The yield on a benchmark for mortgage rates fell to the lowest level since 2010.
During midday trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was 2.75 percent, based on data reported by WSJ.com. The price on the 10-year note, which moves in the opposite direction as the yield, was up 14/32.
The last time the yield on the 10 year was this low was on Nov. 10, 2010, when it stood at 2.65 percent, according to data from the Department of the Treasury.
The 10-year yield closed Friday at 2.82 percent.
The drop in the 10-year Treasury yield is being fueled by a flight to quality as investors unload equities and move into the perceived safe haven of U.S. Treasuries.
Investors were disappointed with today’s worse-than-expected report on the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index and last week’s report from the Commerce Department on U.S. economic expansion.
Based on Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ended July 28, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.55 percent. Given the nearly quarter-percent drop since then in the 10-year yield — mortgage rates could fall to around 4.30 percent.
