Initial Jobless Claims Down:
Initial Jobless Claims were down by 20,000 last week.  While the overall numbers were still bad, this is the first time in quite a while that we have had any sliver of positive news in the employment numbers.

This is important because our housing markets have always been tied directly to employment levels.  As the employment picture starts to level out, consumer confidence will rise and will lead to increased interest in housing.  We could consider taking advantage of these great rates and large selection of homes on the market while home prices are still at bargain levels.

What happened to rates last week?
The Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) market closed early on Thursday.  We ended up slightly for the week but we had a roller-coaster ride.

We saw a huge rally in Fannie Mae mortgage backed securities on Tuesday and Wednesday that caused 30 year fixed mortgage rates to fall.

But we gave it all back by Thursday’s market close which caused 30 year fixed rates to move back to their levels on Monday.