Daily Commentary by Larry Baer: Trading activity in the mortgage market is
once again thin and sporadic this morning.
The Treasury Department will sell $24 billion
of 10-year notes this afternoon and $16 billion of 30-year bonds tomorrow. Global demand for safe-haven U.S. dollar
denominated assets like Treasury debt obligations and agency eligible
mortgage-backed securities remains high - a condition which strongly suggests
these two debt sales will go off without a hitch. If this assessment proves accurate, look for
support for steady to perhaps fractionally lower mortgage interest rates to
remain solid.
As they do every Wednesday, the Mortgage
Bankers of America have released the Mortgage Application survey figures for
the week ended August 3rd.
The MBA's composite index fell by 1.8% during the week as both
sub-indexes retreated. The refinance
index dropped 1.9% while the purchase index dropped 1.4%. Refinance applications accounted for 81.2% of
all applications and 78.6% of the prospective loan volume in the prior
week. The contract rate for 30-year
fixed-rate conforming mortgages finished at 3.76%, up 1 basis-point from the
prior week, down 3 basis-points from four weeks ago and 70 basis-points lower
than the year ago mark.
THE
MARKET IS ALWAYS RIGHT! . YOU AND I ARE SOME OF THE TIME
