CONTACT ME
Mortgage Rates Begin April Near 2-Month Lows

Mortgage rates moved lower today as underlying bond markets generally followed a much bigger move in stocks.  It's a common misconception that stocks and bond yields ("rates," for all intents and purposes) follow one another.  They certainly CAN move in the same direction at the same time during certain times of the day, but it's not the sort of correlation to count on. 

That said, the stock/bond relationship was certainly a factor today.  The only catch was that it took quite a bit of stock market weakness to generate a merely noticeable move in bond markets and, hence, interest rates.  Still, with rates already fairly close to recent lows and with lenders generally holding back ahead of the extended holiday weekend, all it took was that modest improvement in bond markets for mortgage rates to drop to the lowest levels since early February.

The risk from here on out is that a bounce in stocks could pave the way for a bit of a correction in bonds.  If that happens, rates would move back up into last week's range, making the current lows look like a good opportunity to lock.

This Daily Mortgage Rate Update is provided in partnership with Mortgage News Daily.