Mortgage - Interest.com

Mortgage rates continue moving upward

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Yields on U.S. Treasury securities, which move in the opposite direction of prices, backed off their highs on Tuesday, but not enough to force mortgage rates down. The rate on a 30-year fixed is at its highest level since May 2004, and it would likely take a weak employment report on Friday to put it in remission. Bond traders today were looking for guidance from Fed officials who spoke to separate groups across the nation. But all suggested that economic growth was steady, although inflation remained under control. This did nothing to dissuade traders from thinking that the Fed would continue with its rate-hike program, nor did it suggest more aggressive moves. This left Treasury yields and mortgage rates, which are based on yields, close to yesterday's levels.

Wall Street bullish on earnings

An upbeat attitude prevailed on Wall Street, based on optimism regarding upcoming quarterly earnings and the release of positive corporate news. Although Caterpillar led the Dow Jones industrials in gains with a 2.5 percent increase, 3M climbed 1.5 percent on the word that it is considering selling its branded drug business to the pharmaceutical sector, although no companies were named as possible buyers. American Express gained a like amount.

In addition, JPMorgan Chase, Honeywell and Citigroup each gained about 1.7 percent, with Citigroup rallying after the Federal Reserve of New York lifted a restriction banning acquisitions that had been in place for a year. Exxon rounded out the list of Dow members with substantial gains -- adding 1.2 percent. There were only a handful of components that landed in negative territory, but GM stood out with its 2.98 percent loss.

The Nasdaq composite hit a five-year high today. With the exception of one minor blip, the tech-heavy index traded in positive territory the entire session. Airlines, computer hardware stocks, utilities and Internet companies led the charge, with Google once again breaching the $400-a-share mark with a 3.8 percent gain.

Dragging on the index were semiconductors and networkers, as evidenced by a 4.2 percent slide in JDS Uniphase shares. But Qualcomm bucked the trend, gaining 1.23 percent on the session.

As of 4 p.m. EDT:

The Dow Jones industrial index closed up 58.91 points (+0.53 percent) to 11, 203.85; the Nasdaq composite gained 8.62 points (+0.37 percent) to 2,345.36, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.12 points (+0.63 percent) to 1,305.93.

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