Daily Commentary by Larry Baer: Be increasingly vigilant with your pipeline risk management strategies. It is a very treacherous market right now, very headline driven.
Lingering fears about Europe's never-ending debt saga will likely enhance the global allure of today's $24 billion 10-year note auction to be conducted by the Treasury Department. The sale of $32 billion of 3-year notes yesterday drew the heaviest demand in more than 20 years - which bodes well for today's offering. If this assessment proves accurate, today's debt sale will tend to be supportive of the prospects for steady to perhaps fractionally lower mortgage interest rates. The auction will conclude at 1:00 p.m. ET and I will post the auction result on my website as soon as possible once the final gavel falls.
As they do every Wednesday, the Mortgage Bankers of America have released the results of their Mortgage Applications Survey. During the week ended November 4th overall mortgage demand was up 10.3% from the previous week. Refinance requests climbed by 12.1% and purchase-money activity improved by 4.8% for the period.
The contract rate for 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgages finished at 4.22%, down by 9 basis-points from the prior week and lower by 3 basis-points from the month-ago mark. Almost four-out-of-every-five applications taken last week represented a refinance request.
My technical models are flashing a growing number of signals indicating the equity markets are running out of upside momentum - a condition suggesting global investors are becoming increasingly concerned the euro-zone crisis is on the verge of morphing into a major financial disaster. Look for a downward breach of the 11,900 level for the Dow to produce at least a 200+ point plunge that carries into the Thanksgiving Holiday period. Falling stock prices tend to be supportive of steady to perhaps fractionally lower mortgage interest rates.
THE MARKET IS ALWAYS RIGHT! . YOU AND I ARE SOME OF THE TIME
