Mortgage Rate Update January 17, 2012

A slew of better-than-expected foreign & domestic economic news is threatening to push mortgage rates higher this morning but thus far they haven’t budged.

Beginning in Europe, which remains the main focal point for interest rate markets, Spain, Greece, and the European Financial Stability Fund were all able to auction off debt securities with sufficient demand.  This is seen as a signal that investors are confident these countries will remain solvent…at least in the near-term.

Also in Europe, for the second month in a row economic expectations amongst Germans improved which is lending additional optimism in Europe.

Gross Domestic Product figures out of China showed that the world’s second biggest economy grew by 8.9% in the last quarter of 2011.  This was slower than the previous quarter but still higher than analysts had expected.

Here in the US a gauge of manufacturing activity in the New York Fed region grew by more than expected.

All in all the news was positive today which would ordinarily be bad for mortgage rates.  However, rates remain low possibly because of the long list of economic data due out the rest of this week.  Either way, I am recommending a locking bias.

Current Outlook: locking bias