Weekend Commentary

U.S. light crude oil for December settled at $57.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday. That was good news for consumers and the market but not for oil stocks (The Amex Oil index lost 3.4% -- down 32.97 to 944.79 -- with all 12 of its components dragging down).

The dollar gained versus other currencies, remaining near two-year highs against the euro and yen.

Gold rose 20 cents to settle at $467.70 an ounce. Read our Monday's posting on Gold.

The 10-year Treasury note yield, the common reference for longer-term mortgage rates, neared its high of the year at 4.68% reached on March 23. It drifted below that mark this week. Yesterday's bond rally lowered the yield on the 10-year note to 4.56% from 4.65% late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate has risen without pause in 9th straight week. It averaged 6.36% in this week. That's up from 6.31% last week and 5.76% a year ago.

The average for a 15-year fixed rate mortgage this week was 5.89%, up from last week's 5.85% and last year's 5.16%.

Short-term adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM) remain at their highest since early in 2002. One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.12% this week, up from 5.09%. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 4.16%. Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid ARMs averaged 5.81% this week, up from last week when it averaged 5.76%.

[Mortgage rate source: Freddie Mac weekly report]