 Massachusetts Mortgage Rate Forecast for September 3, 2010Friday, September 3, 2010 - Article by: Lew Corcoran -
Massachusetts Mortgage Rate Forecast for September 3, 2010 Here are some of the events affecting mortgage rates in Massachusetts today: What Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) Are Doing Today: - The price of the FNMA 30-Year 4.0% MBS coupon opened at 103.25 this morning - the same as yesterday's close. - At 9:30 AM, the 4.0% MBS coupon was trading at 102.69 - down 13/32 from its opening. Remember, on mortgage backed securities (MBSs), as the price goes down, the yield goes up - and so do mortgage rates. I expect that mortgage rates will be up to 0.375 points worse in price this morning as compared to yesterday afternoon. Economic Reports, News, and Events Affecting Mortgage Rates in Massachusetts Today: - Employment Situation Report - according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, private non-farm employment rose by 67,000 jobs, and is much more than the 40,000 job gain that was expected. This follows a revised gain of 107,000 jobs in July. However, non-farm payroll fell by 54,000 jobs in August as 114,000 temporary census jobs came to an end. This is the third straight monthly job loss, but the loss is much less than the 90,000 job loss that was expected. As expected, the unemployment rate rose for the first time in 4 months to 9.6%. This report shows that the economy is not headed back into a recession. This data had a negative impact on the mortgage market this morning as prices of mortgage backed securities fell on the news. This led to higher pricing for mortgage rates this morning. - Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) Non-Manufacturing Index - growth in the non-manufacturing sector is up 0.6 points in July with a reading of 54.3 in the overall index. The new orders component rose almost 2.5 points to 56.7. A reading above 50 indicates manufacturing sector expansion rather than contraction. This report indicates that the economic outlook still looks good despite the bad economic news we've been receiving lately. Overall, the growth in the economy has been decelerating since May of this year. Despite the good news, this report had no impact on mortgage rates this morning. In other news, the Treasury Dept will be auctioning Notes and Bonds next week. The Notes and Bonds are used to finance the massive government debt. The results of these auctions could affect mortgage rates next week. Massachusetts Mortgage Rate Forecast: Massachusetts mortgage rates are at their historic lows. They haven't been this low since the early 1950s. These low mortgage rates may be with us for some time - or they may not. Usually, mortgage rates go up during the summer months during the peak home buying season, then go down as the fall and winter seasons approach. But these are not "normal times." Given the most recent economic and job reports, it now appears that mortgage rates are as low as they will ever go. |
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