Last week had the potential for mortgage rates to move in either direction. Even with some uneven and surprising economic reports, mortgage rates only drifted down slightly. As some analysts predicted, the late winter slowdown ground GDP growth almost to a halt, coming in at 0.1%.The headline from the employment report looked promising, with 288,000 new jobs created and the unemployment rate dropping to 6.3%. However, the labor participation rate fell, as 800,000 people gave up looking for work and are no longer counted. Consumer Confidence also slipped slightly, and the Federal Reserve tapered QE3 again, as expected. On a positive note, the ISM Manufacturing did step up to a solid 54.9. Many analysts believe that the slowdown in the first quarter of the year has been followed by an overall uptick in activity, but we wont know for a few weeks. This week has limited economic data due, and rates could be easily pushed around by stock markets or geopolitical concerns. Of course, recent trends point to rates continuing in a fairly tight range. -Joe Massey from Monday Mortgage Minute
Posted on: Mon, 05 May 2014 21:51:19 +0000
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