by Calculated Risk on 7/31/2017 09:08:00 PM

From Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily: Mortgage Rates Modestly Lower Despite Flat Markets

Mortgage rates moved modestly lower today, despite an absence of improvement in underlying bond markets. ... The coming days bring increasingly important economic reports.  These have the power to create more market movement than we saw at the end of last week and thus, a bigger change in mortgage rates, for better or worse.  For now, things have been holding exceptionally steady with an average top tier 30yr fixed rate of 4.0%.

Tuesday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, Personal Income and Outlays for June. The consensus is for a 0.4% increase in personal income, and for a 0.1% increase in personal spending. And for the Core PCE price index to increase 0.1%.

• At 10:00 AM, ISM Manufacturing Index for July. The consensus is for the ISM to be at 56.4, down from 57.8 in June. The ISM manufacturing index indicated expansion at 57.8% in June. The employment index was at 57.2%, and the new orders index was at 63.5%.

• Also at 10:00 AM, Construction Spending for June. The consensus is for a 0.5% increase in construction spending.

• All day, Light vehicle sales for July. The consensus is for light vehicle sales to be 16.8 million SAAR in July, up from 16.5 million in  June (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate).