by Calculated Risk on 1/14/2015 07:41:00 PM

On mortgage rates from Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily: Mortgage Rates Back to 3.5% for Some

If you have a truly ideal credit profile and loan scenario, a few of the more aggressive lenders are quoting conforming, 30yr fixed mortgage rates at 3.5% today. Almost all other lenders are only an eighth of a point higher at 3.625% for top tier scenarios. This is a rate landscape that hasn't been seen since early May 2013. There's still quite a bit of ground to cover between here and the 3.125%-3.25% rates seen at the end of September 2012, but for all intents and purposes, 3.5%-3.625% was the upper end of the refi boom golden age from mid 2012 to mid 2013.

Thursday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, the initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for claims to increase to 295 thousand from 294 thousand.

• Also at 8:30 AM, the Producer Price Index for December from the BLS. The consensus is for a 0.4% decrease in prices, and a 0.1% increase in core PPI.

• Also at 8:30 AM, the NY Fed Empire State Manufacturing Survey for January. The consensus is for a reading of 5.0, up from -3.6 last month (above zero is expansion).

• At 10:00 AM, the Philly Fed manufacturing survey for January. The consensus is for a reading of 18.8, down from 24.3 last month (above zero indicates expansion).