Mortgage rates didn't move today, despite a fair amount of underlying market volatility.  Rates are able to weather the sorts of storms you hear about in the stock market in part due to the diminishing returns of stock market drama on the bond market.  Along those same lines, the bonds that underlie mortgages specifically don't tend to react to stocks as much as mainstream bonds like US Treasuries. 

Holding steady today means that rates remain at their lowest levels in just over 2 weeks.  That sounds like a good thing, but the catch is that we really haven't moved too far from recent highs during that time, and those are the highest highs in more than 7 years.

The rest of the week keeps the volatility potential high.  There are several important economic reports, culminating in Friday's big jobs report.  Earnings season remains in full swing with bigger name companies reporting toward the end of the week.  Beyond that, the end and beginning of the month is typically a more active time for bond traders.  All of that adds up to the risk that we could see bigger swings in rates than we have seen in recent weeks.


Loan Originator Perspective

Bonds gave back a portion of last week's gains today, while remaining near the best levels since early October.  It looks like our mini-rally may be losing steam, I'm locking loans closing within 30 days and discussing locks for those within 45 days.  We COULD see some month end demand (which would help pricing) over the next few days, but I'm not banking on it. -Ted Rood, Senior Originator

In my opinion it’s a good time to lock in the recent pricing gains.  Not seeing a lot of impetus right now for rates to push lower. -Timothy Baron Licensed Loan Originator, NMLS #184671