Wednesday's bond market has opened in negative territory despite weaker than expected economic news. The stock markets are relatively calm with the Dow up 20 points and the Nasdaq down 1 point. The bond market is currently down 8/32, which will likely push this morning's mortgage rates higher by approximately .125 of a discount point.

The Commerce Departm ent gave us October's Retail Sales figures early this morning, saying that sales rose 0.2% last month. This matched forecasts, therefore, has not had a significant impact on the bond market or mortgage rates today.

The Labor Department posted October's Producer Price Index (PPI). They said that the overall index rose 0.1%, while the more important core data reading remained unchanged from September's levels. These readings were 0.2% below forecasts, which is very good news for bonds and mortgage rates. However, the bond market has failed to react to the news as it was expected to, keeping this morning's mortgage rates from improving.

October's Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be released early tomorrow morning. This index is similar to today's PPI, except it measures inflationary pressures at the more important consumer level of the economy. The overall portion is expected to show a rise of 0.3% while the core data is expected to rise 0.2%. If we see weaker than expected readings as we did in today's report, we should see mortgage rates improve tomorrow.

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... Lock 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.