Friday's bond market has opened relatively flat despite strong stock selling. The Dow is currently down 168 points while the Nasdaq has lost 40 points. The bond market is currently up 9/32, which should improve this morning's mortgage rates.

February's Personal Income & Outlays report was posted early this morning, showing a 0.2% decline in income and a 0.2% rise in spending. Both readings were slightly weaker than forecasts, which is favorable to bonds and mortgage rates. The readings indicate that consumers had less income available to spend than thought last month and it showed in their spending. Since consumer spending makes up two-thirds of the U.S economy, any related data is watched closely.

The intra-month revision to the University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment showed a reading of 57.3. This was an upward revision to the preliminary reading of 56.6 and a higher reading than what forecasts had called for. That indicates that consumers were a little more confident in their own financial situations than many had thought. However, since this data is only moderately important, its results have not heavily influence this morning's trading or mortgage rates.

Next week is pretty busy in terms of economic releases. There are none scheduled to be posted Monday, but beginning Tuesday we see important data every day including several very important reports. These very important reports include the ISM manufacturing index and the almighty monthly employment report.

                    Mel