Mortgages Rates experienced some solid gains today given the relatively uneventful trading in the bond markets that influence them.  This goes a long way toward making up for the relative lack of response to yesterday's market movements.  We discussed this phenomenon in a bit more detail in yesterday's commentary (Read it here: Mortgage Rates Improve Only Slightly)  

Despite today's improvements, The Best-Execution Conventional 30yr Fixed Rate clearly remains stuck at 4.0%.  That means that today's improvements will be seen in the form of lower borrowing costs for the same rates quoted yesterday (in most cases).  It continues to be the case that more than a few lenders will have issues hitting that 4.0% mark with a "no closing cost" loan after Tuesday's sharp rise in rates, although today's gains bring us much closer to Monday's offerings.

(read more about Best-Execution calculations).  

The 800-lb gorilla in the room arrives tomorrow morning in the form of the Employment Situation Report.  Now that markets have had a chance to react to the FOMC news that sent rates higher on Tuesday, this last piece of the puzzle in the short term.  Here's what we said about the jobs report last week:

"Betting on lower rates is to hope that the data turns out to be economically worse-than-expected or that a news headline rattles market confidence and drives better demand for fixed income investments like MBS.  Ultimately, Friday's Jobs Report is the "biggie," and will serve to either accelerate or undo some of the progress or deterioration created in the first four days of the week."

Yesterday we said: "you have to assess whether or not you lock or float based on where you are right now instead of how much you might have lost if you floated yesterday.  The impact of the Jobs report could really take things either way."  Now that today has offered some decent additional improvement to rate sheets, the point is doubly true. 

Today's BEST-EXECUTION Rates

• 30YR FIXED -  4.0%
  
• FHA/VA -3.75%
  
• 15 YEAR FIXED -  3.25%-3.375%
  
• 5 YEAR ARMS -  2.625-3.25% depending on the lender
  

Ongoing Lock/Float Considerations

• Rates and costs continue to operate near all time best levels
• We're currently further away from the very best levels than we have been in recent months
• We've broken away from a long, stable trend and are expecting greater volatility
• Rates could easily move higher or lower, but given the above facts, there seems to be more risk than reward regarding floating
• (As always, please keep in mind that our talk of Best-Execution always pertains to a completely ideal scenario.  There can be all sorts of reasons that your quoted rate would not be the same as our average rates, and in those cases, assuming you're following along on a day to day basis, simply use the Best-Ex levels we quote as a baseline to track potential movement in your quoted rate).