Mortgage Rates Edged Up

Wall Street Journal (09/21/07) P. C2Freddie Mac reports a small jump in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to 6.34 percent this week from 6.31 percent a week ago, which is still less than the year-earlier rate of 6.40 percent. Meanwhile, the one-year adjustable mortgage rate dropped slightly to 5.65 percent from 5.66 percent over the same period. Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft expects the Federal Reserve's decision to cut the federal-funds rate to 4.75 percent to "dissipate some of the volatility in short-term interest rates."