Mortgage rates were mixed, leaning toward slightly improved to
begin the holiday-shortened week.  Several lenders' rate sheets
were slightly worse than Friday's while a majority were
unchanged to slightly better.  A worse-than-expected report on
Existing Home Sales helped interest rates hold their ground.
 Despite the moderate improvement overall, it hasn't been enough
to affect the Best-Execution levels for 30yr Fixed, Conventional
loans, which continue to hover near 3.5% since Thursday.  (Read
More:What is A Best-Execution Mortgage Rate?)  Both before and
after the Home Sales data, MBS (the "mortgage backed securities"
that most directly affect mortgage rates) were relatively flat.
 Along with Treasuries, MBS have been recovering from a sharp
sell-off last Thursday which took Best-Execution from 3.375% to
3.5%.  When MBS "sell-off," it means that the price fell and
yield (or interest rate) moved higher.   While it does seem that
bond markets (of which MBS are a part) were behaving a bit
cautiously ahead of