Rate-Shopper’s Report for April 24th

Monday, April 24, 2017 What’s going on and why does it matter? Mortgage bonds opened lower this morning amidst a sell-off in the global bond market. The results of the first round of the French Presidential elections came in, and barring a surprise in the run-off election on May 7, it appears that Emmanuel Macron is likely to win the French Presidency. This means that a crisis in the European Union economic structure is likely averted because Macron is seen as a centrist and euro-friendly candidate. Stock markets are breathing a sigh of relief, while bond prices are giving back some of their recent gains as investors unwind their “flight to quality” trades.  It will be interesting to see if mortgage bond prices can hold above their 30-day and 100-day moving averages.  The Fed is scheduled to purchase up to $2.05 billion of 30-year and 15-year conventional mortgage bonds today, so that may help to stabilize bond prices.  There are no major economic reports scheduled for release today, but the economic calendar gets bu sier later in the week. What should you do about it? Lock your rate to be safe. ….. ….. Economic reports that may impact mortgage rates this week: Date Report Period Prior Estimate Actual Tue 25 Apr Consumer Confidence Apr 125.6 122.9   Tue 25 Apr New Home Sales Mar 590,000 590,000   Thu 27 Apr Durable Goods Mar 1.7% 1.2%   Thu 27 Apr Initial Jobless Claims Week of Apr 17 244,000 242,000   Thu 27 Apr Pending Home Sales Mar 5.5% -1.0%   Fri 28 Apr GDP Q1 2017 1.9% 1.1%   Fri 28 Apr Core PCE Prices Q1 2017 1.3% 2.0%   Fri 28 Apr Chicago PMI Apr 57.7 56.5   Fri 28 Apr U of Mich Consumer Sentiment Apr 96.9 98.0