Rates held steady Thursday as mortgage-backed securities recovered from yesterday’s losses following the release of weaker than expected economic data. This morning, weekly Jobless Claims increased to 339,000, above the consensus forecast of 330,000. January Retail Sales fell 0.4%. A decrease of 0.1% had been expected. Stocks moved lower. Results from today’s 30-year Treasury auction will be released at 1:00 PM.