Mortgage Rate Update March 4, 2011

Posted on by Evan in Rate Update

Mortgage rates are unchanged this morning.

There were 222,000 of these folks in Feb.

This morning’s all-important employment report showed that 222,000 new jobs were created in the private sector during February (30,000 jobs were eliminated int he public sector).  After commenting in yesterday’s ‘rate update’ that results from this report rarely hit expectations they of course do today.  Stocks rallied and rates rose slightly yesterday in anticipation of a strong jobs report so today there is some profit taking.

Political unrest in Libya continues with no resolution in sight.  Oil prices have jumped over $100 again creating fear that higher energy prices could stall the economic recovery.  Should oil prices continue to climb I would expect rates to benefit in the near-term (in the long-term inflation concerns would set in pushing yields higher).

Longer-term rates have settled into a range so I will switch my outlook to neutral.

Current outlook: neutral