• Monday’s mortgage rates should be approximately .125 of a discount point lower than Friday’s early pricing. The bond market is currently down 2/32 (4.34%).

 • Stocks are opening the week with fairly minor gains of 66 points in the Dow and 79 points in the Nasdaq.

 • This week’s economic calendar began late this morning when the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) released their March non-manufacturing index at 10:00 AM ET. They announced a reading of 54.0 that fell short of forecasts and a larger decline from February’s 56.1 than expected. The lower reading means surveyed service sector executives felt better about business conditions in February than they did last month.

 • The rest of the week still has plenty scheduled that has the potential to affect mortgage rates, including two major inflation readings. There are six monthly and quarterly economic reports still scheduled to be released over the remaining days, in addition to the minutes of last month’s FOMC meeting and a couple of Treasury auctions midweek. 

 • Oil prices and Iran headlines will also continue to play a factor in this week’s mortgage rates, especially with President Trump’s deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz set for tomorrow.

 • Tomorrow has one of the more important economic reports with February’s Durable Goods Orders set for an 8:30 AM ET release. This data helps measure manufacturing sector strength by tracking new orders at U.S. factories for big-ticket items such as electronics, refrigerators and airplanes that are expected to last at least three years. Analysts are expecting to see a 0.5% rise in new orders. Good news for mortgage rates would be a noticeably large decline.

 • Overall, Thursday or Friday are the best candidates for most important day for rates due to the release of highly important inflation data those days.

 • Wednesday morning could be the calmest, even though there are two afternoon events that may influence rates, unless there are new Middle East headlines.

 • There is little doubt that we will see a lot of movement in the financial markets and possibly mortgage rates, so it would be prudent to keep an eye on them if closing in the near future and still floating an interest rate.

 • Visit our Daily Commentary page on our site for detailed explanations on current news that is relevant to 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... Float 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.