Good Tuesday AM,

So stocks are fairly flat on the day, we may start to see more of this as moment changes and equities soften. I am not calling for a major drop as I have been wrong for the last month on that expectation (but I do still see that happening). The 10-yr is doing well and is sitting at .52%, and I am starting to see renewed calls for the 10-yr to get down into the 30-40 bp range. Mortgage bonds also up 13bps. Unfortunately, not much of the improvement will find its way into rate sheets until the refi volume starts to slow down. The only news piece today was that Factory Orders did better than expected. Tomorrow starts off the important news of the week. ADP Payroll tomorrow, Unemployment on Thursday, and the Big Daddy of them all, the BLS jobs report on Friday. Markets being tentative in equities and rallying in bonds tells me that there’s a lack of confidence in the employment picture.

So what do these lower rates really mean, real world to buyers? Purchasing power rose 10% year-over-year despite 97 straight months of annual housing price increases. With interest rates hitting record lows, buyers were able to afford $32,000 “more house” as of July 23 than they could the year before with the same monthly payment.

Please remain safe and stay healthy, make today great!