So what’s the market doing today? I think one word describes it pretty well:
“Reevaluating”
What are they reevaluating? A number of things:
- How bad is the jobs and the economic picture going to get?
- Did the green shoots wilt?
- How is the consumer going to pull out of the slump that they are in if the job losses keep mounting?
- What does this mean for foreclosures, house sales?
- Is the trend of declining job losses that has been reversed in June the trend that we need to follow?
- Or was that the “blip” that is now over and the trend is reversing?
A lot of uncertainty has been “germinating” in today’s market and correspondingly, the stock market isn’t doing well. This is putting some downward pressure on mortgage rates.
My recommendation is pretty simple:
Lock all loans that need to close within 1 to 2 weeks – the financial markets are closed tomorrow (Friday) and that means that we’re going from today until Monday with a lot of opportunities for things that could mess with the market. Don’t risk the longer weekend. If you can and need something soon, lock it now.
If you have 2 to 6 weeks, then I’d give it a cautiously float recommendation. The depressed economic news might bring some additional rate relief, albeit a short term and minor amount.