Mortgage Rates Climb
10/12/2005
Fed officials have voiced concerns about inflation, which erodes the value of fixed-rate assets such as bonds. And these hawkish comments, which unanimously reinforced the need for further rate hikes, sent the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to a multi-month high. The sharp rise in yields, which are used as guides to set mortgage rates, has forced lenders to edge rates up on many products.
At 4 p.m. EDT, AVERAGE mortgage rates (zero discount points) based on rates collected nationwide were:
The 30-year Conventional Fixed-Rate Mortgage rose to 5.797 percent from 5.75 percent at Tuesday's close.
The 15-year Conventional Fixed-Rate Mortgage shot up to 5.404 percent from 5.339 percent at Tuesday's close.
Coming Up:
There are economic reports due on Thursday - the first ones of the week - but their importance will pale when compared to Friday's reports on the Consumer Price Index and Retail Sales for September. Tomorrow's reports lead off with first-time jobless claims for the week ended Oct. 7. Due to the hurricanes these numbers have been suspect and are ripe for big revisions. However, analysts are expecting claims to come in near 355,000, which would be down from the 390,000 posted the previous week. The U.S. trade deficit for August is expected to expand to $59.3 billion from the July gap of $57.9 billion. U.S. Import/Export price indexes also on the docket.
These reports generally do not carry much weight with regard to the financial markets, and they will do little to relieve concerns about inflation. This could lead to further selling of U.S. Treasuries, which would keep upward pressure on mortgage rates.
Fed officials have voiced concerns about inflation, which erodes the value of fixed-rate assets such as bonds. And these hawkish comments, which unanimously reinforced the need for further rate hikes, sent the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to a multi-month high. The sharp rise in yields, which are used as guides to set mortgage rates, has forced lenders to edge rates up on many products.
At 4 p.m. EDT, AVERAGE mortgage rates (zero discount points) based on rates collected nationwide were:
The 30-year Conventional Fixed-Rate Mortgage rose to 5.797 percent from 5.75 percent at Tuesday's close.
The 15-year Conventional Fixed-Rate Mortgage shot up to 5.404 percent from 5.339 percent at Tuesday's close.
Coming Up:
There are economic reports due on Thursday - the first ones of the week - but their importance will pale when compared to Friday's reports on the Consumer Price Index and Retail Sales for September. Tomorrow's reports lead off with first-time jobless claims for the week ended Oct. 7. Due to the hurricanes these numbers have been suspect and are ripe for big revisions. However, analysts are expecting claims to come in near 355,000, which would be down from the 390,000 posted the previous week. The U.S. trade deficit for August is expected to expand to $59.3 billion from the July gap of $57.9 billion. U.S. Import/Export price indexes also on the docket.
These reports generally do not carry much weight with regard to the financial markets, and they will do little to relieve concerns about inflation. This could lead to further selling of U.S. Treasuries, which would keep upward pressure on mortgage rates.
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