Roller Coaster Ahead For Mortgage Rates

All indicators point to a turbulent week ahead for mortgage rates. There is a plethora of reports scheduled to hit this week. All of them are expected to be good news for the economy in general, which is bad news for mortgage rates. Let's break each of these reports down

Tuesday: Consumer Confidence Index
This report measures the consumers willingness to spend, because consumer spending makes up a large portion of our economy, this report has the potential to move bond prices and thus mortgage rates either way. Currently it is expected that the report will come in at 81.6 which would be a slight increase from the previous month. If the forecasts are accurate mortgage rates will inch higher.

Wednesday: Second Quarter GDP Report
This report is considered the best indicator of economic strength and thus has the ability to significantly impact mortgage rates either positively or negatively. The current forecasts are expecting a rate of growth of about 1% a higher number will drive rates even higher, a lower number will likely mean cheaper rates after Wednesday this week.

                     FED Post Meeting Statement
The FED is holding their fifth meeting of the year Tues.-Wed. It is expected that afterward, they will release a statement to try and assuage the fears of the market and try to help out interest rates. I am expecting this to have minimal impact on the mortgage rates, much like the last few times that Mr. Bernanke has spoken to the press and tried to calm the markets. Everyone knows that as the economy continues it's slow rebound, that eventually the FED will have to stop supplementing the housing market with it's purchasing of Mortgage Backed Securities.

Thursday ISM Manufacturing Index This report is one of the more important economic indicators that we have, this report measures the sentiments of business executives on business conditions. Last month we saw a reading at 50.9, any reading above 50% is likely to keep rates high, if the report comes in under 50% though rates would likely fall on Thursday, currently the forecast is for just above 51.

Friday. Department of Labor - Employment Report This is one of the most important reports that we get, if this report shows a decrease in unemployment numbers , which is what is currently expected, then rates are likely to continue their climb. It would likely take a higher unemployment rate coupled with a loss of jobs to ipact the mortgage rates positively. This is not likely to happen. Bottom Line:
I'm not much of a gambler, so I have all of my lock eligible clients locked and I will be maintaining a locking stance until I see some significant report that would lead me to believe gains are on the horizon.