Mortgage Rate Update Janaury 19, 2012

Mortgage rates are slightly worse today.

Much better than expected jobless claims numbers are pressuring stocks & interest rates higher this morning.

THE NUMBER OF FOLKS SEEKING GOV'MENT CHEESE DECLINED LAST WEEK

The weekly jobless claims figures released by the Labor Department showed that the number of people filing for unemployment benefits declined by 50,000 from the week before.  This is the largest one week decline since September of 2005.  Good news for the economy is often bad news for mortgage rates.

Also helping to pressure rates higher is an improvement to the outlook for Europe (although this is probably short lived).  Both France & Spain auctioned off debt today and were met with strong demand from investors one week after their credit ratings were downgraded.

I switched my outlook to locking two days ago and will maintain that bias today.

Current Outlook: locking bias

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