Rate Update for August 27, 2008
Mortgage rates are unchanged today.
Better than expected durable goods orders were reported today. This positive news for the economy is helping stocks which could pressure rates higher today.
It is not often I talk of weather in the same sentence as mortgage rates but today I will break the norm. The financial markets will be tracking Hurricane Gustav (you may also track it here) as it approaches the oil-producing Gulf of Mexico. Should the hurricane cause damage to off-shore oil drillers we could see oil prices spike which would have an inflationary impact on our economy (hence, mortgage rates would likely respond be moving higher).
The analysts we pay attention to still believe that technical trading patterns could push mortgage rates lower. Since rates have already benefitted by moving lower in the past week we will shift our outlook to neutral.