Daily Commentary by Larry Baer: Believe it or not -- the Greek financial drama continues.
Greece is now expressing hope that it will wrap up a "deal" on Monday with the European Union and International Monetary Fund to secure funds to avoid a default on its sovereign debt. A number of deadlines have come and gone as past backsliding by the Greek government has created a mood of mistrust among those countries being asked to provide the money for this round of rescue efforts. As long as this tug-of-war continues - the "flight-to-quality" of global capital into the relative safe haven of US dollar denominated assets like Treasury debt obligations and mortgage-backed securities will continue to support the prospects of steady to perhaps fractionally lower mortgage interest rates here at home.
This morning's deluge of economic news proved to be a little mortgage interest rate unfriendly. The number of Americans filing new claims for government unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to a near four-year low. Other government data pointed to sustained momentum in the economy, with builders breaking ground on new residential projects in January and little signs of a pick-up in inflation pressures at the farm and factory gates. The steady improvement in the labor picture was enough to cause many mortgage investors to move to the sidelines and adopt a "wait-and-see" attitude with respect to forthcoming economic data like tomorrow morning's January consumer inflation figures.
THE MARKET IS ALWAYS RIGHT! . YOU AND I ARE SOME OF THE TIME
