Last week saw mortgage rates mixed, ending the week lower overall. Last week also marked the end of a two day European Summit that ran from Thursday and Friday, which was a potential mortgage rate mover, but had little effect on US markets. Mortgage rates rose prior to the meeting, but as the meeting progressed on a less than positive note, mortgage rates recovered and came down a bit.

Just as the market has moved based on the latest information coming out of Europe regarding their debt crises in the past weeks and months, make no mistake, mortgage rates have strong potential to move on news coming out of Europe in the days and weeks ahead.

Mortgage Rates: Fourth of July Holiday Week

Wednesday is the Fourth of July Holiday and markets will be closed in observance. This should be a light trading week, which means that mortgage rates may be volatile in the absence of trading volume, especially on Thursday and Friday.

Market movers this week include Jobless Claims data that is being released on Thursday and Employment Situation data that is being released on Friday. Again, any significant positive news coming out of Europe will exert upward pressure on mortgage rates, while more negative news will help push mortgage rates down.

Economic Calendar for Week of July 2, 2012

• Monday – ISM Mfg Index, Construction Spending
• Tuesday – Factory Orders
• Wednesday – Markets Closed: Happy July 4th!
• Thursday – Jobless Claims
• Friday – Employment Situation