Rates Improve a Bit at Weeks' End

Today's jobs report brought good news for mortgage rates, even as it delivered more gloom for the economic recovery.  In this business, bad is sometimes good, and we often find ourselves wishing for bad news to help push rates down.

The Labor Department reported early this morning that nonfarm payrolls rose by 431,000 --mostly temporary census workers-- while private employment, a barometer of labor market strength, eked out a very modest gain. Payroll data for March and April were revised to show 22,000 fewer jobs. The stock market took it on the chin with the Dow dropping 323 points.

So, you're probably wondering what this photo has to do with the jobs report.  Maybe you're trying to interpret the sunset as some sort of metaphor for the stock market or the economy.  Nope.  It's a picture I took of sunrise in Tulum, Mexico at a little resort called Zamas where I spent a week in January with the family.  For those looking for a quiet, backwater resort, far enough from the civilized world to disconnect from the world while enjoying great food, Mayan ruins, unspoiled Caribbean beaches, check it out.  It's a couple of miles south of the Tulum ruins on Boca Paila Rd. We like it enough to have been back three times.