In The News...

Americans filing for Unemployment Insurance was 462,000 in the month of February, a bit lower than the 460,000 expected and down 6,000 from the previous week. The 4-week moving average rose 5,000 to 475,500. Continuing claims rose 37,000 to 4.558 million. Clearly there is still some pain in the labor market.

Some encouraging news from the foreclosure front today as RealtyTrac said that foreclosures in February fell for the 2nd straight month. Foreclosures rose 6% year-over-year and was the smallest increase since January of 2006. However, it still was the 50th consecutive month of yearly increases.

The US trade deficit narrowed in January to -$37.29 billion from -$39.90 billion in December and surprised most on Wall Street. It was the biggest drop since last December.

The Treasury will sell $13 billion 30-year Bonds today, the last of this week's total funding of $74 billion. The results will be released at 1:00pm ET and could impact trading in the Bond markets.

Brought to you, courtesy of The Mortgage Market Guide