Friday: PPI, Consumer Sentiment

On mortgage rates from Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily: Mortgage Rates Steady Near March Lows

Mortgage rates were mixed today depending on the lender, but moved just slightly lower on average. This wasn't the case this morning as essentially all lenders came out with noticeably lower rates following the weaker-than-expected Retail Sales report. As the day progressed, early gains in bond markets faded, especially after the afternoon's 30yr Bond auction. While that refers to 30yr Treasuries, the goings-on in the Treasury market always have some effect on the mortgage-backed-securities that dictate mortgage rates. Today was no exception, and as prices fell into the afternoon, most lenders 'repriced' to higher rates. ...

That puts us very close to the lowest levels in March, seen on the first two days of the month. Most lenders are quoting conventional 30yr fixed rates of 3.875% to top tier borrowers. A few of the stronger lenders are at 3.75% and fewer still remain at 4.0%.

CR Note: The Ten Year yield decreased slightly to 2.10% today from 2.11% on Wednesday.

Friday:
• 8:30 AM ET, the Producer Price Index for February from the BLS. The consensus is for a 0.3% increase in prices, and a 0.1% increase in core PPI.

• At 10:00 AM, the University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index (preliminary for March). The consensus is for a reading of 95.5, up from 95.4 in February.