Mortgage Rate Update January 6, 2011

Mortgage rates are priced slightly worse this morning.

Pricing on mortgage rates worsened yesterday in response to the much stronger than expected jobs numbers from payroll company ADP.  This morning mortgage-backed bonds have recovered a fraction of the losses suffered yesterday as investors get ready for tomorrow’s all-important jobs report.

Expectations for the numbers of new jobs created has climbed following the release of the ADP report so the markets are looking for 180,000-200,000 jobs created by the private sector.  A number north of this would likely cause rates to worsen and vice versa.

I expect rates to remain unchanged throughout today and react to the report tomorrow.

Current outlook: neutral