7:00a MBA Mortgage Applications
Composite Index - W/W Change -3.5% vs -5.6%
Purchase Index - W/W Change 1.0% vs 1.0%
Refinance Index - W/W Change -8.0% vs -11.0%
Highlights
Refinancing activity continued to ease from its great surge at the end of March, down 8.0 percent in the April 12 week following the prior week's 11.0 percent pull back. This index, as mortgage rates dropped, rose 39 and 12 percent in the last two months of March. The average rate for 30-year fixed mortgages edged 4 basis points higher in the latest week to 4.44 percent. This reading hit a low of 4.36 percent in late March.
Purchase activity has also benefited from lower rates but less dramatically, up 1.0 percent in the latest week for a year-on-year gain of 7.0 percent that is a positive indication for April home sales.
8:30a International Trade
Trade Balance Level $-49.4B actual vs $-51.1B prior
Consensus Outlook
After sharp improvement in January to $51.1 billion, the US trade deficit is expected to deepen back somewhat to a consensus $53.6 billion.
Definition
International trade is composed of merchandise (tangible goods) and services. It is available nationally by export, import and trade balance. Merchandise trade is available by export, import and trade balance for six principal end-use commodity categories and for more than one hundred principal Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) system commodity groupings. Data are also available for 48 countries and 7 geographic regions. Detailed information is reported on oil and motor vehicle imports. Services trade is available by export, import and trade balance for seven principal end-use categories.
Dan 
