Rate Lock Advisory

Wednesday, March 22th

Wednesday’s bond market has opened in negative territory, extending overnight weakness. Stocks are calm as investors await for this afternoon’s activities. The Dow is down 6 points while the Nasdaq is down 7 points. The bond market is currently down 5/32 (3.62%), which will likely cause a slight increase in this morning’s mortgage rates.

5/32

Bonds

30 yr - 3.62%

6

Dow

32,554

7

NASDAQ

11,852

Mortgage Rate Trend

Trailing 90 Days - National Average

  • 30 Year Fixed
  • 15 Year Fixed
  • 5/1 ARM

Indexes Affecting Rate Lock

Medium

Neutral

Treasury Auctions (5,7,10,20,30 year)

Yesterday’s 20-year Treasury Bond auction was not overly impressive. The benchmarks showed a below average demand from investors compared to other recent sales. Bonds had an initial knee-jerk negative reaction once the results were posted at 1:00 PM ET, but that was short-lived. The auction actually had little influence on the day’s trading and mortgage pricing.

High

Unknown

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Statement

There is no relevant economic data set for release today. We do have an afternoon of Fed events that are expected to cause noticeable volatility in the markets and possibly mortgage rates. The FOMC meeting will adjourn at 2:00 PM ET. There is much debate about what the Fed will do at this meeting. There was a strong consensus that the Fed would make another rate hike until the recent bank crisis came to light. Now, some analysts feel the Fed needs to take a pause to make sure the crisis is not spreading further since their previous rate hikes are being blamed as a contributing factor to the bank failures. There is no doubt that this topic will be addressed in the post-meeting statement or press conference.

High

Unknown

Misc Fed

Along with the adjournment and post-meeting announcement at 2:00 PM ET, we will also get the Fed's updated economic projections. The press conference with Chairman Powell will start at 2:30 PM. It is likely going to be a pretty active afternoon in the financial and mortgage markets tomorrow.

Low

Unknown

New Home Sales

Tomorrow morning has two minor economic releases scheduled (New Home Sales and weekly unemployment figures). They will be addressed in this afternoon’s update that will be posted once the markets have an opportunity to react to the FOMC events.

Float / Lock Recommendation

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now... This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.

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