The trend is still holding, so to hammer the point home: to know what mortgage rates are doing lately, just check the stock market.

• As stocks go down, mortgage rates go down
• As stocks go up, mortgage rates go up

This is not a long-term, direct relationship by any means but it's holding true this week. 

The interplay between stocks and mortgage rates is a welcome development for home buyers because it's simpler for laypersons to follow the stock market than it is to follow the mortgage-backed securities market.  When you know what to expect with rates, after all, the mortgage shopping "experience" can be a little bit less stressful.

So, enjoy it while you can -- by next week, we could back to watching esoteric data like Balance of Trade figures.

(Image courtesy: Google Finance)