Mortgage Rates In Motion : Weekly MBS Prices At 5-Minute Intervals
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Unemployment Rate Falls
Signs of strength in the labor market caused MBS to decline on Wednesday and Thursday, and today's Employment report sent MBS even lower. Against a consensus forecast of 170K, the economy added 236K jobs in February. The Unemployment Rate declined from 7.9% to 7.7%, which was lower than expected, and the lowest level since December 2008. Average Hourly Earnings, a proxy for wage growth, rose 0.2% from last month. In short, today's data exceeded expectations nearly across the board.
No more economic data will be released today.
ISM Manufacturing rose to 54.2, above the consensus of 52.5, and the highest level since June 2011. Consumer Sentiment came in higher than expected, while Construction Spending fell short.
This chart shows mortgage-backed securities (MBS) prices from Monday's market open until the time of this post. The vertical-axis reflects MBS prices as measured in basis points. Mortgage-backed bonds are used to formulate mortgage rates.
Falling MBS prices result in higher mortgage rates. Rising MBS prices result in lower mortgage rates. MBS pricing provided by MBSQuoteline.
