Mon, Jun 7 2021, 10:54 AM
Time is flying, and the months click by. We’re approaching the Summer Solstice. (Here in Sitka, AK, the official sunrise is around 4AM and it sets aro...
Mon, Jun 7 2021, 9:37 AM
Summertime Mondays--especially those without any significant calendar events--have a tendency to be lighter than normal in terms of volume and volatil...
Fri, Jun 4 2021, 3:05 PM
Locking vs Floating After Today's Jobs Report
NFP missed the mark and bonds ultimately rallied today. That ...
Fri, Jun 4 2021, 10:22 AM
A while back I made an appointment at a new doctor and under, “What do you wish to be called?” I wrote, “The Chosen One.” Wednesday, I heard the recep...
Fri, Jun 4 2021, 9:45 AM
The reaction has been back-and-forth in a very narrow range, but with very typical volume for NFP (in other words, traders are clearly trading... they...
Fri, Jun 4 2021, 8:45 AM
It wasn't a complete record setter, but mortgage bankers still established a few same quarter and other new highs as they kicked off the year with ano...
Thu, Jun 3 2021, 4:36 PM
Have We Mentioned The Jobs Report?
It seems that there's been more build-up than normal ahead of this month'...
Thu, Jun 3 2021, 10:52 AM
Here’s your pro tip of the day: occasionally blow on the wine in your coffee mug to convince the rest of the Zoom meeting that it is tea. Speaking of ...
Thu, Jun 3 2021, 9:48 AM
A clear theme has emerged this morning. The day's early jobs-related reports have all come out noticeably stronger (technically Challenger Layoffs in...
Thu, Jun 3 2021, 8:11 AM
The U.S. Census Bureau has released pieces of its 2020 report, Characteristics of New Housing. This is a massive annual compilation of data on what bu...
Wed, Jun 2 2021, 4:14 PM
In week-over-week terms, mortgage rates are modestly higher this afternoon compared to last Wednesday. In the slightly bigger picture, however, rates ...
Wed, Jun 2 2021, 4:00 PM
Sideways and Still Waiting on Friday's Jobs Report
Today's trading lived up to the sideways promises discuss...
Wed, Jun 2 2021, 1:44 PM
While many workers plan, at least according to recent surveys, to continue spending at least part of each week working from home, a shorter commute st...
Wed, Jun 2 2021, 10:47 AM
Real estate agents will tell you that offering above asking price is only the first step, with many buyers also waiving contingencies, skipping inspec...
Wed, Jun 2 2021, 9:23 AM
The spring of 2021 has been marked by a sideways consolidation that alternates between being "a sure thing" and "surely about to end. By mid April, b...
Tue, Jun 1 2021, 3:31 PM
Bonds a Bit Nervous as Big Data Week Begins
If there was ever a time when economic data was inconsequential ...
Tue, Jun 1 2021, 12:41 PM
Construction spending inched up in April, but the increase was tempered by a decline in publicly funded projects. The U.S. Census Bureau put the rate ...
Tue, Jun 1 2021, 11:12 AM
CoreLogic says that April saw further acceleration in the growth of housing prices. The company, which reported an 11.3 percent annual increase in hou...
Tue, Jun 1 2021, 10:56 AM
June, already. Plans to return to the office? The Mortgage Bankers Association, for example, is gearing up for a July 12 return. And you can bet it’s ...
Tue, Jun 1 2021, 9:24 AM
The new, holiday-shortened week begins with a good amount of weakness versus Friday's latest levels. Nonetheless, yields are right in the middle of t...
Fri, May 28 2021, 3:03 PM
Decent Gains Despite Hotter Inflation Data
While there was nothing especially memorable about today's tradin...
Fri, May 28 2021, 10:31 AM
Traffic is already bad out there! Here’s a sign on a beekeeper’s truck: “If you see me running, things have gone poorly, and you should run too.” Life...
Fri, May 28 2021, 10:04 AM
When we pondered the possibility (or frankly, the likelihood) of core inflation numbers hitting 3.0%+ several months ago, there was no way to know exa...
Thu, May 27 2021, 3:37 PM
Moderate Weakness; Decent Treasury Auction
7yr Treasury auctions haven't been great for the bond market in 2...
Thu, May 27 2021, 10:52 AM
I was telling my cat Myrtle about the labor shortage in the United States, but she didn’t seem fascinated, to say the least. In fact, she gave me a lo...
Thu, May 27 2021, 9:28 AM
With so much uncertainty about economic outcomes in the coming months, and with a healthy amount of bond market weakness already seen in the first qua...
Wed, May 26 2021, 3:35 PM
Yields Find a Floor Ahead of Month-End and Long Weekend
Today's most notable feature was a paradoxical move ...
Wed, May 26 2021, 11:08 AM
Do you think that creativity is waning? Hardly. Some great products and ideas come out of the mundane. Wonder what happens to your unused hotel soap a...
Wed, May 26 2021, 9:41 AM
When yields began to rise in August 2020 (and when they continued to rise at an even fast pace in Q1), we began looking for an intermission that wou...
Tue, May 25 2021, 4:41 PM
As of last Wednesday, mortgage rates were right in line with 1-month highs . They've drifted nicely lower since then and are now at their best levels ...
Tue, May 25 2021, 4:05 PM
Surprisingly Strong Move For No Great Reason
While there were a few positive developments for bonds today, t...
Tue, May 25 2021, 11:46 AM
The superlatives are getting tired - historic, record setting - but they have to come into play again with the March home price gains. A spokesperson ...
Tue, May 25 2021, 11:28 AM
Sales of newly constructed homes gave back some of their March gains last month, declining 5.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 863,000...
Tue, May 25 2021, 10:24 AM
Are you ready for a real-live holiday on Monday? With millions more Americans vaccinated since the last holiday, and the end-of-May weather, it’s a sa...
Tue, May 25 2021, 9:27 AM
Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin had the mic this morning at the NC Chamber of Commerce and one of his comments does a good job of capturing the esse...
Mon, May 24 2021, 3:56 PM
Uneventful But Slightly Stronger Start
At times, and especially during the summertime months, Mondays end up...
Mon, May 24 2021, 12:47 PM
A recent policy brief from the Urban Institute (UI) suggests a radical but common-sense solution for achieving affordable housing - homeownership. UI ...
Mon, May 24 2021, 10:51 AM
May's nonfarm payrolls number (released on June 4th) is the next obvious instance of a big ticket market mover. Between now and then, there are sever...
Mon, May 24 2021, 10:48 AM
What is your, and your company’s, value proposition? Lenders must be vigilant, which means paying attention to trends, big and small. For example, on ...
Fri, May 21 2021, 4:08 PM
Stronger Data Proves No Match For The Sideways Grind
Bonds have done a good job of clearing hurdles of vario...
Fri, May 21 2021, 12:16 PM
Existing home sales posted their third monthly loss in April, falling 2.7 percent compared to sales in March. The National Association of Realtors® (N...
Fri, May 21 2021, 10:34 AM
Should we start the finish of the normal workweek with some non-mortgage stuff? There are green monkeys living near a Florida airport who are connecte...
Fri, May 21 2021, 10:28 AM
American homeowners, even some of those most affected by the pandemic, seems to be edging back from anything resembling the foreclosure avalanche of 2...
Fri, May 21 2021, 10:00 AM
Who would have ever imagined that a week where the Fed Minutes included the first notion of post-pandemic instance of "tapering" could end up being "q...
Thu, May 20 2021, 4:38 PM
Fannie Mae upwardly revised its GDP forecast for the year from 6.8 percent to 7.0 percent in its May report on economic development. The company's eco...
Thu, May 20 2021, 4:16 PM
Mortgage rates moved slightly lower today depending on the lender. Those who raised rates yesterday afternoon (most of them) were able to offer slight...
Thu, May 20 2021, 3:39 PM
Inflation Expectations And Weaker Econ Data Helping Bonds
Ever since last week's CPI data caused inflation e...
Thu, May 20 2021, 10:50 AM
There are some who firmly believe that the Hubble Telescope was sent into space to spy on us. These people are better advised to wonder what Google is...
Thu, May 20 2021, 9:49 AM
Wednesday was a bit silly in the sense that a fairly innocuous reference to tapering in the Fed Minutes was blown out of proportion by the time market...
Wed, May 19 2021, 3:51 PM
Mortgage rates began the day in line with yesterday's levels, for the most part. Things changed in the afternoon. Bonds began to deteriorate modestly ...
