# U.S. 30-Year Mortgage Contract Rate Falls to 7.41% Before Jobless Claims By Enna Lee Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/investing/36922 Published: 2026-10-21T18:26:22.000Z Updated: 2026-10-21T18:26:22.000Z Section: Investing > The rate was 7.50% the previous week. A new labor-market reading is due before the Federal Reserve’s Oct. 27-28 meeting. The average contract rate on conforming 30-year fixed mortgages fell to 7.41% last week, providing a borrowing-cost reading before new jobless claims and the Federal Reserve’s next meeting. The rate was 7.50% the previous week, a decline of 0.09 percentage point. The latest weekly measure covers the period ended Oct. 16 and mortgages with conforming loan balances. U.S. Treasury yields moved in different directions Wednesday: the 10-year and 30-year yields edged lower, while the two-year yield edged higher. The 10-year Treasury yield serves as a benchmark for mortgage lending. The mortgage rate measures a separate, earlier period. Initial jobless claims for the week ended Oct. 17 are due Thursday, Oct. 22. [Claims for the previous week]() totaled 199,000, up 1,000 from the revised prior-week figure of 198,000. The Federal Reserve’s next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 27-28. ## Links in this article - [Claims for the previous week](https://www.tokenpost.com/news/investing/32631)