when is it a good time to lock a rate when buying a house in California or Arizona

Indexes Affecting Rate Lock

Medium

Neutral

Personal Income and Outlays

January's Personal Income and Outlays report was posted at 8:30 AM ET, revealing a 10.0% spike in income and a 2.4% rise in spending. The income jump is being attributed to economic stimulus payments that went out and not an organic rise in wages. Spending was close to forecasts, but it also is being skewed by those stimulus payments being spent. The important inflation within the data, that the Fed watches closely, nearly matched expectations. Generally speaking, the report is neutral for bonds and mortgage rates.

Medium

Positive

University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment (Rev)

Also posted this morning was the University of Michigan's revised Index of Consumer Sentiment for February. It came in at 76.8, slightly exceeding forecasts, but still down from the previous estimate. This means surveyed consumers were not as confident in their financial situations as they were last month. Because waning confidence is considered to be an indicator or softer consumer spending numbers in the near future, we can label this report as neutral to slightly favorable for rates.

High

Unknown

None

Next week does not have a large number of economic reports or other events scheduled that are expected to influence rates. However, most of the small batch are considered to be important and a couple are extremely relevant to the financial and mortgage markets. The week starts with one of those key reports, the ISM manufacturing index, late Monday morning and closes with the almighty monthly Employment report Friday. Look for details on all of next week’s activities in Sunday evening’s weekly preview.

Rate Lock Advisory

Mortgage Rate Trend

Indexes Affecting Rate Lock

Personal Income and Outlays

University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment (Rev)

None

Float / Lock Recommendation