While the move up in mortgage rates over the past week to the highest since Nov won’t yet have much of an impact on home purchasers due to the still very low level, refi’s have slowed. According to the weekly MBA data, refi apps fell 9.3%, down for the 5th straight week and falling to a 10 week low. Purchases were down 1% but off the highest level since Jan. Existing Home Sales out at 10am are expected to total the most amount since May ’10. While there is little macro news in Europe, the Spanish 10 yr yield is rising slightly but to the highest since mid Feb. On the flip side positively, the Portuguese 2 yr is falling to the lowest since Aug and the 10 yr is at a 4 week low as everyone looks at them in light of Greece. Portuguese bonds though are trading at only .55 on the euro. In Asia, Thailand kept rates unchanged as expected. US stock market sentiment has the bears in hibernation as II said Bulls rose to 48.4 from 43.6 as bears fell 3 pts to 23.6, the lowest since July ’11. While sentiment doesn’t call immediate market reversals as sentiment can be right for a period of time and bulls are still below 50, the S&P 500 fell 19% from July thru early Oct last yr.
