Mon, Jan 4 2021, 11:36 AM
Total spending on construction projects in the U.S. rose 0.9 percent in November compared to October. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the season...
Mon, Jan 4 2021, 11:18 AM
The number of loans in COVID-19 forbearance plans last week rose for the third consecutive week during the period ended December 29. Black Knight said...
Mon, Jan 4 2021, 11:08 AM
Here we are on the first business day of 2021, the year of the movie Mad Max 2. (It is so much easier saying “2020” than “2021,” right?) Last year, as...
Mon, Jan 4 2021, 9:14 AM
The presidential election happened 2 months ago and since then, bonds really haven't moved other than in response to the Pfizer vaccine news on Nov 9t...
Thu, Dec 31 2020, 1:55 PM
Token Gains, Light Volume, Early Close
Bond market focus remains on the Georgia senate run-off election day ...
Thu, Dec 31 2020, 11:03 AM
I still don’t know what I’m wearing to the living room on New Year’s Eve. Heck, I may not even go. Wouldn’t it be nice to be on a cruise? Ever heard o...
Thu, Dec 31 2020, 9:24 AM
With Europe and Japan out on holiday, bonds had the lightest overnight session of the year today, and domestic hours won't be much better apart from a...
Wed, Dec 30 2020, 2:43 PM
Bonds Sticking to Year-End Script
Bonds did a perfect job sticking to their year-end script today. It reads...
Wed, Dec 30 2020, 11:28 AM
Pending home sales slid for the third straight month in November and the 2.6 percent decline was the largest of the three. The National Association of...
Wed, Dec 30 2020, 10:35 AM
Loan originators in our business see potential borrowers whose monthly mortgage payments would be less than their rent payments but don’t qualify for ...
Wed, Dec 30 2020, 8:57 AM
Election years always bring increased uncertainty to financial markets--some more than others. This is definitely one of those years--not because of ...
Tue, Dec 29 2020, 3:52 PM
Bonds on Cruise Control Unless Senate Approves Stimulus Upgrade
Barring an unexpected vote (and passage) of ...
Tue, Dec 29 2020, 3:50 PM
For all practical purposes, the year is over when it comes to mortgage rate volatility. True, there is some small chance that political developments c...
Tue, Dec 29 2020, 10:12 AM
With the passing of Pierre Cardin this morning, does it mean that bottle of cologne (circa 1978) I have in the attic became a collector’s item? The ph...
Tue, Dec 29 2020, 10:00 AM
The headline for the October S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price report is yet another month of escalating gains. The National Home Price Index whic...
Tue, Dec 29 2020, 9:39 AM
With Trump signing the covid relief and government funding bill last week, the bond market had seemingly moved past its downside risks as they related...
Mon, Dec 28 2020, 4:00 PM
Uneventful Day Despite Covid Relief Bill
The big news at the end of last week was Trump's decision to veto t...
Mon, Dec 28 2020, 11:54 AM
As studies go, ATTOM Data Solutions Grocery Store Wars analysis is kind of silly. But at this point in this year, kind of silly is sort of welcome. Ke...
Mon, Dec 28 2020, 11:50 AM
The number of forbearance plans increased again during the six-day period (shortened because of the holiday) ended December 21 and again Black Knight ...
Mon, Dec 28 2020, 11:12 AM
Congress and the press have been talking about a second stimulus plan since the summer. The bill signed by President Trump last night keeps the U.S. G...
Mon, Dec 28 2020, 8:50 AM
The big news at the end of last week was Trump's decision to veto the defense bill (which, in turn, meant a veto of the broader stimulus/spending bill...
Thu, Dec 24 2020, 12:51 PM
Bonds Wearing Holiday Clothes Despite Trump Veto and Brexit
Along with the Friday after Thanksgiving, Christ...
Thu, Dec 24 2020, 11:18 AM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has released a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) to dev...
Thu, Dec 24 2020, 9:58 AM
Bonds will close early today (2pm ET) and will be fully closed tomorrow. Along with the Friday after Thanksgiving, this is typically the lightest tra...
Thu, Dec 24 2020, 8:51 AM
New Homes Sales tumbled over 11 percent in November. Does that mean no one wants new homes, they’re over-priced, or there aren’t any to buy? One has t...
Wed, Dec 23 2020, 4:07 PM
Brexit Behind Selling Spree, But Bonds Defend The Ceiling
While headlines regarding the potential veto of th...
Wed, Dec 23 2020, 12:11 PM
The rate of home price increases accelerated again in October from their already heightened pace. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said its H...
Wed, Dec 23 2020, 12:11 PM
New home sales essentially fell of a cliff in November. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development said on Wednesday t...
Wed, Dec 23 2020, 10:17 AM
My cat Myrtle (Myrtlus Domesticus) doesn’t have much in the way of material possessions. Need to get rid of unwanted junk during the holidays? Put it ...
Wed, Dec 23 2020, 9:43 AM
Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 29.5 percent in November compared to a 25.7 percen...
Wed, Dec 23 2020, 8:36 AM
In its last report of 2020, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said refinancing represented nearly three-quarters of application activity during t...
Wed, Dec 23 2020, 8:30 AM
Today's econ calendar is quite a bit bigger than normal. It's also bigger than it would be if this was just any old week with a full 5 trading days. ...
Tue, Dec 22 2020, 6:54 PM
Mortgage rates hit another all-time low on Friday for most lenders. Other lenders had slightly lower rates yesterday morning. Since then however, almo...
Tue, Dec 22 2020, 3:38 PM
Volatility is Possible, But It Wasn't Possible Today
Bonds have decidedly engaged in a stereotypical year-en...
Tue, Dec 22 2020, 11:26 AM
Existing home sales finally took a breather in November, breaking a five month stretch of gains, often substantial ones. The National Association of R...
Tue, Dec 22 2020, 10:06 AM
I hope that everyone had a happy solstice yesterday, with a few folks writing to suggest that “It is the shortest day, of the longest year, of our liv...
Tue, Dec 22 2020, 10:02 AM
With the passage of the stimulus/spending bill last night, the bond market cleared its last major hurdle for the week/month/quarter/year. By the time...
Tue, Dec 22 2020, 8:40 AM
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has extended the timeframe for several of the relief programs it put into effect last spring thr...
Mon, Dec 21 2020, 4:23 PM
Bonds Still Sideways, But MBS Underperform
Bond yields and stock prices bottomed at the same time in the ove...
Mon, Dec 21 2020, 2:18 PM
The Urban Institute (UI) recently held a webinar with housing experts to look at distress in the housing market. In a report on the findings, research...
Mon, Dec 21 2020, 12:40 PM
While delinquencies are still elevated, especially those over 90 days, Black Knight's "first look" at November data notes a sixth consecutive monthly ...
Mon, Dec 21 2020, 9:27 AM
As we watch the second largest stimulus bill in history move toward passage, greetings from the Winter Solstice, the official start of winter and the ...
Fri, Dec 18 2020, 4:58 PM
2020 In The Books Apart From Token Stimulus Reaction
By the end of the trading day, congress was seemingly n...
Fri, Dec 18 2020, 10:47 AM
There was an increase in the number of loans in forbearance over the last week as the share within all lender portfolios, even the GSEs', moved higher...
Fri, Dec 18 2020, 10:44 AM
Freddie Mac is touting its readiness to transition from using the London Interbank Offered Rate or LIBOR to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR...
Fri, Dec 18 2020, 10:39 AM
I don’t know what’s longer, a “regular” minute, “microwave” minute, or a “treadmill” minute. Speaking of time, if someone sends you an email saying, “...
Fri, Dec 18 2020, 9:51 AM
Next week, the bond market will only be open for 3.5 days. In that time, the bond market will see a majority of its 'year-end' trades (asset allocati...
Thu, Dec 17 2020, 5:50 PM
2020 has safely secured its place in the record books as the year of all-time lows in mortgage rates --one of them anyway. Several other years have re...
Thu, Dec 17 2020, 4:03 PM
Seasonally Sideways Sans Stimulus
With Fed day behind us, the much-anticipated stimulus/spending bill is all...
Thu, Dec 17 2020, 1:53 PM
In November, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released a new regulatory capital framework for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs). At the t...
