Mortgage rates near unchanged

as mortgage bonds fail to hold onto Wednesday’s late afternoon gains this morning as a string of positive economic data was released. Durable goods orders increased, consumer spending increased, jobless claims decreased, and consumer sentiment rose. All this is painting a picture of a slowly improving economy. The only negative news story was builders sold fewer homes than expected. The thinly traded markets are not responding with any large movements—the Dow is up a mere 13 points and bonds are slightly negative. The Fed announced the auction amounts for next week as expected: $35B in 2-year on Monday, $35B in 5-year on Tuesday and $29B of 7-year on Wednesday. Not surprising traders are setting up for it and we see Treasuries down with the 10-year up around 3.379%. We’re not getting a Christmas rate rally, but hopefully you everything else you wanted…