Mortgage Rate Update March 17, 2014

Mortgage rates are priced modestly better this morning compared to last week.

As expected Crimeans voted yesterday to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.

In response the US has put into force minor sanctions against Russia. There is speculation that the US may dip into its strategic oil reserve and boost supply with the goal of depressing prices. Since Russia is the world’s largest exporter of oil this action would hurt their economy. However, Russia holds approximately $140 billion of US treasuries that if they brought to market would push rates higher.

The economic calendar is busy this week. The Fed is scheduled to meet Tuesday-Wednesday with most analysts predicting another $10 billion cut to their quantitative easing policy.

From a technical perspective mortgage rates appear to be vulnerable in the near term. I will shift to a locking bias.

Current Outlook: locking