Mortgage Rates Hold 9-28
A large jump in Durable Goods Orders for August spurred a round of selling in U.S. Treasury securities Wednesday. But selling slowed as traders considered the negative effects the hurricanes could have on business spending if a pullback in consumer spending occurs. Treasuries also benefited from a successful auction of 2-year notes that brought out a good percent of foreign investors. Buying of longer-term debt was especially aggressive, while the short-term debt suffered, as it is more sensitive to rate hikes. The drop in the yield of the benchmark 10-year note allowed mortgage lenders who base their rates on yields to hold them close to Tuesday's levels. Yields move in the opposite direction of price.
At 4 p.m. EDT, AVERAGE mortgage rates (zero discount points) based on rates collected nationwide were:
The 30-year Conventional Fixed-Rate Mortgage was at 5.672 percent from 5.68 percent at Tuesday's close.
The 15-year Conventional Fixed-Rate Mortgage was at 5.269 percent from 5.245 percent at Tuesday's close.
Coming Up:
On Thursday the final revision of second quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be released along with the GDP chain deflator and revised corporate profits. Analysts are not expecting revisions, meaning that GDP will hold with a 3.3 percent increase, and the chain deflator will continue to show a 2.4 percent gain. First-time unemployment claims for the week ended Sept. 23 are expected to come in at 410,000 - a decline from the 432,000 reading from the previous week. These data, however, are somewhat skewed due to massive job losses caused by the recent hurricanes.
There is little news to influence Treasuries on Thursday, so oil prices will likely be in focus. Traders might also respond to any comments made by Fed officials, who have been vocal this week and unified in their support of further credit tightening. Treasury yields, however, have edged down over the past two days, which could allow mortgage rates to take a breather. It is unlikely that they will decline substantially from current levels, but they probably won't rise, either.
At 4 p.m. EDT, AVERAGE mortgage rates (zero discount points) based on rates collected nationwide were:
The 30-year Conventional Fixed-Rate Mortgage was at 5.672 percent from 5.68 percent at Tuesday's close.
The 15-year Conventional Fixed-Rate Mortgage was at 5.269 percent from 5.245 percent at Tuesday's close.
Coming Up:
On Thursday the final revision of second quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be released along with the GDP chain deflator and revised corporate profits. Analysts are not expecting revisions, meaning that GDP will hold with a 3.3 percent increase, and the chain deflator will continue to show a 2.4 percent gain. First-time unemployment claims for the week ended Sept. 23 are expected to come in at 410,000 - a decline from the 432,000 reading from the previous week. These data, however, are somewhat skewed due to massive job losses caused by the recent hurricanes.
There is little news to influence Treasuries on Thursday, so oil prices will likely be in focus. Traders might also respond to any comments made by Fed officials, who have been vocal this week and unified in their support of further credit tightening. Treasury yields, however, have edged down over the past two days, which could allow mortgage rates to take a breather. It is unlikely that they will decline substantially from current levels, but they probably won't rise, either.
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