Mortgage UPdate!

Mortgage rates continued to head downward last week in response to the Federal Reserve's $600 billion plan to purchase good quality mortgage backed debts and securities. Econmic news however continues on the bleak side. While the National Bureau of Economic Research declared that the US has been in a recession since December 2007 the bigger news was the dismal jobs data. The US economy shed 533,000 jobs in November the largest jobs lost number in 34 years. Hopefully the myriad of programs aimed at stimulating housing will begin to work in earnest soon.
Mortgage rates may continue moving downward for the first few days of this week as little economic news is due out. Of course an announcement of another goverment program could sway rates wildly either direction. The biggest economic data of the week will likely be retail sales data. With the current environment a drop much below the expected 1.9% could spook markets and send rates moving even further downward. However a positive reading may send mortgage rates upward.