What a day we had in the mortgage industry yesterday. Mortgage backed securities (MBS) suffered their 2 nd worse day in history after losing 2 full points in price, leading lenders to increase mortgage rates almost a full half percent. If you would like to know why we suffered such a loss, read these two posts: MND SPECIAL REPORT ON "BLACK WEDNESDAY": PART I and MND SPECIAL REPORT ON "BLACK WEDNESDAY" PART II . If you are a mortgage professional, these articles should be required

I hope everyone had a safe Memorial Day weekend...now it’s time to get back to work. Onto the data for the week. Tuesday - The first relevant report of the week is the S&P/Case-Shiller home price idex which tracks the monthly change in the price of homes in 20 metropolitan regions. Many people believe that our current economic situation will not stabilize until home prices and supply begin to level. The data release indicate d that home prices still have yet to find a bottom as the report

Following the release of the minutes from the last Federal Open Market Committee meeting, mortgage backed securities (MBS) managed to move higher in price which results in lower consumer borrowing costs. Most lenders repriced for the better improving pricing by .25 in discount. If you would like to see a graph of the action following the release of the statement, Click here . From early morning until just before the release of the statement, MBS held very stable but you will notice a move higher

Worldwide economic optimism has led investors to liquidate their risk averse fixed income positions (ie mortgage backed securities and treasuries) to fund a global stock market rally consequently pushing mortgage rates a few basis points higher. In what has become a consistent pattern, Treasury buying and selling is providing directional guidance for MBS....stocks go higher, Treasuries sell, and MBS move a little lower (not as much as Treasuries though), etc etc. To remind readers, when MBS sell

Mortgage backed securities (MBS) moved marginally higher yesterday following worse than expected jobless claims numbers. The improvement in MBS prompted a few lenders to reprice for the better but most decided to hold back intraday gains. The US Department of Labor released the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) which reports inflation at the ever so important consumer level. Just like the Producer Price Index released yesterday, this report gives us 2 readings, the headline number and the core number

We had another rather slow day in the mortgage backed security (MBS) world yesterday. Early morning saw some choppy action, but by day’s end MBS eked out a small improvement on the day. Since the seemingly large drop in MBS prices late last week ( Click here for an explanation ) mortgages have managed to claw back and recoup more than half of the drop. To remind all readers and for any new readers, as MBS move lower in price mortgage rates move higher and as MBS move higher in price mortgage

Last week, mortgage backed securities (MBS) moved considerably lower in price moving par 30 year conventional rate mortgages higher by an .125 to .25 in rate. Mortgage rates are set by the trading of MBS. When demand is high for MBS, that moves their price higher which allows lenders to pass along lower mortgage rates, and when MBS move lower in price lenders increase mortgage rates. Pressure is being applied to MBS by optimistic investors who see light at the end of the tunnel of our current recession