Tag: mortgage rate outlook jan 4 2011

Mortgage rates are unchanged this morning.

It’s a fairly quiet morning in the financial markets with stocks and bonds trading sideways.

The Commerce Department reported this morning that factory orders rose unexpectedly in November.  According to a new Gallup poll twice as many Americans think the economy will be better in 2011 than worse.  My hope is that many of these Americans are small business owners who can begin to hire workers.

Good news for the economy is often bad news for mortgage rates but the reaction is muted so far this AM.  It’s likely that stocks are taking a breather after hitting a 28-month high yesterday.  There are rumblings in the financial press that stocks may be over-bought and ripe for reversal.  This would likely support bond prices and push yields lower so I will switch my outlook to neutral.  I expect rates to remain unchanged until Friday when we’ll get a look at the all-important jobs report.

Current outlook: neutral