Rate Update May 6, 2010
Mortgage rates are unchanged this morning.
Mortgage rates remain low due to uncertainty over debt problems in Greece. Earlier today the ECB (the EU’s central bank) elected to leave short-term interest rates unchanged. Some analysts thought they may lower rates to stimulate the economy.
The Labor Department reported earlier that the productivity of US workers grew by a faster than expected pace in the first quarter. This is usually a good sign for mortgage rates because it eases concerns over wage-based inflation. However, this does not bode well for reducing unemployment. If current workers are more productive employers don’t have to hire as many to get work done.
It will be interesting to see how the markets react to tomorrow’s jobs report. Typically this report is the most important of all. However, attention remains focused on the European debt problems. Expectations are for 190,000 new jobs created in April (many due to census hiring).
I’m going to shift my outlook to a neutral position. We’ve had a nice run and we want to think about booking the gains.
Current outlook: neutral
Posted: May 6th, 2010 under Rate Update.
Tags: may 6 2010 lock advice, may 6 2010 MBS, may 6 2010 mortgage rate report, may 6 2010 mortgage rates, may 6 2010 outlook for rates, may 6 2010 rate watch