Friday proved to be the weakest day of the week for the underlying bond market and, thus, the highest day of the week for mortgage rates. Retail sales...
“The difference between me and Superman is that he has super vision. I require supervision.” We’re halfway through the third quarter: Will your compan...
Friday morning's highlight is the Retail Sales report which came in at a respectable 0.5 vs 0.5 headline. Core retail sales (excluding autos/gas/build...
Mortgage rates hit fresh long term lows yesterday with the average top tier 30yr fixed rate at the best levels since October 3rd, 2024. There wasn't ...
There's no question that today's Producer Price Index came in surprisingly hot. Both the headline and core numbers were 0.9% vs forecasts of 0.2%. Th...
“I somehow managed to make it through high school math while only being able to remember even numbers. What are the odds?!” As the California MBA’s We...
October 3rd, 2024 continues to be the day to beat when it comes to mortgage rates hanging out at 10 month lows. Today's top tier 30yr fixed rate match...
I received this note from Dallas. “I like ‘dillos, but I don’t support giving them guns because... I would never armadillo.” Speaking of which, Texas ...
Bonds rallied overnight, largely in concert with lower EU yields. Stable inflation in Germany and lower oil prices helped. But there was also a tailwi...
Mortgage application activity surged last week as sharply lower mortgage rates boosted refinance demand and gave purchase applications a modest lift. ...
Pundits, politicians, and everyone else can continue to assume that mortgage rates will respond to changes to the Fed Funds Rate. Meanwhile the bonds ...
“Nothing refreshes my memory about what I need at the grocery store like coming home from the grocery store.” Remember adjustable-rate mortgages? Here...
There's something for everyone in this morning's CPI data. The monthly headline was on target at 0.2 vs 0.2. Same story for the core at 0.3 vs 0.3. Bo...
The average top tier 30yr fixed rate held exceptionally steady last week after moving just a bit lower over the weekend. By comparison, today's rates ...
July represents the core of the summertime lull in financial markets. June and August are typically part of the lull unless econ data is suggesting a...
About 25 miles to the north of the California MBA’s Western Secondary, a mobile robotic microfactory is building fire-resistant homes in Palisades Fir...
Mortgage rates finally moved in a slightly more noticeable direction today, but the change was still inconsequential in the bigger picture. The averag...
Mortgage application activity rebounded last week as falling rates boosted both purchase and refinance demand. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s week...
Any week in early August (before anyone is back to school yet) classifies a "dog days of summer" type of week for the bond market. Movement is more ra...
People gearing up for the Western Secondary in Southern California see that “technology” is on the agenda. (Of course, it is always on every agenda, r...
Mortgage rates have barely budged after Monday with the day-over-day change failing to exceed 0.02% on any given day. But today's budging happened to ...
We’re back traveling and packing for the plethora of conferences. Packing and intellect sometimes collide: for the life of me, I can’t seem to grasp t...
The week's last hope for any signs of life from economic data has come and gone with this morning's Jobless Claims. To be fair, there was never reall...
Although there were flashes of potential volatility in the underlying bond market at times today, mortgage rates made it through unscathed. In other ...
We don't want to jinx it, but this is turning out to be an uncommonly calm week of trading compared to other post-jobs-report trading weeks. So far, ...
As the MMLA event wrapped up in Michigan, a large number of people around the nation (and some from here) are gearing up to travel to (or within) Cali...
Yesterday saw the average 30yr fixed rate fall back in line with levels from early October, 2024. This happened for two reasons. The broader, underlyi...
“An economist’s left leg is on fire, and his right leg is frozen. He says, ‘On average I'm perfectly fine.’” For those out there continuing to scratch...
The ISM Services Index is/was easily this week's biggest ticket in terms of scheduled economic data. It was mostly OK for bonds with the growth-relate...
Mortgage rates are driven by movement in the bond market and bonds take cues from economic data, among other things. The monthly jobs report is routin...
The new week is less interesting than the previous week in terms of scheduled events with the only top tier data being Tuesday's ISM Non Manufacturing...
How can we be on the waning days of summer already? Didn’t the school year just end? Here in Central Michigan at the Michigan Mortgage Lenders confere...
Every month, we offer the same old warning/reminder ahead of the big jobs report--something to the effect of "no other economic report has as much pow...
Mortgage application activity fell last week, reversing prior momentum and highlighting continued softness in both purchase and refinance demand. The ...
The National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI)—which tracks contract signings on existing homes—has remained rangebound for mor...
Both the FHFA and Case‑Shiller released the latest update on home price appreciation this week. Actually, in the current case, it's more like home pri...
Non-farm payrolls came in at 73k vs 110k, which is a pretty good thing for the bond market in and of itself. But the bigger story is in the net revis...
Soon I will head to Michigan. Isolationists beware: Federal records revealed by a Freedom of Information Act request have found that the government of...
Weaker Conclusion But No Major Big Picture Implications
Despite much stronger revisions and a modestly stronger core retail sales number this morning, bonds managed to hold mostly sideways until the afternoon...