into the weekend. Mortgage Bonds were able to bounce back today as Stocks took a breather after their recent run higher. The 3% coupon rose by 22bp to end the session at 104.31. Stocks closed near unchanged – the Dow at 13,488.43, the S&P 500 at 1,472.05 while the Nasdaq settled at 3,125.64. Oil was last seen at $93.64/barrel near flat levels. Next week features a boatload of economic data
Mortgage rates kicked off the new year with high readings, following December’s employment report.
The 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage hovered at 3.40% — it’s highest reading in the last two months — for the week ending in Jan. 10, up from 3.35% a week earlier, but down from 3.89% last year, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
“Fixed mortgage rates increased slightly following a positive employment report for December. The economy added 155,000 jobs, above the consensus market forecast, and November’s job growth was revised upward by another 24,000 workers,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist with Freddie Mac.
He added, “This helped keep the unemployment rate steady at 7.8 percent, the lowest since December 2008. For all of 2012, 1.86 million jobs were created and represented the largest annual gain since 2006.”
With the Fed still a buyer of Mortgage Bonds, it is certain that volatility will be the name of the game.
Another Bank Settlement
Monday, Bank of America struck deals to settle lending complaints, sell rights to service $300 billion of mortgages and repair relations with regulators. For Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan, it offers his best chance to rebuild the home lending business. read the full bloomberg story
Sources: Bloomberg,CNBC,Housingwire,MMG