Market Movement

Interest rates this week improved due to weak retail sales and disappointing unemployment figures. Mortgage interest rates move depending on how the overall economy is doing and react to economic reports that come out on a regular basis. A general rule of thumb is that when the economy is doing poorly, interest rates improve. The reason: in poor economic times, traders take their money out of risky stocks and pour it into stable bonds. Mortgage rates are determined by how mortgage bonds are trading, so the better mortgage bonds are trading, the better interest rates will be. Of course, there are many other factors in how rates fare other than specific economic reports, such as inflationary indications, oil prices, housing statistics and even rumors of statements made by certain economists. The national Unemployment Rate is now 6.1%, the highest rate since September 2003.