Highlights
Mortgage bankers data appear to be getting badly skewed by multiple applications and now by the holidays. MBA's purchase index swung to 394.5 in the Dec. 21 week from 422.2 in the prior week. The refinancing index fell 8.5 percent to 1,915.3 with refinancings making up 53 percent of applications. Rates were down in the week with 30-year fixed mortgages averaging 6.10 percent, down 8 basis points in the week. Today's data will have little bearing on the outlook for the housing market. New home sales will be out tomorrow followed by existing homes sales data on Monday.