Market Commentary

Updated on September 13, 2024 10:13:36 AM EDT

Yesterday’s 30-year Treasury Bond auction was not nearly as successful as Wednesday’s 10-year Note sale. The benchmarks we use to gauge investor demand indicated a relatively weak interest in the securities, pointing to a waning demand for long-term bonds. Fortunately, we didn’t see a noticeable reaction in the broader bond market after results were posted at 1:00 PM ET. This prevented an intraday increase in mortgage pricing.

The University of Michigan gave us today’s sole relevant economic release when they announced their September Index of Consumer Sentiment at 10:00 AM ET. It came in at 69.0, up from August’s 67.9 and higher than forecasts of 68.0. This means surveyed consumers felt a little better about their own financial situations this month than they did last month. Since higher levels of sentiment usually translate into stronger consumer spending numbers that fuel economic growth, we have to label this report bad news for mortgage rates.

Next week is certainly going to be active in terms of market and mortgage rate movement. There is nothing of relevance scheduled for Monday, but Tuesday brings a highly important measure of consumer spending, a moderately influential manufacturing report and another afternoon Treasury auction. They will be followed by the much-anticipated FOMC meeting adjournment Wednesday afternoon. This is where the Fed is widely expected to cut key short-term interest rates for the first time since March 2020. There are other events during the week that carry less significance also. Look for details on all of next week’s activities in Sunday evening’s weekly preview.