Wednesday's bond market has opened flat after this morning's economic data failed to move the markets. The stock markets are showing early gains with the Dow up 80 points and the Nasdaq up 13 points. The bond market is currently up 3/32.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said late this morning that their manufacturing index rose from 35.8 in February to 36.3 in March. This means that manufacturer sentiment rose slightly more than what analysts had expected. However, the difference was not sufficient enough to really hurt mortgage rates this morning.

Tomorrow morning we will see February's Factory Orders data. This data gives us an indication of manufacturing sector strength, but is considered moderately important. It is expected to show a 1.4% rise in new orders according to new forecasts. A smaller increase would be good news for bonds and mortgage rates while a larger rise could push mortgage pricing slightly higher tomorrow.

The Labor Department will be giving us weekly unemployment figures tomorrow morning. These weekly figures usually have little influence on rates, but with Friday's big monthly employment report the following day, tomorrow’s numbers may influence trading if they vary much from forecasts. I don't expect this release to create a significant movement in the markets or rates, but may influence them slightly more than usual. Analysts are predicting that 650,000 new claims for benefits were filed last week.

                   Mel