Rate Update April 27, 2010

Mortgage rates are mostly unchanged this morning.

Concerns over sovereign debt are spreading beyond the borders of Greece.  A story in the Wall Street journal mentions Portugal, Spain, and Ireland as the next countries that are most likely to default on debt payments.  The additional fear is driving investors to the relatively “safe” US and yields are likely to benefit.

The US Treasury is getting set to auction $44 billion in 2-year notes.  In light of the aforementioned paragraph we expect demand to be strong which is good for mortgage rates.

In housing news the S & P Case-Shiller Home price index report showed that home prices in the 20 major markets it tracks increased year-over-year in March for the first time in 3 years.

Mortgage rates are likely to benefit from the recent “flight-to-quality” trade that is the result of increasing concerns of European debt.  We will float for now and continue to track that story.

Current outlook: floating