Bond markets were slightly weaker today and Mortgage Rates edged just slightly higher, shifting the balance toward 4.0% as the more prevalent Best-Execution rate, up from 3.875% yesterday. 

markets seem poised to move in either direction leading up to and following Friday's Employment Situation Report, and those movements are likely to affect mortgage rates.

Today's Rates: 

• BESTEXECUTION 30YR FIXED -   4.0% more prevalent, 3.875% still out there
• FHA/VA - still at 3.75% !!
• 15 YEAR FIXED -  3.375%-3.5% 
• 5 YEAR ARMS -  low to mid 3% range, variations from lender to lender.

Ongoing Guidance: Lean more heavily toward locking when Best-Ex is near  4.0 these days.  Optimistic for future gains, but would hate to see 3.875 unexpectedly evaporate on some surprise headline out of Europe or turning point in economic data.

New Guidance: The fact that today left mortgage rates almost unchanged and yesterday's stock rally very much intact puts even more emphasis on Friday's Employment Situation Report.  It's a bit of an anomaly because lately, economic data hasn't been much of a market mover, but there's a decent chance for the jobs data to buck that trend.  If you're quoted rate just nudged up an eighth of a point today, you might float into tomorrow to see if you can get it back, but expect lenders to be cautious ahead of Friday's data.  The bottom line is that floating is basically a crapshoot that relies on the jobs report being fairly lackluster in order for rates to recapture any of their previous glory.  At around 4%, they're still pretty glorious...