Thu, Jul 9 2020, 4:03 PM
Bonds Making a Case For a New Trend
We've talked a lot about the linear uptrend in bond yields that began in...
Thu, Jul 9 2020, 10:57 AM
A new survey by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has found that the vast majority of its members feel as though their businesses are back o...
Thu, Jul 9 2020, 9:18 AM
We've talked a lot about the massive rift that opened up between mortgage rates and MBS yields as the pandemic hit markets several months ago. MBS yi...
Thu, Jul 9 2020, 9:16 AM
United Airlines may lay off 36,000? Bed, Bath, and Beyond closing 200 stores? Walgreen’s cutting 4,000? Yup. Lower rates won’t save those jobs, but we...
Wed, Jul 8 2020, 4:08 PM
Mortgage rates were unchanged today for the average lender. That means they remain at all-time lows that are even lower than the all-time lows seen du...
Wed, Jul 8 2020, 4:07 PM
Bonds Pull Back, But It's Still a Waiting Game
Despite some modest weakness to begin the day, bonds remain s...
Wed, Jul 8 2020, 2:22 PM
Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) continued to rebound last month from its sharp retreat to near record lows in the Spring. The Index,...
Wed, Jul 8 2020, 10:44 AM
Mortgage application volume bounced back into positive territory last week , even though banks and many businesses were closed on Friday for the Indep...
Wed, Jul 8 2020, 9:57 AM
Crazy times. Brooks Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Rocket Companies filing for an IPO. Genworth Mortgage Insurance completing an excess of ...
Wed, Jul 8 2020, 8:49 AM
There really wasn't much by way of riveting new developments on the radar heading into this week. A smattering of Fed speakers and relatively inconse...
Wed, Jul 8 2020, 8:37 AM
A study by the Urban Institute (UI) has found a strong correlation between the home price to income ratio in an area and its rate of gentrification. T...
Tue, Jul 7 2020, 4:28 PM
Record High MBS Prices, Record Low Rates. What Next?
Bonds and rates clearly aren't looking at economic data...
Tue, Jul 7 2020, 4:27 PM
Mortgage rates were already at all-time lows yesterday, and had been holding at those levels for at least 3 business days for the average lender. I no...
Tue, Jul 7 2020, 3:26 PM
Did the housing happy talk just get a little less so? CoreLogic's Housing Price Index Forecast (HPI) over the May 2020 to May 2021 window is seeing mo...
Tue, Jul 7 2020, 8:59 AM
This morning analysts are talking about the 5 million people of Melbourne, Australia now under a new 6-week lockdown. Lockdown! In this country, we ha...
Tue, Jul 7 2020, 8:52 AM
Conventional wisdom holds that stocks tend to do better when bonds do worse. The logic is simple. When investors feel more optimistic or more risk-t...
Mon, Jul 6 2020, 3:58 PM
Mortgage rates barely budged for the third straight day, which is welcome news considering they are at all-time lows. The stability comes in spite of ...
Mon, Jul 6 2020, 3:44 PM
Record High MBS Prices, Record Low Rates. What Next?
Bonds and rates clearly aren't looking at economic data...
Mon, Jul 6 2020, 2:13 PM
Despite any impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, construction spending is still largely managing to stay ahead of its 2019 levels . The U.S. Census Bure...
Mon, Jul 6 2020, 11:24 AM
Black Knight has again taken a look at the number of Americans who could benefit significantly from refinancing their first mortgages, but the facts a...
Mon, Jul 6 2020, 9:47 AM
The number of homeowners in COVID-19 forbearance dropped sharply this week, to the lowest level since the first week of May. The number of plans which...
Mon, Jul 6 2020, 9:43 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) today issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would amend Regulation Z of the Truth-in-Le...
Mon, Jul 6 2020, 9:40 AM
Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 5.5 percent in May compared to a 14.3 percent gain...
Mon, Jul 6 2020, 8:50 AM
Last week ended with a paradoxical reaction to a jobs report that was much stronger than expected. Although bonds did lose ground at first, they end...
Mon, Jul 6 2020, 8:44 AM
Here’s a blunt reminder of what can go dramatically wrong in a fireworks stand. And here’s a blunt email that I received over the weekend. “Rob, what ...
Thu, Jul 2 2020, 3:26 PM
This week's economic data included the biggest-ever gain in Pending Home Sales, a leading indicator for the housing market. Meanwhile, mortgage rates ...
Thu, Jul 2 2020, 3:26 PM
Record-Breaking Job Gains, But Bonds Ultimately Improve
Last month's jobs report shattered records, both for...
Thu, Jul 2 2020, 8:59 AM
Lenders continue to count the piles of doubloons they booked during another record-breaking month; will July be another? M&A deals are still simmering...
Thu, Jul 2 2020, 8:19 AM
Last month's jobs report shattered records, both for the outright level of job creation (2.509m) and for the gap between job growth and forecasts. ...
Wed, Jul 1 2020, 4:48 PM
Mortgage rates were generally unchanged today, thus leaving the average lender at all-time lows for conventional 30yr fixed scenarios. It continues to...
Wed, Jul 1 2020, 4:36 PM
Limited Reaction to Headlines and Fed Minutes
After a quiet trading day yesterday, today proved to be even q...
Wed, Jul 1 2020, 3:32 PM
The minutes from the most recent Fed meeting were released today. While there's not much left to be said when they've already been so clear about kee...
Wed, Jul 1 2020, 8:37 AM
After a very slow start on Monday, yesterday's month-end trading session proved to be more consequential for Treasuries with yields ultimately rising ...
Wed, Jul 1 2020, 8:16 AM
Applications for both refinancing and purchase mortgages retreated last week , pulling the Mortgage Bankers Associations (MBA's) Market Composite Inde...
Tue, Jun 30 2020, 4:46 PM
Surprisingly Quiet Quarter-End Trading. No Objections Here
The last trading day of any given month (especia...
Tue, Jun 30 2020, 3:36 PM
Mortgage rates managed another slight improvement today, which means the average lender is offering new all-time low rates for the 4th time this month...
Tue, Jun 30 2020, 10:12 AM
Home prices continued to hold up on a national basis in April. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, covering all nine U.S. c...
Tue, Jun 30 2020, 8:50 AM
Some days you don’t learn much, other days you learn a lot (skip the ad). We’ve learned that COVID is driving our economy, not fundamental economic ne...
Mon, Jun 29 2020, 3:52 PM
Mortgage rates were unchanged to slightly lower today, bringing the average lender right in line with all-time lows . Averages aside, several lenders ...
Mon, Jun 29 2020, 2:59 PM
Lock vs Float Considerations With Rates at All-Time Lows
Stocks and bond yields are still in holding pattern...
Mon, Jun 29 2020, 1:38 PM
The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision along partisan lines, took a chunk out of the intentions the Dodd-Frank Act had for the Consumer Financial Protec...
Mon, Jun 29 2020, 10:28 AM
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), predicted last month that April's home sales contract activity "will be...
Mon, Jun 29 2020, 9:15 AM
Does this mean we can no longer say, “Hindsight is always 2020”?! It’s too bad that the Tiger King is the most normal thing about 2020. For the people...
Mon, Jun 29 2020, 8:51 AM
This will be a deceptively informative week for financial markets. The biggest consideration continues to be the exponential growth of covid cases in...
Fri, Jun 26 2020, 4:44 PM
The fates of the economy, the housing market, and interest rates remain closely intertwined with coronavirus. The pandemic is clearly responsible for ...
Fri, Jun 26 2020, 4:41 PM
The Trend is Officially Broken. Welcome Back To The Range
Bond yields moved lower today, thus breaking out ...
Fri, Jun 26 2020, 10:00 AM
There are plenty of tricks in any trade. Just-opened cellulose sponges are already damp because many are premoistened with sterile water. (Without H20...
Fri, Jun 26 2020, 9:45 AM
After three weeks of declining totals, Black Knight says the number of active COVID-19 forbearance plans shot up over the past week. As of June 23, th...
Fri, Jun 26 2020, 8:31 AM
Although markets are still sideways relative to the bigger volatility of the previous 3 weeks, bond yields have trickled lower this week. This brought...
Thu, Jun 25 2020, 4:13 PM
Mortgage rates moved modestly lower today, bringing the average lender very close to all-time lows . The caveat continues to be that day-to-day rate c...
