The Fed cut its policy rate by 0.25% today and mortgage rates moved lower after the announcement. That said, those two developments are not related. ...
Seasonally adjusted mortgage application activity rose 4.8% last week, according to MBA’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Dece...
Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace. Job gains have slowed this year, and the unemployment rate ...
Somewhere, in a parallel universe, Mariah Carey is walking around some supermarket, sick of listening to me sing Christmas carols. This is, of course,...
Bonds were modestly weaker overnight, but have moved back into positive territory after this morning's Employment Cost Index and NYSE. This means 10yr...
Mortgage rates were surprisingly steady on Tuesday with most lenders roughly in line with Monday's levels. Why surprising? Because the bond market wa...
Tuesday is a fairly straightforward session for the bond market. By now, we assume most of the pre-Fed positioning would be out of the way, and we kn...
“Seminar ‘How to avoid frauds’ is canceled. Tickets are non-refundable.” Collectively, we don’t want mortgage fraud, right? It’s a non-partisan issue....
Both stocks and bonds lost ground on Monday. This pushed mortgage rates up near their highest levels in just over 3 months (because mortgages are base...
“Blimps are one of the only forms of advertisement people are actually excited to see.” “Rob, we see all kinds of companies advertising at conferences...
Bonds are under pressure yet again at the start of the new week--insult added to injury coming off of the worst week of selling since the late October...
Average mortgage rates drifted slightly higher to end the week, though they remained under the levels seen on Monday and Tuesday. Even then, none of t...
Seasonally adjusted mortgage application activity edged 1.4% lower last week according to MBA’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week endin...
Recently I paid over $10 for a simple Oscar Mayer 12-ounce package of bacon. Jerome Powell, help me! Well, the U.S. Federal Reserve doesn’t set bacon ...
If there's one resounding theme in the bond market this week, it's that trading momentum marched to its own beat with almost zero regard for the avail...
Today's mortgage rates a just a hair higher than yesterday's and although yesterday's rates were reasonably close to last Friday's, they were still de...
“No plan survives contact with the enemy.” While Freddie rolled out its AI plans, for some lenders, mortgage companies owned by builders, and the buil...
Bonds were already slightly weaker in the overnight session, but the Jobless Claims data won't be any help. Initial claims fell to 191k--the lowest t...
Mortgage rates improved more noticeably today, and while the average rate isn't quite as low as it was last week, it's fairly close. Rates are based...
Both Dick Van Dyke and Mel Brooks turn 100, Dick in less than two weeks and Mel next summer. 100 years is a long time, and it’s a big number. Despite ...
10yr yields are almost 4bps lower in early trading and the ADP employment report came in at -32k vs a +10k forecast. The logical conclusion would be t...
Unlike Monday, which saw a fairly brisk move toward higher rates, Tuesday barely budged. Additionally, the budging occurred in a friendly direction wi...
The early days of a new trading month and the positioning ahead of next week's Fed announcement have resulted in clear curve trading biases. In Engli...
I don’t know about you, but a hot shower or bath always sounds good. Tech wizards, however, have created a human washing machine. I’ll pass. At this p...
Mortgage rates are based on bonds and the bond market is prone to erratic behavior on major holiday weeks. One of the more common patterns is for the ...
A buddy from Kentucky wrote to me, saying, “Statistics show that the average person has sex 89 times per year. Looks like I'm in for a pretty wild Dec...
Bonds are sharply weaker to begin the new week and the new month. This is the first (and probably best) clue as to the nature of this morning's market...
As is most often the case, the Friday after Thanksgiving added nothing interesting to mortgage rate momentum. The average lender's top tier 30yr fixe...
When did our business start with the catchy slogans? Stay alive in ’25? Stay in the mix in ’26. It’ll be heaven in ’27. How about, “Try to earn a litt...
Wednesday was far less eventful than the first two days of the week as far as mortgage rates were concerned. The average lender raised rates just a ha...
The new phone books are here, the new phone books are here! Oh, wait a minute. The new conventional conforming loan limits are here! The new conventio...
Bonds were just slightly weaker overnight but are losing more ground in early trading. The culprit: both of this morning's 8:30am ET economic release...
Mortgage rates moved nicely lower on Tuesday with the average lender very close to the 2025 lows seen in late October. These levels are effectively ri...
Both the FHFA and the S&P/Cotality Case-Shiller home-price indices released new data this week. The message remains consistent: home prices are still ...
Want better affordability? Lower house prices certainly helps, and this article states that more than half of homes in the United States have fallen i...
ADP's weekly employment report showed another contraction at -13.5k, but unlike last week, no one seems to care. We also got the delayed release of Re...
Thanksgiving weeks can be weird for mortgage rates. This has to do with the fact that rates are dictated by the bond market and the bond market depend...
“Remember to bring up politics at Thanksgiving to save some money on Christmas presents.” “What do tornadoes and Tennessee divorces have in common? So...
Powell Avoided Throwing Cold Water on Rate Outlook. Bonds Approved
Today's gains ended up being all about Powell's press conference. While there were a few potentially friendly comments (current rates in high...