Mortgage industry news today

mortgage bonds are trading 28 basis points lower which may cause lenders to raise rates today. In about the past 6 weeks mortgage bonds have lost about 700 basis points. From the spring to November it gained about 700 so are back to where we were in spring. Sure rates aren't at 4% or under on a 30 year fixed, but they are still relatively low compared to what they have been in years passed.

Some economic news today was the Senate passed the $858 billion Tax Cut Bill yesterday and now will goto the house for approval which will be a tough battle.

New construction starts went up 3.9% for November beating estimates.

Initial jobless claims fell to 420,000 with an estimate of 425,000. This is the 3rd decline in 4 weeks and was the second lowest number in all of 2010 which is great to hear. Emergency Unemployment Compensation went up to 3.9 million.

Rates are still very low, if you have been waiting to purchase or refinance I would suggest locking in rates now as interest rates will continue to rise in 2011.

Fed update

Feds said today that the economic recovery is too slow to effect unemployment. The Fed Funds rate will remain unchanged at .25%.

This is having a very negative effect on mortgage bonds. Mortgage bonds are currently now down 131 basis points on the day which is causing lenders to raise interest rates.

Rates the past few weeks having been trending higher and are almost back to what they were earlier this spring.

Rates are still very attractive, if your looking to refinance or purchase I would lock in your rate soon as rates should continue to rise in 2011.

Mortgage bonds down 128 basis points and interest rates are rising

Mortgage bonds are down 128 basis points on the day causing interest rates to rise yet again.

Some of the news that is causing this is our current income tax rates which were to move higher on January 1st have now been extended for another 2 years.

The Emergency Unemployment Compensation that was set to expire has also now been extended for an additional 13 months. 2 million people were estimated to have lost these benefit payments in the next few weeks if this benefit wouldn't have been extended.

Interest rates will continue to rise in 2011. Rates are still very low if you are looking to refinance I would suggest doing so soon to take advantage of these low rates. Those looking to purchase now is a great time as well with the prices of homes and interest rates are both low.

Mortgage bonds increase on poor jobs report

After the last couple of weeks of mortgage bonds dropping they are current up 41 basis points today due to a very poor jobs report.

November had 39,000 newly created jobs. Estimates were at 130,000 new jobs to be created.

Unemployment also ticked up to 9.8% from 9.6% from the month before. Expectations were for this to remain the same so that was a bit of a shock.

With this being extremely volatile if you haven't already refinanced I would suggest locking in your rate today. Rates are still very low and will rise in 2011.

Mortgage bonds drop stocks rise unemployment ends

Mortgage bonds are dropping again and interest rates are again on the rise. Couple factors influencing the drop in mortgage bonds is China's Purchasing Manager's index came in very good and at a 7 month high.

ADP Report came out with employment rose by 93,000 which was way better than expectations of 58,000 and was the largest gain in 3 years. Also noted Octobers report was revised to 82,000 jobs created up from the 43,000 originally reported. It will be interesting to see on the Jobs Report which is due to come out on Friday.

Nearly 3.8 million people will lose their Emergency Unemployment Compensation benefits that lased for 99 weeks. Congress didn't come up with a plan to extend the program yesterday.

Wisconsin mortgage interest rates are still very good. They are now higher than the lowest levels from a couple weeks ago. If you haven't refinanced yet, I would suggest locking in as rates are going to rise in 2011.