Mortgage rates managed to hold steady today despite weakness in underlying bond markets.  That means the rates being offered by lenders are substantially similar to yesterday's, but the rates implied by trading levels of mortgage-backed-securities (MBS) would be just a bit higher.  

Typically, when MBS weaken enough during the day, lenders will adjust rate sheets accordingly.  Indeed, quite a few lenders did just that, but even then, they weren't far off yesterday's levels.  By the time the other lenders (the ones who did NOT raise rates in the middle of the day) are factored in, the average is right in line with yesterday.  That means conventional 30yr fixed rates of 3.5-3.625% are still the most prevalent quotes on top tier scenarios.  

If bond markets (which include MBS) begin tomorrow in similar territory, we should expect a few lenders in that second group to raise rates just slightly.  In other words, we're looking at one of those situations where rates should be different, "all things being equal."  This is more commonly seen when bond markets improve at the end of the day and lenders wait until the following day to improve rate sheets.  The fact that it's happening in reverse is a vote in favor of locking.  For those of you following the longer term trends and who are interested in taking bigger risks, today's weakness doesn't derail those dreams, but it is the biggest threat we've seen since at least since the trend began in mid-March.