Monday's bond market has opened in positive territory despite a fairly strong open in stocks. The stock markets are kicking the week off with the Dow up 94 points and the Nasdaq up 33 points. The bond market is currently up 8/32, which should improve this morning's mortgage rates by approximately .250 of a discount point over Friday's morning pricing.
There is no relevant economic data scheduled for release, but the rest of the week is fairly busy. Look for the stock markets to be the likely force behind any changes to mortgage rates later today. If the major stock indexes move higher from this morning's levels, mortgage rates will likely follow suit.
Tomorrow's sole report is one of the more important ones of the week. August's Retail Sales report will be posted at 8:30 AM ET tomorrow morning. It will give us a very important measurement of consumer spending, which is extremely relevant to the markets because it makes up two-thirds of the U. S. economy. Current forecasts are calling for a 0.3% increase in sales. Analysts are also calling for a 0.3% rise in sales if more volatile auto sales are excluded. Larger than expected increases would be considered bad news for bonds and likely lead to an increase in mortgage pricing since it would indicate economic growth.
Overall, look for the most single day movement in rates tomorrow or Friday. Thursday will also be an active day for the mortgage market, so we should be prepared to see changes to mortgage rates several days this week. I would strongly recommend maintaining contact with your mortgage professional if still floating an interest rate.
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