Daily Rate Lock Advisory

Indexes Affecting Rate Lock

Medium

Positive

Weekly Unemployment Claims (every Thursday)

Last week’s unemployment update was the first of this morning’s two economic releases. It showed 241,000 new claims for jobless benefits were filed last week, up from the previous week’s revised 223,000 initial filings and the highest number since last October. The consensus was a figure around 225,000. The increase indicates weakness in the employment sector that makes the data good news for bonds and mortgage rates.

High

Negative

ISM Index (Institute for Supply Management)

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) announced late this morning that their April manufacturing index stood at 48.7. This was lower than March’s 49.0 but higher than the 47.9 that was expected. That means manufacturer sentiment about business conditions was a bit softer last month than in March, but still stronger than thought. Accordingly, we are labeling the report neutral to slightly negative for mortgage rates.

High

Unknown

Employment Situation

Tomorrow brings us the release of the almighty monthly Employment. It will give us details about the employment sector, such as April’s unemployment rate, the number of jobs added to the economy during the month and earnings data. This is an extremely influential report for the financial and mortgage markets. It is expected to show that the unemployment rate held at 4.2% and that approximately 130,000 jobs were added during the month, while earnings rose 0.3%. A higher unemployment rate and a much smaller increase in the payroll and earnings numbers would be good news for bonds and rates because they would signal weaker than thought conditions in the employment sector of the economy. Stronger than expected results will probably lead to bond selling, possibly causing a sizable increase in mortgage pricing tomorrow.

Medium

Unknown

Factory Orders

March's Factory Orders report will close out this week’s economic calendar at 10:00 AM ET tomorrow morning. This data is similar to the Durable Goods Orders report that was posted last week, except it includes orders for both durable and non-durable goods. It will also give us a measurement of manufacturing sector strength but is considered to be only moderately important to the bond and mortgage markets. That is partly because a big portion of the data was already released with the Durable Goods Orders report, meaning it will likely have a minimal impact on mortgage rates. It is predicted to show a 4.3% jump in orders as businesses tried to get ahead of tariffs.

Rate Lock Advisory

Mortgage Rate Trend

Indexes Affecting Rate Lock

Weekly Unemployment Claims (every Thursday)

ISM Index (Institute for Supply Management)

Employment Situation

Factory Orders

Float / Lock Recommendation