Investors are holding off from any major moves this morning as they wait to hear from Fed chair nominee Jerome Powell at his confirmation hearing before congress. That’s keeping mortgage rates from moving higher, which is great news for anyone considering locking a rate on a purchase or refinance. Read on for more details.
Market Outlook 11.27.17 from Total Mortgage on Vimeo.
Where are mortgage rates going?
All eyes on Jerome Powell
Mortgage rates are basically flat this morning. The big market moving event is the confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee for President Trump’s nominee for the next chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell.
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Financial market participants will be hoping that Powell, who is currently serving as a Federal Reserve Governor, will offer up some sort of insight into how the Fed might look with him at the helm. Whether or not that will actually happen is yet to be seen.
From a certain perspective, those kinds of hopes might seem a bit optimistic, as Fed officials are typically guarded with their views. We already know that Powell has historically voted in lockstep with current Fed chair Janet Yellen.
It’s not a stretch of the imagination to think that he will continue along this path of cautious tightening. Of course, investors are always dealing with probabilities and there’s certainly a chance that Powell will say something today that might challenge our present understanding of his policy beliefs.
At any rate, traders aren’t taking the risk of making any large adjustments ahead of his testimony. This is keeping the yield on the 10-year Treasury note (the best market indicator of where mortgage rates are going) from swaying too far in either direction.
It’s currently down just one basis point, which points toward a lack of movement for mortgage rates. Depending on what Powell says, we could see rates slide lower or inch back up.
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Rate/Float Recommendation
Lock now
Mortgage rates have been hanging around accommodating levels for home buyers and home owners that want to refinance for the majority of 2017.
Looking ahead to the coming weeks and months, it’s widely anticipated that rates will increase, which is why we believe that borrowers should lock in their rate sooner rather than later in order to try and get the best deal.
Click here to head to our Mortgage Builder and figure out how much you could save.
Today’s economic data:
International Trade in Goods
The nation’s trade deficit widened to $68.3 billion in October. That’s significantly larger than the $64.8 billion that analysts had projected.
FHFA House Price Index
The FHFA house price index for September rose 0.3%, bringing it up to 6.3%, year over year. Analysts had expected a monthly change of 0.6%.
S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller HPI
Home prices are rising again, according to the S&P Case-Shiller housing price index for September. The 20-city, seasonally adjusted index rose 0.5%–which is right at the top end of the range analysts had laid out.
The 20-city, non-seasonally adjusted index came in right in line with expectations with a 0.4% rise, bringing the year over year reading to 6.2%. That’s an increase of four tenths from the prior revised reading.
Fedspeak
- New York Fed President William Dudley at 9:15am
- Fed Governor (and Fed Chair Nominee) Jerome Powell at 9:45am
Consumer Confidence
- 10:00am
Richmond Fed Mfg Index
- 10:00am
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Notable events this week:
Monday:
- New Home Sales
- Dallas Fed Mfg Survey
- Fedspeak
Tuesday:
- International Trade in Goods
- FHFA House Price Index
- S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller HPI
- Fedspeak
- Consumer Confidence
- Richmond Fed Mfg Index
Wednesday:
- GDP
- Fedspeak
- Pending Home Sales Index
- EIA Petroleum Status Report
- Beige Book
Thursday:
- Jobless Claims
- Personal Income and Outlays
- Chicago PMI
- Fedspeak
Friday:
- Fedspeak
- PMI Manufacturing Index
- ISM Mfg Index
- Construction Spending
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from Total Mortgage Blog http://ift.tt/2zwPBSS
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