Happy Friday, and welcome to the Total Mortgage Current Mortgage Rates Blog. There’s a decent bit of economic data out today, but first, your daily mortgage rate forecast/advice.
Where are mortgage rates going?
It’s been an interesting week for U.S. markets. On Monday, investors were eagerly anticipating President Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress. There was the hope that he would divulge some of the details to his many policies, and satisfy the market skepticism that his promises won’t come to fruition. Well as we know, that didn’t happen.
Click here to get today’s latest mortgage rates (Mar. 3, 2017).The markets rallied nonetheless, thanks to comments made by New York Fed President William Dudley on Tuesday evening. The chances of a March rate hike immediately spiked up from 35.4% to 70.4%. The current probability, as shown by the CME Group’s Fed Fund futures, is at 79.7%. He wasn’t the only Fed official to prop up the March meeting either.
So far we’ve heard from six different Fed officials this week, and all of them have alluded to the fact that a rate hike might be appropriate in the near term. Of course, the biggest speech has yet to come. Fed Chair Janet Yellen is slated to give a talk today at 1:00pm at the Executives’ Club of Chicago. The markets are slightly down this morning as investors deal with the anxiousness over what she might say.
Click here to get today’s latest mortgage rates (Mar. 3, 2017).Mortgage rates might have been shown to fall in the Freddie Mac PMMS yesterday (the average rate on 30-year fixed dropped six basis points to 4.10%), but the data for that report is collected early on in the week, and therefore doesn’t factor in the market movement after Dudley’s remarks. In reality, they are several basis points higher. Depending on what Yellen says, they could increase by several more basis points by the end of the day.
What does this mean for me?
Mortgage rates haven’t move much the past few weeks, but it seems as though they have resumed their climb. There is definitely the potential for them to continue to rise over the next couple of weeks as we approach the FOMC’s March meeting on the 14th and 15th. That means that anyone looking to refinance or purchase a home should lock in their rate sooner rather than later.
Today’s economic data:
ISM Non Mfg Index
The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index came in at 57.6 for February. That’s higher than the 56.5 that was expected.
Fedspeak
- Chicago Fed President Charles Evans will talk today at 10:15am.
- Fed Governor Jerome Powell will speak at 12:15pm.
- Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer will speak at 12:30pm.
- Fed Chair Janet Yellen will give a speech at 1:00pm.
Notable events this week:
Monday:
- Durable Goods Orders
- Fedspeak
Tuesday:
- GDP
- International Trade in Goods
- S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller HPI
- Chicago PMI
- Consumer Confidence
- Fedspeak
Wednesday:
- Personal Income and Outlays
- ISM Mfg Index
- EIA Petroleum Status Report
- Beige Book
- Fedspeak
Thursday:
- Jobless Claims
- Fedspeak
Friday:
- Fedspeak
- ISM Non Mfg Index
from Total Mortgage Underwritings Blog http://ift.tt/2m3KEwR
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