8/20/09

Good morning. Unfortunately yesterday, as the stock market improved, the bond market worsened. Though this is not always the case, it is a general rule of thumb. Today we'll get the announcement of next week’s treasury auctions. Jobless Claims already came out this morning: claims unexpectedly rose last week. The number of people collecting long-term unemployment benefits edged up to 6.24 million in the week ended Aug. 8 (that’s a lot of people), but the four-week moving average declined 2,500 to 6.27 million. For weekly claims, the four-week moving average for new claims climbed 4,250 to 570,000 last week.

Later today the Philly Fed Survey is released. In other news, oil prices have moved up again, and Asian stock markets improved. Tomorrow the only news out is Existing Home Sales. With all of that in mind, mortgages are roughly unchanged.