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Investors, economists and observers expected an upbeat employment report today. They didn't get it. Mortgage rates are likely to stop rising as a result, and they might fall.
Nonfarm payrolls grew by 39,000 in November, according to the Labor Department. According to Briefing.com, the consensus forecast was that nonfarm payrolls would register an increase of about 130,000. The actual number was 70 percent below that.
The unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent from 9.6 percent.
Hourly earnings were unchanged, and the average workweek remained the same. The only spot of good news was that the October nonfarm payrolls number was revised upward, to 172,000 from 151,000.
All of this probably spells good news for mortgage rates. Mortgage bond yields edged downward, just slightly, right after the employment report was released. There's no guarantee that mortgage rates will follow the bond yields, but we can hope.
The jobs report stops the upward momentum of mortgage rates temporarily. I'll tweet about it if mortgage bond yields fall substantially.
Bond yields of all types have acted strangely in the last few weeks. When I've thought they would go down, they've gone up. Remember that I'm not psychic.
I want to hear from Totaller again!!