The FED (Federal Open Market Committee) released its minutes for the September meeting today. The market has noted that several FED members considered future bond purchases and suggested the market might require it, a signal of the weakness they may be seeing in the US Economy. There were also signs of disagreement among members about how to support the economy moving forward.

The minutes indicate that the FED plans on keeping short term interest rates low through 2013 and confirmed current market outlooks regarding the weakness of the US Economy.

 From the Fed Minutes from September 20-21, 2011:

The information on economic activity received since the June FOMC meeting was weaker than the staff had anticipated, and the projection for real GDP growth in the second half of 2011 and in 2012 was marked down notably. Moreover, the lower estimates of real GDP in recent years that were contained in the annual revisions to the NIPA led the staff to lower its estimate of potential GDP growth, both during recent years and over the forecast period, and to mark down further the staff forecast.

The staff continued to expect some rebound in economic activity in the near term as the Japan-related supply chain disruptions in the motor vehicle sector eased. More generally, the staff still projected real GDP to accelerate gradually over the next year and a half, supported by accommodative monetary policy, improved credit availability, and a pickup in consumer and business sentiment. However, the increase in real GDP was projected to be sufficient to reduce slack in the labor market only slowly, and the unemployment rate was expected to remain elevated at the end of 2012.

Mortgage Rates Moving Forward: Lock Now?

We are coming off of lifetime record lows, which leaves an incredible amount of upside for rates to moves. The problem is that once rates move up, they will do so quicker than you can lock. If you are not interested in gambling, now is the time to lock in near record low mortgage rates.