Mortgage Rate Update September 24, 2015

Mortgage rates are essentially unchanged at year-to-date lows.

Concern over global economic growth continues to suppress interest rates here in the US.  Yesterday, the US treasury sold 1-month bills with a 0% yield.  The auction was overbid with over $9 of offers coming in for every $1 of debt available for purchase.  The strong demand is a signal of a global flight to safety which helps keep interest rates in the US low.  The US treasury is scheduled to auction $29 billion in 7-year notes later today.

It’s a fairly busy day in terms of new economic releases.  Initial jobless claims came in at 267,000 which is a fairly strong number.  Durable good orders for the past month were reported down by 2% last month which was actually better than analysts were expecting.

As I’ve reported repeatedly over the past few weeks it is global influences that are clouding the economic outlook.  The stock market is opening up sharply lower today following the direction of European markets.  Weakness in stocks is generally a positive sign for mortgage rates.

From a technical perspective interest rates continue to trade near their best levels of the year.  It certainly seems like borrowers have more to lose than to gain by not locking.

Current Outlook: locking bias