Daily Rate Lock Advisory

Indexes Affecting Rate Lock

Medium

Negative

Weekly Unemployment Claims (every Thursday)

The first of this morning’s two minor economic releases was last week’s unemployment update that showed only 191,000 new claims for benefits were filed. This was down slightly from the previous week’s 192,000, but since market participants were expecting to see an increase in claims, we have to label the report unfavorable for mortgage rates.

Low

Positive

New Home Sales

February's New Home Sales data was posted at 10:00 AM ET this morning, revealing a 1.1% rise in purchases of newly constructed homes. The headline number appears to contradict forecasts of a decline in sales. However, a sizable downward revision to January’s number is creating the surprise increase. The actual number of transactions was lower than expected, allowing us to refer to the data as neutral to slightly favorable for bonds and mortgage pricing.

High

Unknown

Durable Goods Orders

This week’s calendar closes tomorrow with the release of February’s Durable Goods Orders report at 8:30 AM ET. The Commerce Department is expected to say there was a 1.6% increase in news orders for big-ticket items such as electronics, refrigerators and airplanes. It is worth noting that this data is known to be quite volatile from month to month, so large swings in the headline reading are common and won't be as meaningful as it would be in most other reports. Good news for mortgage rates would be a noticeably smaller increase or a decline.

Rate Lock Advisory

Mortgage Rate Trend

Indexes Affecting Rate Lock

Weekly Unemployment Claims (every Thursday)

New Home Sales

Durable Goods Orders

Float / Lock Recommendation