The U.S. stock market opened sharply lower Tuesday, sending bond prices higher and the 10-year Treasury yield lower. Mortgage rates are likely to be more than 30 basis points lower as a result of nuclear concerns in Japan.
Fears of a nuclear meltdown in earthquake-ravaged Japan had investors nervous this morning.
In early trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 250 points for the day to 11,735.
As investors fled to the relative safety of U.S. Treasuries, the price was up 1 1/32 on the 10-year Treasury, bringing the yield — which moves in the opposite direction — down to 3.244 percent, based on data from WSJ.com.
A week ago, the 10-year yield was 3.56 percent, according to data reported by the Department of the Treasury.
The 10-year activity suggests that the 30-year mortgage, which was quoted at 4.88 percent in Freddie Mac’s survey last week, might be around 32 basis points lower at this point.
