MARKET NEWS

Thursday's bond market has opened fairly flat despite weaker than expected employment news. The stock markets are showing early gains, helping to prevent bonds from moving higher. The Dow is currently up 98 points while the Nasdaq has gained 13 points. The bond market is currently down 2/32, but we will likely still see a small improvement in this morning's mortgage pricing due to strength late yesterday.

The Labor Department said early this morning that 381,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed last week, a noticeable increase from the previous week's revised total of 364,000. This means that more people filed for unemployment benefits last week than the previous week, hinting at employment sector weakness. That makes the data favorable to the bond market and mortgage rates because it points towards weaker economic conditions. However, since the data tracks only a single week's worth of new claims, it often takes a large variance from forecasts it to influence mortgage rates. This morning's difference was fairly large, but the early stock strength has taken interest away from the data and bonds.

There is no relevant economic data scheduled for release tomorrow. It is the last trading day of the year, but it will likely be one of the lightest trading days also with many market participants home for the long weekend holiday. You may find the same with the mortgage industry also. I am expecting stock direction to drive bond trading, but I would be surprised to see a significant move from either. This will likely translate into a slight change in tomorrow's mortgage rates at the most.

The bond market will close at 2:00 PM ET tomorrow, but the stock markets are scheduled to be open for a full day of trading. All banks and major U.S. financial markets will be closed Monday in observance of the New Year's Day holiday. Everything will reopen Tuesday morning for regular hours.