Fri, Jan 25 2019, 6:25 PM
Today's focal point was an anticlimactic can-kicking episode wherein the government shutdown was finally ended, but only for 3 weeks. The passage of ...
Fri, Jan 25 2019, 6:00 PM
Mortgage rates were only slightly higher today, and didn't rise enough to make it above the levels that showed up somewhat abruptly on Wednesday. That...
Fri, Jan 25 2019, 9:50 AM
We often use terms like "stock lever" and concepts like asset allocation to discuss the conventional wisdom of stock prices and bond yields moving in ...
Fri, Jan 25 2019, 8:29 AM
For me last week included Orange County and Connecticut, this week Memphis and So Cal, and next week Atlanta. I find it curious when a flight attendan...
Fri, Jan 25 2019, 8:17 AM
The library of articles citing the alarming lack of new construction continues to grow. Freddie Mac, the Urban Institute (UI), and John McManus of Bui...
Thu, Jan 24 2019, 4:25 PM
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi delivered his customary press conference following this morning's policy announcement. Markets expected ...
Thu, Jan 24 2019, 3:45 PM
Mortgage rates jumped to the highest levels in 2019 yesterday, even if only by a small margin. It was one of the few abrupt moves we've seen in recent...
Thu, Jan 24 2019, 10:24 AM
The share of December originations that were adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) was the highest since Ellie Mae began tracking them in 2011 the company ...
Thu, Jan 24 2019, 8:54 AM
I think that keeping my personal information and passwords on my yellow note pad is safer than putting it “in the cloud.” More than 24 million financi...
Thu, Jan 24 2019, 8:47 AM
The ECB announced no change to its policy rates this morning, which was completely in-line with market expectations. In a bit of departure from the n...
Thu, Jan 24 2019, 8:08 AM
The US ended 2018 with the lowest delinquency rate since at least the beginning of this century. Black Knight says the December rate of 3.88 percent i...
Wed, Jan 23 2019, 3:29 PM
There are several "somethings" that could prove inspirational for bond markets at the moment. The biggest among those continues to be any major shi...
Wed, Jan 23 2019, 3:06 PM
Mortgage rates jumped a bit today, as lenders got caught up with the bond market movements from last Friday. It's fair to wonder why they wouldn't hav...
Wed, Jan 23 2019, 10:56 AM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said its November Housing Price Index recorded an 0.4 percent gain compared to October. The October increase...
Wed, Jan 23 2019, 10:03 AM
The wholesale pricing wars continue, the latest salvo from Freedom Mortgage in the FHA & VA stadium (see below). Fans of FHA lending, who tend to bris...
Wed, Jan 23 2019, 9:01 AM
Bond yields and stock prices are beginning the day in moderately higher territory than yesterday. This keeps a negative trend intact for bonds (both ...
Wed, Jan 23 2019, 8:27 AM
Fannie Mae does not expect a lasting impact from the current partial government shutdown, at least if it is over soon. In its January Economic Develop...
Wed, Jan 23 2019, 8:15 AM
Mortgage applications returned to more normal levels during the week ended January 18 after two rather post-holiday periods. Both purchasing and refin...
Tue, Jan 22 2019, 4:39 PM
For those who pay any sort of attention to technicals or simply to "key levels" in the bond market, Friday was the gloomiest day we've had in a whil...
Tue, Jan 22 2019, 4:06 PM
Mortgage rates were higher heading into the end of the previous week. To make matters worse, as of Friday afternoon, it didn't look like the average l...
Tue, Jan 22 2019, 11:46 AM
MarketWatch is reporting that Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) along with Treasury and other parts of the administration are about to reveal a pl...
Tue, Jan 22 2019, 11:03 AM
Existing home sales finished up the year on a decidedly sour note. After putting together consecutive increase in October and November and ending a si...
Tue, Jan 22 2019, 8:57 AM
“Some people are so poor, all they have is money.” How about “26 of the World’s Richest Own the Same Wealth as Poorest Half” in the world!? To the bes...
Tue, Jan 22 2019, 8:54 AM
After today's Existing Home Sales data (which is unaffected by the government shutdown because it's published by the National Association of Realtors)...
Fri, Jan 18 2019, 4:11 PM
Bond markets sold-off today in a slightly more alarming way than we've seen so far in 2019. This was accompanied by 11th straight trading session w...
Fri, Jan 18 2019, 3:47 PM
Mortgage rates rose gently today. Most mortgage borrowers (and many mortgage professionals, for that matter) wouldn't be aware of slightly more alarmi...
Fri, Jan 18 2019, 12:55 PM
In accordance with requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rece...
Fri, Jan 18 2019, 9:44 AM
Ever since bottoming out in early 2019, 10yr Treasury yields faced a pretty clear line in the sand from a technical standpoint. 2.82% stuck out like ...
Fri, Jan 18 2019, 9:11 AM
For the first time in history, the six biggest banks — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — mad...
Fri, Jan 18 2019, 8:22 AM
Applications for new home purchases dropped in December , falling 6.8 percent behind those a year earlier. The deficit from November was even larger, ...
Thu, Jan 17 2019, 4:01 PM
The Wall St Journal ran a story this afternoon suggesting Treasury Secretary Mnuchin was pushing for a compromise deal to ease Tariffs on China in ord...
Thu, Jan 17 2019, 3:28 PM
Mortgage rates were technically steady today. In fact, as of this writing, most lenders are offering slightly better terms compared to yesterday, but ...
Thu, Jan 17 2019, 9:41 AM
Time has a way of slipping by. For example, I’ve really been meaning to transfer a bunch of Lotus 1-2-3 and Quattro Pro spreadsheets I have off of som...
Thu, Jan 17 2019, 9:00 AM
Unless you've missed the past few days of commentary, you've heard me say something about the sideways uncertainty in markets as investors wait for a ...
Thu, Jan 17 2019, 8:12 AM
"The most important question in housing policy heading into the new year has nothing to do with interest rates, housing supply, or home sales," Urban ...
Wed, Jan 16 2019, 5:01 PM
Today would have been Retail Sales day were it not for the government shutdown. This also prevented Business Inventories from reporting (not an ins...
Wed, Jan 16 2019, 4:13 PM
Mortgage rates rose modestly today after spending the past 2 days moving sideways. It was really yesterday's market weakness that caused today's move....
Wed, Jan 16 2019, 11:12 AM
As pricing battles rage in the wholesale channel, there has been plenty of news of layoffs in residential lending over the last six months industry-wi...
Wed, Jan 16 2019, 10:35 AM
After falling an aggregate of 12 points in November and December the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HM...
Wed, Jan 16 2019, 8:47 AM
There will be no Retail Sales report this morning due to the government shutdown. This provides a perfect example of the issue the bond market is c...
Wed, Jan 16 2019, 8:16 AM
Somewhere in this country there are 230 homes with mortgage balances between $10 and $20 million dollars. According to a post written by Arthur Jobe i...
Wed, Jan 16 2019, 8:07 AM
January 11 ended the first full business week in a while and mortgage activity responded accordingly. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported ...
Tue, Jan 15 2019, 6:40 PM
Homeownership as an American dream is alive and well according to new data from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) 2018 Housing Opportunities...
Tue, Jan 15 2019, 6:31 PM
The S&P had been idling in place with prices between 2560 and 2600 for more than a week. During that week, we've discussed the risks associated with ...
Tue, Jan 15 2019, 4:44 PM
Mortgage rates were unchanged yet again today. Given that rates are based on trading levels in underlying bond markets, it's no surprise to learn that...
Tue, Jan 15 2019, 8:55 AM
Are rates too high given where the U.S. economy is? Traders, investors, and the Fed think they’re where they need to be, given the information we have...
Tue, Jan 15 2019, 8:39 AM
Neither side of the market (debt/bonds or stocks/equity) feels like it has enough information to move out of recent holding patterns. These sideways ...
Mon, Jan 14 2019, 4:29 PM
The overnight trading session was thinly-traded due to a holiday closure in Tokyo. Buyers outnumbered sellers until the domestic session. Promptly a...
Mon, Jan 14 2019, 3:50 PM
Mortgage rates held their ground today, keeping them in line with long-term lows achieved over the past 2 weeks. To be fair, it was the previous week ...
Mon, Jan 14 2019, 9:59 AM
At least one part of the shutdown is over as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced it has resumed its Income Verification Express Service (IVES...
