Will the lack of resolution for the fiscal cliff talks make interest rates go up or down?

It's actually much larger than the "Fiscal Cliff". The "Fiscal cliff" situation is completely political. In short: Until Fiscal responsibility is restored deficit spending on the order of $1T/year and the Quantitative Easing Efforts by the fed are stopped rates will continue to fall until there is another credit downgrade. At this time there have been three Credit Downgrades but at some point the risk will have investors in the Mortgage Backed Security Market demanding higher rates of return because of the increased risk and default by the US. Watch what happened in Greece and Spain. Rates dropped at first but as their credit ratings got clobbered the rates increased 2 to 3% or more. In short what is god for economic growth is bad for interest rates.

Overall No... but in the short run, if there was no resolution, then wall street would respond negatively, driving stocks down, and driving Mortgage Backed Securities up... however this will be a temporary... if there is a resolution, more than likely wall street will respond positively, and that's bad for MBS... but again, temporary...I'm a Broker here in Scottsdale AZ and I only lend in Arizona. If you or someone you know is looking for financing options, feel free to contact me or pass along my information. 480-287-5714 WilliamAcres.com

Looks like there was some late night resolution... But regardless... I would anticipate long-term interest rates to hover +/- right around where they are currently at for some time to come.

Only time can tell. The market is still fragile.

You'll see interest rates increase somewhat today due to the resolution, generally what is good for stocks is not good for interest rates staying low - but it doesn't always always work out that way. Rates will stay low but possibly a bit higher than the rock bottom where we've been for most of the past few months.

THE SHORT ANSWER IS DOWN DOWN. Andrew 800 813 3291

The market has to breath and there will always be cycles. It is thought that at the moment the rates will be continuing on a lower trend. However, it take the economy to get better for the pressure of the rates to remain low. Once we have a full ecomonmic recovery, rates will be going up. (just an opinion).Kevin PrinceSVPLiberty One AMCkprince@liberty1amc.com858-926-8904