Mortgage rates moved higher Wednesday as Durable Goods Orders for April were better than expected. Oil prices slid below $128 a barrel; stock prices and the US Dollar were higher. Mortgage-backed securities investors remain focused on signs of increasing inflation in spite of general weakness in the economy. Lingering concerns about “stagflation”, the term coined in the late 1970’s describing slow economic growth coupled with high inflation, are currently preventing any sustained improvement in long term interest rates.