Weak jobs data boosts odds of Fed rate cut

Overall employment numbers fell below what the market anticipated, with 73,000 July job additions compared to estimates for 104,000, making it more likely that a mortgage rate drop is nigh and that industry hiring may escalate.

Bond market reaction to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data could lower long-term mortgage rates near term, according to First American Senior Economist Sam Williamson’s commentary.

“Markets often move ahead of policy, and rising expectations of a cut could begin to lower long-term yields. That may lead to a modest decline in mortgage rates even before the Fed acts,” he said.

Treasury bond prices jumped higher immediately after the employment report’s release, putting downward pressure on rate-indicative yields, but trading in mortgage bonds more directly tied to…