Wednesday's bond market has opened in positive territory following the release of weaker than expected economic news and early stock losses. The stock markets are posting sizable losses with the Dow down 108 points and the Nasdaq down 25 points. The bond market is currently up 10/32, which should improve this morning's mortgage rates by approximately .125 - .250 of a discount point.

The Commerce Department reported this morning that new orders durable goods, or products with a life expectancy of at least three years, fell 1.7% last month. This was much lower than the 0.8% increase that was forecasted and indicates that the manufacturing sector is weaker than some had expected. This is good news for bonds and mortgage rates because a weakening manufacturing sector threatens overall economic growth. This in turn eases inflationary concerns and makes long-term investments such as mortgage related bonds more attractive to investors.

February's New Home Sales figures were also released this morning. They showed a higher level of sales of newly constructed homes than was expected, however, today's release also revised January's sales higher than previously announced. This brought the month to month decline in line with forecasts. Accordingly, this news has had little impact trading or mortgage rates.

Tomorrow brings us the final revision to the 4th Quarter GDP. This is the second and final revision to January's preliminary reading and is expected to show no change from the 0.6% reading that was posted last month. Analysts are now more concerned with next month's preliminary reading of the 1st quarter than data from three to six months ago, so I don't expect this report to affect mortgage rates.

There are two relevant reports scheduled for release Friday. The first is February's Personal Income & Outlays report. This data helps us measure consumers' ability to spend and current spending habits, which is important to the mortgage market because of the influence that consumer spending related information has on the financial markets. If a consumer's income is rising, they are more likely to make additional purchases. This raises inflation concerns and has a negative affect on the bond market and mortgage rates. Current forecasts are calling for a 0.3% rise in income and a 0.1% rise in spending.

The second report comes from the University of Michigan at 9:45 AM ET. Their revision to the March consumer sentiment index will give us an indication of consumer confidence, which hints at consumers' willingness to spend just asyesterday's Consumer Confidence Index did. It is expected to show a small decline from the previous reading of 70.5.

Friday's bond market has opened in positive territory even though we are seeing early stock gains. The Dow and Nasdaq are posting gains of 24 and 10 points respectively. The bond market is currently up 7/32, but we will likely still see an increase in this morning's mortgage rates of approximately .125 of a discount point due to weakness late yesterday.

This morning's economic news wasn't exactly favorable to the bond market, but wasn't taken as negative either. There were two reports released with the first being February's Personal Income & Outlays report. It showed that income rose 0.5% last month, exceeding analysts' forecasts of a 0.3% rise. That can be considered bad news for bonds, but its impact on trading has been fairly minimal. Offsetting that reading was the portion of the report that showed spending rose 0.1%, which matched forecasts.

Today's second report was the University of Michigan's revision to their Index of Consumer Sentime nt for March. It was forecasted to fall to 70.0 but actually fell to 69.5. This is good news for bonds, but unfortunately is also not having much of an impact on the markets this morning.

Next week brings us a couple of reports for the markets to digest, but two of them are considered to be very influential on the markets and mortgage rates. There is no relevant data scheduled for release Monday, but look for more details on next week's events in Sunday's weekly preview.

Tuesday's bond market has opened in positive territory, recovering some of yesterday's sell-off. The stock markets are showing losses with the Dow down 76 points and the Nasdaq down 5 points. The bond market is currently up 16/32, which should improve this morning's mortgage rates by approximately .250 of a discount point.

Today's only relevant economic news was favorable to bonds and mortgage rates. The Conference Board released their Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) for March late this morning, showing a reading of 64.5. This was well below forecasts of 73.4 and touched a five year low, indicating that consumer confidence is falling quicker than expected. That is good news for bonds and mortgage rates because waning confidence usually translates into less consumer spending.

Tomorrow's important data comes from the Commerce Department, who will post February's Durable Goods Orders. This report gives us a measurement of manufacturing sector str ength by tracking new orders for big-ticket items, or products that are expected to last three or more years. This data is known to be volatile from month to month but is still considered to be of high importance. Analysts are expecting it to show an increase in orders of approximately 0.8%. A larger increase would be considered a negative for bonds and could lead to higher mortgage rates tomorrow morning.

Also tomorrow is the release of February's New Home Sales report. It will give us another indication of housing sector strength and mortgage credit demand. It is actually the week's least important news and likely will not have an impact on mortgage rates unless it greatly varies from forecasts. The report is expected to show a decline in sales of newly constructed homes.

Wednesday's bond market opened well in positive territory but has since given back part of those gains. The stock markets are showing losses after yesterday's huge rally. The Dow is currently down 25 points while the Nasdaq has fallen 15 points. The bond market is currently up 17/32, which should improve this morning's mortgage rates by approximately .250 of a discount point. However, if bond prices continue to slip, we may see upward revisions to rates later today.

There is no relevant economic news scheduled for release today. The Conference Board will post its Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) for February late tomorrow morning. That index attempts to measure economic activity over the next three to six months. Current forecasts are calling for a 0.3% decline, indicating that economic activity will likely slow in the coming weeks. This would be good news for the bond market and mortgage rates.

The bond market will close early tomorrow and rem ain closed until Monday in observance of the Good Friday holiday. There is a possibility of seeing additional volatility in trading as investors prepare for the long weekend. Accordingly, I am holding the immediate and short-term lock recommendations.

Also worth noting was news that the regulatory agency that oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac eased capital requirements for the two in an effort to free up more funds to purchase mortgage loans. Since they now need to set less money aside for reserves, they can purchase more loans, which in turn should help mortgage lenders fund more loans for borrowers. It is believed that the $200 billion may help the mortgage and housing markets and contribute to stabilizing the economy.

Friday's bond market opened up sharply following weaker than expected inflation readings, but has since given back some of those gains. The stock markets are showing sizable losses with the Dow down 150 points and the Nasdaq down 35 points. The bond market is currently up 20/32, which should improve this morning's mortgage rates by approximately .250 - .375 of a discount point. However, if bonds give back more of their earlier gains, we may see upward revisions to mortgage rates later today.

The Labor Department gave us the big news for the day with the release of February's Consumer Price Index (CPI). It showed no change in the overall index and the same in the core data reading. Both of these readings were well below analysts' forecasts of 0.3% and 0.2% increases respectively. This means that inflationary pressures at the consumer level of the economy were not as strong as thought. That is very good news for bonds and mortgage rates because inflation er odes the value of a bond's future fixed interest payments and leads to selling in mortgage related securities.

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment was also posted this morning. It showed a reading of 70.5, which was a little stronger than expected. Fortunately though, the CPI far outweighs this index in importance and had a much bigger influence eon trading this morning.

Next week is fairly busy with economic releases, beginning with Monday's Industrial Production report. We also will get to see inflation readings at the producer level of the economy in the Producer Price Index (PPI) Tuesday. But the big news will be the FOMC meeting Tuesday. Look for more details on next week's data and event sin Sunday's weekly preview.

Wednesday's bond market has opened in positive territory despite stock gains. The stock markets are continuing yesterday's strong rally with the Dow currently up 80 points and the Nasdaq up 15 points. The bond market is currently up 18/32, which should improve this morning's mortgage rates by approximately .250 - .375 of a discount point.

There is no relevant economic news scheduled for release today, however, tomorrow brings us some important data. February's Retail Sales data will be released early tomorrow morning. This report is extremely important to the financial markets because it measures consumer spending. Since consumer spending makes up two-thirds of the U.S. economy, data that is related usually has a big impact on the financial markets. This month's report is expected to show an increase in sales of approximately 0.2%. If we see a decline in sales, the bond market should rise and mortgage rates will likely fall. If it reveals a larger increase , I expect to see bond prices fall and mortgage rates rise tomorrow morning.

Also tomorrow is the 10-year Treasury Note auction. This could lead to additional volatility in bonds as investors prepare for the sale this afternoon and until its results are posted tomorrow afternoon. If we saw a strong demand from investors, we may see binds move higher during afternoon trading tomorrow. This could lead to improvements in mortgage pricing also.

The Labor Department will post February's Consumer Price Index (CPI) early Friday morning. This index measures inflationary pressures at the consumer level of the economy. There are two portions of the index- the overall reading and the core data. The core data is more important and watched more closely because it excludes more volatile food and energy prices. If the index shows a large increase, inflation concerns may rise, making long-term investments such as mortgage-related bonds less attractive to investors. This would lead to higher mortgage rates Friday morning. Current forecasts are calling for a 0.3% rise in the overall reading and a 0.2% increase in the core data.

Also on tap Friday is the University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment for March at 9:45 AM. This index gives us a measurement of consumer willingness to spend. If confidence is rising, then consumers are more apt to make large purchases. This helps fuel consumer spending and economic growth. A drop in confidence will probably hurt the stock markets and boost bond prices, leading to lower mortgage rates. If the index rises, indicating that confidence is rising and spending will likely rise, we may see mortgage rates move higher late Friday morning if the CPI doesn't show as any surprises. It is expected to show a reading of 69.5, down from February's 70.8.

Tuesday's bond market has opened well in negative territory following sharp gains in the stock markets. Stocks are doing very well this morning following an unusual move by the Fed to add liquidity to the markets. The results are stock rally and bond selling. The Dow is currently up over 200 points while the Nasdaq has gained 35 points. The bond market is currently down 28/32, but we will still see an improvement in this morning's mortgage rates as a result of strength late yesterday and optimism in the Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) market.

The only piece of economic news released today was January's Goods and Services Trade Balance. It showed the U.S. trade deficit at $58.2 billion. This was smaller than expected, but since the data is not considered to be of high importance, it had little influence on trading and mortgage rates.

The big news of the day was an announcement from the Fed that they were pumping $200 billion in liquidity to t he markets. The short-term sale that they are doing this via was not the surprise. What is unusual about this sale is that the banks can use AAA rated mortgage securities as collateral. Usually, only securities backed directly by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are allowed as collateral. This will allow banks to pledge more collateral and therefore, borrow more from the Fed. This is believed to mean that banks will have more funds to loan to individuals and corporate customers. That should increase economy activity, at least by theory.

The rest of the week brings us the release of three more economic releases for the bond and mortgage markets to digest along with a 10-year Treasury Note auction. None of the important economic news is scheduled for release until Thursday. Two of them are considered to be of high importance to the markets. This means that we will likely see the most movement in rates the latter part of the week.

Thursday morning brings us the release of February's Retail Sales data. This report is extremely important to the financial markets because it measures consumer spending. Since consumer spending makes up two-thirds of the U.S. economy, data that is related usually has a big impact on the financial markets. This month's report is expected to show an increase in sales of approximately 0.2%. If we see a decline in sales, the bond market should rise and mortgage rates will likely fall. If it reveals a larger increase, I expect to see bond prices fall and mortgage rates rise Thursday morning.