It is a slow day in the mortgage market.
This afternoon's 2:00 p.m. ET release of the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's April meeting will draw a little interest from those fruitlessly looking for clues regarding the timing of the central bank's next move to exit from its ultra interest-rate friendly monetary policy.
Other than this afternoon's event - the majority of the market day will likely prove to be as boring as standing in a long line to renew your driving license.
As they do every Wednesday, the Mortgage Bankers of America have released their mortgage application survey for the week ended May 13, 2011. According the MBA the overall number of applications taken last week rose 7.8% from the preceding week - driven in large part by an impressive 13.5% increase in refi requests. The number of applications taken for purchase money mortgages actually dropped 3.5% during the period.
The contract rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages finished at 4.6%, down 7 basis-points from a week ago, down 23 basis-points from four-weeks ago, and down by 24 basis-points from a year ago. Refinance requests drove 7-out-of-10 of all loan applications taken last week.
The slow economic news week will likely find mortgage investors taking directional cues for note rates from trading activity in the stock market. Higher stock prices will tend to drive mortgage interest rates higher while falling stock prices will probably prove supportive of steady to perhaps fractionally lower rates.
THE MARKET IS ALWAYS RIGHT! . YOU AND I ARE SOME OF THE TIME
