The 10 Year Treasury Yield dropped this morning to 1.72%, meaning lower mortgage rates than yesterday, due to additional market uncertainty that the fiscal cliff will get resolved in the next 5 days:

• U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims decreased to a four and half year low with a 350K reading this week (362K the prior week), coming in better than market expectations (375K). This decrease in jobless claims shows a decline in Americans filing for unemployment insurance, which is a positive sign for the U.S. Labor market.
• November U.S. New Home Sales rose to a two year high at 377K (361K the previous month), however it came out slightly worse than market expectations (379K). This increase new home sales shows that the U.S. housing market is recovering, mostly due to low mortgage rates.
• The December U.S. Consumer Confidence Report declined to an Index Level of 65.1 (71.5 Index Level the previous month), coming in worse than market expectations (Index Level of 70.00). The main reason for the decrease in consumer confidence is due to the economic uncertainty among U.S. consumers regarding the year end fiscal cliff (due to possible higher tax levels next year).