Be Carerful: The road to higher rates is paved with the dry bones of those who tried to time the bottom of the market!

Thursday's bond market opened in positive territory following early stock losses that have made bonds more attractive to investors. The stock markets are showing sizable losses with the Dow down 90 points and the Nasdaq down 34 points. The bond market is currently up 3 basis points. Initially rates came out in line with Wednesday's close but at 3:32 EST we posted an improvement of .125% to discount points.

The Conference Board posted their Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) late this morning, announcing a 0.3% increase. This was a little weaker than the 0.4% that was expected, but not enough of difference to influence this morning mortgage rates. That data indicates that economic activity is expected to increase moderately over the next three to six months. That is acceptable to bonds, as many economists and the Fed expect the economy to expand slowly.

The Labor Department said this morning that 505,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed last week. This was very close to forecasts and also has had little impact on this morning's bond trading and mortgage pricing.

There is no relevant economic news scheduled for release tomorrow. Therefore, look for the stock markets to again influence bond trading and possibly mortgage rates. If stocks fall further, bonds should rise, leading top downward revisions to mortgage rates tomorrow.

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... Float 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.