Rates opened Friday slightly worse than the day before as bonds had a slow start. The PCE inflation data had beat expectations, but since the data is stale from December, it didn’t have much of an impact.
The 4th quarter GDP data showed the economy slowed due to the government shutdown, but this factor played only a minor role in pricing today. Consumer sentiment data, which was released at 10 a.m. when lenders were setting pricing, showed a smaller-than-expected rise and marked the lowest reading in a year. Nevertheless, bonds lost some ground.
Overall, we’re in the same range as the last few weeks. Any significant rate movement is unlikely until the first week of March when jobs data is released.
We have found stability here, though. We’re seeing consistently excellent pricing week-in/week-out. It’s time to get buyers moving!