• Thursday’s mortgage rates should be modestly lower than Wednesday’s early pricing due to bond strength late yesterday. If you saw an intraday improvement yesterday, you likely will see an increase this morning. The bond market is currently down 6/32 (4.26%).

 • Stocks are likely also contributing to this morning’s pressure in bonds with the Dow up 232 points and the Nasdaq up 128 points.

 • Yesterday’s 20-year Treasury Bond auction went extremely well. The benchmarks indicated a strong demand from investors compared to other recent sales, signaling they still have a good appetite for long-term securities. We did see a positive reaction in the bond market after results were announced at 1:00 PM ET, but the stronger move that led to some intraday rate improvements came later in the afternoon.

 • While the auction may have helped lay the groundwork for yesterday’s late gains in bonds, it appears that news of a “framework” of a deal for the U.S. to acquire Greenland and that the additional tariffs President Trump recently put on objecting countries had gone away are what actually fueled the bond rally and intraday improvement in mortgage pricing.

 • The first of this morning’s three pieces of economic data was last week’s unemployment update at 8:30 AM ET. It showed only 200,000 new claims for jobless benefits were filed, up slightly from the previous week’s revised 199,000 initial filings. Analysts were expecting to see a number in the neighborhood of 206,000.

 • Also posted early this morning was the revised 3rd Quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reading that revealed the U.S. economy grew at a 4.4% annual pace during the July through September months. This was slightly stronger than the initial estimate of 4.3%, but not enough of a variance to have an impact on this morning’s trading since the data is old now. Market participants are much more interested in the 4th quarter numbers that should be out soon.

 • Today’s highly important economic news came from the release of the Personal Income and Outlays report at 10:00 AM ET. Despite the elevated status this report carries in the markets, it really gave us little in terms of surprises.

 • The more influential Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) indexes both matched forecasts of up 0.2% in November, pegging expectations. The same can be said for the year-over-year rates of 2.8% in both the annual overall and core readings. These indexes are watched so closely because they are the Fed’s go-to readings for gauging inflation in the economy.

 • This morning’s late report also revealed a 0.3% increase in personal income and a 0.5% rise in spending. Forecasts had income rising 0.4% and spending up 0.5%. Smaller increase in income means consumers have less money to spend.

 • January's preliminary reading to the University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment will close out this week’s economic release at 10:00 AM ET tomorrow morning. By theory, if consumers feel better about their finances, they are more apt to make a large purchase in the near future. Stronger consumer spending numbers translate into economic growth that makes stocks more appealing and bonds less attractive to investors. Predictions show little change from December's 54.0. The lower the reading, the better the news for bonds and mortgage rates.

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If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now... This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.