Mortgage bond prices fell last week applying upward pressure on mortgage interest rates. The bond market got a shock from a surprise increase in new home sales, stronger than expected durable goods orders, and some stock strength.

There were also concerns about the US dollar in general and dollar denominated securities as China expressed interest in substituting the yuan to dollar peg in exchange for a new international currency. Fortunately the Fed continued to come to the rescue buying mortgage backed securities in an effort to keep interest rates relatively steady and low. For the week, interest rates on government and conventional loans rose by about 1/8 to 1/4 of a discount point.

Tags: Home Sales

Posted on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 10:33 am and is filed under Mortgage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.