According to this site, the 5/1 arm rate increased from 2.96% (last week) to 3.17% (this week). Is that correct? I thought rates were on the way down?

The trend for mortgage rates have been on the rise since September 9th. Make sure that you are keeping an eye on mortgage bonds and not US treasuries.

Rates change daily, but it's not driven by anything other than Mortgage Backed Securities, or MBS... keep in mind, that rates can only go so low before it becomes a "Bad Investment" for Wall Street... My guess is that rates probably won't improve marginally from where they are at now... if you're watching rates; it tells me you're thinking about purchasing or refinancing... And if that's the case... get off the fence and do it... WilliamAcres.com

It's not only mortgage backed securities a 10 year Treasuries, today most any type of world event can cause government backed mortgage loan rates to move, sometimes several times a day. Lenders that portfolio their loans change much less frequently.Happy funding, Rudi