Daily Commentary by Larry Baer: Safe-haven demand from investors worried over the outcome of the European debt crisis has created strong demand at this week's 3- and 10-year Treasury note auctions.
Uncle Sam will be back in the credit markets today looking to sell $13 billion worth of 30-year bonds. The auction will conclude at 1:00 p.m. ET and I'll post the results as soon as possible thereafter. The longer term of today's offering may cause investors to be a little more conservative with their bids. If so, mediocre to soft demand at this afternoon's auction will likely exert some noticeable upward pressure on mortgage interest rates. Pay attention here.
As they do every Wednesday, the Mortgage Bankers of America have released their Mortgage Application Survey for the week ended December 9th. Overall loan demand increased 4.1% from the prior week's level - with refinance applications gaining 9.3% while purchase applications fell by 8.2%.
The contract rate for 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgages finished at 4.12%, down 6 basis-points from its week ago mark and down 11 basis-points from four weeks ago. Refinance requests represented eight-out-of-every-ten applications taken last week.
THE MARKET IS ALWAYS RIGHT! . YOU AND I ARE SOME OF THE TIME
