Wednesday's bond market has opened up slightly despite stock gains and a lack of economic news on the day's agenda. The stock markets are showing solid gains after earlier weakness this week. The Dow is currently up 68 points and the Nasdaq up 21 points. The bond market is currently up 6/32, but we will likely see little change in this morning's mortgage rates.

There is no relevant economic news scheduled for release today. The bond market will likely be influenced by stock swings if we are to see any afternoon changes to mortgage rates today. Stocks of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have come under fire again and have posted considerable losses this week as investors become more concerned about their stability and the housing market. This could influence mortgage rates also if the fears continue to rise and should be kept on our radar.

Early tomorrow morning, the Labor Department will post last week's new unemployment claims numbe rs. They are expected to fall by 12,000 claims from the previous week to 438,000 new claims. A larger than expected number of claims would be considered good news for bonds and mortgage rates, however, this is not one of the more important reports we see each week. Therefore, unless the number varies greatly from forecasts its impact on rates will probably be minimal.

The Conference Board will give us the last piece of monthly data for the week late tomorrow morning when it releases its Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) for July. This index attempts to measure economic activity over the next three to six months. A higher than expected reading is bad news for the bond market because it indicates that the economy may be strengthening. However, a weaker than expected reading means that the economy may slow in the near future, making stocks less appealing to investors. This also eases inflation concerns in the bond market and could lead to slightly lower mortgage r ates tomorrow if the stock markets remain calm. Current forecasts are calling for a decline of 0.3% in the index.

Thursday's bond market has opened in negative territory after this morning's GDP reading fueled a stock rally. The stock markets are showing gains with the Dow up 143 points and the Nasdaq up 19 points. The bond market is currently down 5/32, but we will still see an improvement in this morning's mortgage rates of approximately .125 of a discount point due to strength in bonds late yesterday.

Today's update to the 2nd Quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reading revealed a higher level of growth than what was expected. Last month's preliminary reading revealed a 1.9% pace, but today's revision showed a 3.3% annual rate. Analysts were expecting to see a 2.7% rate, meaning that the economy grew at a rate that was faster than what analysts had forecasted. That is bad news for bonds because it raises inflation concerns that drive bond prices lower.

The Labor Department said that 425,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed last week. This was the third straight week that new claims have dropped, but analysts were expecting to see this number.

There are two pieces of economic data scheduled for release tomorrow. The first is July's Personal Income and Outlays and the second is the University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment. The income and spending data measures consumer ability to spend and current spending habits. It is expected to show a decline of 0.2% in income and a 0.2% increase in spending. Weaker than expected numbers would be good news for the bond market and mortgage rates.

August's revision to the University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment is the second. It gives us a measurement of consumer willingness to spend. It is expected to show an upward revision from August's preliminary reading of 61.7. If it revises lower, consumers were less confident about their personal financial situations than previously thought. This would be good news for the bond market and mortgage rates.

Also worth noting is that the bond market will close at 2:00 PM ET tomorrow ahead of the Labor Day holiday. It will remain closed Monday and reopen Tuesday morning. The stock markets will be closed Monday also. This may create a little more volatility during afternoon hours as traders prepare for the long weekend. However, I don't think it will affect mortgage pricing.

Monday's bond market has opened in positive territory after the stock markets kicked the week off in selling mode. The stock markets are showing fears of the banking crisis after another bank failed over the weekend. This has the Dow down 127 points and the Nasdaq down 34 points. The bond market is benefiting as investors seek safe-haven in bonds. This has pushed the bond market up 28/32, which will likely improve this morning's mortgage rates by .125 - .250 of a discount point.

Today's only economic data was July's Existing Home Sales report that showed a larger increase in home resales than was expected. This could be considered bad news for bonds and mortgage rates, however, this data is not considered to be of high importance to the markets. Therefore, the stock losses are influencing bond trading more than this data is.

The Conference Board will post this month's Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) at 10:00 AM tomorrow. This index measures co nsumer willingness to spend, which is important because consumer spending makes up two thirds of the U.S. economy. A decline would indicate that consumers may not be making large purchases in the immediate future. That sign of economic weakness should drive bond prices higher, leading to lower mortgage rates tomorrow. It is expected to show a reading of 53.0, which would be an increase from July's 51.9.

Also scheduled for release tomorrow is July's New Home Sales data. This report is the least important release of the week. It will give us an indication of housing sector strength and mortgage credit demand like Monday's Existing Home Sales report does and also usually doesn't have a major impact on bond prices or mortgage rates.

The third and final event for tomorrow is the release of the minutes from the last FOMC meeting. There is a pretty good possibility of the markets reacting to them following their 2:00 PM ET release, especially if they show so me divisiveness by its members. It will be interesting to see some of the Fed member's views on the economy and inflation and if they will hint what the Fed's next move may be.

Overall, it is a shortened week and will probably be a very busy week for mortgage rates. The bond market is expected to close at 2:00 PM ET Friday ahead of the Monday holiday. We will likely see the most activity in rates tomorrow morning, but Wednesday and Thursday are also important. If we manage to get weaker than expected results in the key reports and the Fed minutes don't show any surprises, we should see mortgage rates close the week lower than tomorrow's opening levels.

Friday's bond market has opened in negative territory following a strong open in stocks. The stock markets are posting sizable gains during morning trading with the Dow up 180 points and the Nasdaq up 22 points. The bond market is currently down 9/32, which will likely push this morning's mortgage rates higher by approximately .125 of a discount point.

There is no relevant data scheduled for release today, but Fed Chairman Bernanke did make a speech this morning at a conference in Wyoming. In it he implied that the problems in the credit markets may not be over and that they will continue to affect the economy. He added that the drop in oil prices was encouraging and should help ease inflation concerns.

Generally speaking, his words did not come as a surprise to many. They did however, help some to push back their estimated date of a Fed rate increase. Many had predicted the Fed would raise rates sometime this fall to help control inflationa ry pressures, but now feel that the increase may not come until the first half of next year. But, today's negative open in bonds is more a result of the stock gains than his speech.

Next week has a fairly busy calendar with economic data scheduled for release each day. None of the reports are considered to be extremely important, but a couple of them are important enough to affect mortgage rates if their results differ from forecasts. The week starts off fairly light with July's Existing Home Sales report late Monday morning. It is one of the least important reports of the week, but since it is the only one scheduled for that day we may see enough of a reaction in the markets to affect mortgage pricing if it varies greatly from forecasts.

It appears there are seven reports scheduled for release next week that are worth watching, in addition to the minutes from the last FOMC meeting. Look for more details on next week's events in Sunday's weekly p review.

Tuesday's bond market has opened in negative territory following much stronger than expected inflation readings. Preventing a much weaker open in bonds is another round of early stock losses with the Dow down 130 points and the Nasdaq down 25 points. The bond market is currently down 6/32, but we will likely see a slight improvement in this morning's mortgage rates as a result of strength late yesterday.

Today's big news was July's Producer Price Index (PPI) that revealed a surprising jump in inflation prices. The 1.2% jump in the overall reading and the 0.7% rise in the core data reading were both much larger than analysts had expected. The overall reading now pushes the increase over the past year to its highest level since 1981. Even the core data reading was the largest monthly jump since November 2006. However, since oil prices have fallen by nearly $30 a barrel, there is a general consensus that these inflation readings may have peaked. Therefore, the bond market has been able to minimize its losses this morning.

The second report of the day was July's Housing Starts data that showed starts of new homes fell to their lowest level in 17 years. This was a larger drop than analysts had expected and indicates that the housing sector may still be weakening. That would be good news for the bonds and mortgage rates.

There is no relevant economic news scheduled for release tomorrow. The Conference Board will give us the last piece of data for the week late Thursday morning when it releases its Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) for July. This index attempts to measure economic activity over the next three to six months. A higher than expected reading is bad news for the bond market because it indicates that the economy may be strengthening. However, a weaker than expected reading means that the economy may slow in the near future, making stocks less appealing to investors. This also eases inflation con cerns in the bond market and could lead to slightly lower mortgage rates tomorrow if the stock markets remain calm. Current forecasts are calling for a decline of 0.3% in the index.

Tuesday's bond market has opened well in positive territory with the stock markets posting sizable losses during morning trading. The Dow is currently down 121 points while the Nasdaq is down 8 points. The bond market is currently up 15/32, but we will likely see little change in this morning's mortgage rates due to weakness in bonds late yesterday.

Today's only economic news was June's Trade Balance report that revealed a much smaller than expected trade deficit. The report showed that it stood at $56.8 billion compared to the $61.9 billion that was expected. However, this data is not considered to be of high importance to mortgage rates and has not had much of an influence on today's pricing.

July's Retail Sales data will be released early tomorrow morning. This data is very important to the financial markets and mortgage rates because it helps us measure consumer spending. Since consumer spending makes up two-thirds of the U.S. economy, any da ta related to it can cause a fair amount of movement in the markets. A larger decline than expected would indicate that consumers are spending less than previously thought, potentially slowing the economy. This is good news for the bond market and mortgage rates as it eases inflation concerns and makes long-term securities such as mortgage-related bonds more attractive to investors. Current forecasts are calling for a decline of 0.1%.

July's Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be released at 8:30 AM Thursday. The CPI is one of the most important reports we see each month. It measures inflation at the consumer level of the economy. There are two readings in the report- the overall index and the core data reading. The more important of the two is the core data because it excludes more volatile food and energy prices. Current forecasts call for an increase of 0.4% in the overall and 0.2% in the core data reading. Smaller than expected increases should lead to a bond ra lly and lower mortgage rates. However, stronger than expected readings will likely cause a spike in mortgage pricing.

Thursday's bond market has opened in positive territory following sizable stock losses. The stock markets are reacting to weak earnings news as the Dow fell 130 points and the Nasdaq lost 9 points. The bond market is currently up 16/32, which will likely improve this morning's mortgage rates by approximately .250 - .375 of a discount point over yesterday's morning rates.

The Labor Department gave us last week's unemployment figures early this morning. They reported that 455,000 new claims for benefits were filed when analysts had predicted 420,000. This was a 6 year high for new claims and raises concerns that the employment sector is quickly weakening. This is good news for bonds and mortgage rates, however, since this data tracks only a week's worth of filings it is not considered to be of high importance to the bond market.

Yesterday's Treasury auction went fairly well and led to afternoon buying in bonds. Today's sale will bring 30 year bond s to market and if investor demand is also strong we could see afternoon improvements in bonds again today. Results of the auction will be posted at 1:00 PM ET.

Employee Productivity and Costs data for the second quarter will be released early tomorrow morning. It will give us an indication of employee output. High levels of productivity are believed to allow the economy to grow without fears of inflation. I don't see this being a big mover of mortgage pricing, but since it is the only data of the day it may influence rates slightly. Analysts are currently expecting to see an increase in productivity of 2.5%. A higher than expected reading could help improve bonds, leading to lower mortgage rates.