Mortgage Rates

Mortgage Rates Treasuries and mortgages doing a little better to start this week’s action. The 10 yr note +6/32 at 1.62% and at 9:30 30 yr mortgages +3/32 (.09 bp) frm Friday’s closes. The DJIA opened -16, NASDAQ -3. The 4th falls in the middle of the week. Trading volumes should be thinner than usual with many taking a few days off. There are a number of key measurements this week; both June ISM reports (manufacturing today (see below) and services on Thursday), weekly claims on Thursday and the June employment data on Friday. The early forecast for the employment report, non-farm payrolls +100K and non-farm private jobs +105K with the unemployment rate unchanged at 8.2%. At 10:00 two reports; the June ISM manufacturing data main index was expected at 52.2; as reported manufacturing in the U.S. unexpectedly contracted in June for the first time in almost three years, indicating a mainstay of the U.S. expansion may be faltering. The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index fell to 49.7, worse than the most-pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg News survey, from 53.5 in May. The ISM’s U.S. production index decreased to 51 from 55.6. The new orders measure dropped to 47.8, the lowest since April 2009, from 60.1, and the gauge of export orders declined to 47.5, also the lowest in three years, from 53.5. The employment gauge decreased to 56.6 from 56.9 in the prior month. The unexpected decline sent interest rates lower and stock indexes down frm pre 10:00 levels. May construction spending also at 10:00 was stronger than the 0.2% expected, increasing 0.9%. Europe’s economy is showing increasing signs of weakness after stalling in the first quarter as the worsening fiscal crisis erodes the confidence of executives and consumers. The gauge of euro-region manufacturing held at 45.1 in May, London-based Markit Economics said today in a final estimate. That compares with an initial estimate of 44.8. A reading below 50 indicates contraction. The European Central Bank’s governing council gathers in Frankfurt on Thursday with speculation officials will lower their benchmark interest rate by at least 25 points to a record low of 0.75% as the economy hovers near recession. A purchasing managers’ index for China fell to 48.2 in June from 48.4 in May, HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit said today. A similar measure released by the government yesterday also slid. The purchasing managers’ index released yesterday by the Beijing-based statistics bureau and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing fell to 50.2 in June from 50.4 in May. The data showed inflation pressures waning, a slump in export orders, a lack of domestic demand and a “modest” decline in the size of the manufacturing workforce. The gauge of export orders in the federation’s index contracted for the first time since January. The US 10 yr note and 30 yr mortgage rates continue to trade in their respective narrow ranges; both are holding within five week ranges but there is an increasing belief Europe won’t drive safety moves into US treasuries as strongly as the last eight months. One of key reasons US rates have stayed low is due to investors parking money in the safest places as Europe wrestles with how to save banks and cut spending.