An unexpected reduction in the European Central Bank’s Bond buying program sent global Bond yields higher today and Mortgage Backed Security prices lower, which could impact mortgage rates. The ECB is committed to QE only through December of next year. Our Central Bank could make a similar announcement; the Fed is currently the largest customer of mortgage bonds, and has been since 2008.
Stocks are modestly lower after the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all closed at record high levels in yesterday’s trading session.
Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending 12/3 were reported at 258,000. This represented a drop of 10,000 from last week’s figure, and was 3,000 higher than estimates of 255,000.
