Wednesday's bond market has opened in negative territory following early stock market gains. The stock markets are continuing yesterday's late rally with the Dow up 69 points and the Nasdaq up 38 points. The bond market is currently down 15/32, which will likely push this morning's mortgage rates by approximately .125 to .250 of a discount point.

There is no relevant economic news scheduled for release today. This will leave the bond market subject to stock market swings. If the major stock indexes continue to rise, bonds will likely suffer and mortgage rates will rise. If stocks move into negative territory, we could see improvements to mortgage pricing.

Today does brings us the first of two Treasury auctions that may influence bond trading and possibly mortgage rates. The 10-year Note sale is being held today while 30-year Bonds will be sold tomorrow. If the sales are met with a lackluster interest from investors- particularly international buyers, the bond market may move lower after the results are posted. The end results will be announced at 1:00 PM each day. If there will be revisions to mortgage rates because of the results, look for them to be made during afternoon trading.

The Labor Department will post weekly unemployment claims numbers tomorrow morning. They are expected to show 310,000 new claims were filed last week. A higher number of claims would be good news for bonds, but this data usually does not influence bond trading or mortgage rates much because it covers only a week's worth of claims.

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now... This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.