Mortgage Rate Update March 9, 2012

Posted on by Evan in Rate Update

Mortgage rates are mostly unchanged today but some offerings are slightly worse.

This morning’s employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed that the US economy added 227,000 new jobs in Februarywhich is slightly higher than expectations.

YOU CAN BET PRESIDENT OBAMA IS HAPPY TO SEE ANOTHER MONTH OF SOLID JOB GROWTH. MORTGAGE RATES ON THE OTHER HAND...

Furthermore, the BLS revised previously released figures for December & January higher.  All in all the report was a solid one which is why mortgage rates are trending higher.

Greece announced that 83% of its bondholders voluntarily signed up for the bond swap which cut the value of their holdings by over half.  The successful bond swap will allow Greece to remain solvent….for now.  However, in my opinion Greece has significant hurdles yet ahead and it remains to be seen if they’ll be able to avoid a disorderly default.

For now it looks like the economic recovery remains in tact and fears over a catastrophic Greek default have been pushed to the back burner.  Both of these factors will make it difficult for rates to improve so I will maintain a locking bias.

Current Outlook: locking bias