Thu, Feb 19 2026, 4:36 PM
Bonds Punt. Focus Turns to Friday's Econ Data
Bonds spent the past 2 days pushing back toward slightly highe...
Thu, Feb 19 2026, 3:33 PM
For the average lender, top-tier 30yr fixed mortgage rates were perfectly unchanged compared to yesterday. This keeps them right in line with the lowe...
Thu, Feb 19 2026, 11:45 AM
It’s hard to believe that the COVID pandemic was six years ago with its increase in deaths. For our biz, we switched to “work from home,” among other ...
Thu, Feb 19 2026, 8:53 AM
Yesterday's end-of-day recap bore the title "Half-Hearted Correction Continues." It turns out that should have been the title for this morning's comme...
Wed, Feb 18 2026, 4:22 PM
Half-Hearted Correction Continues
Don't call it a correction. Yields may have rallied 30bps in just over a ...
Wed, Feb 18 2026, 4:13 PM
What goes down must come up? Definitely not always the case, but true this time for residential construction numbers. The Census Bureau’s latest repor...
Wed, Feb 18 2026, 4:00 PM
Mortgage application activity picked up last week with the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reporting an increase of 2.8% on a seasonally adjusted...
Wed, Feb 18 2026, 3:47 PM
Builder confidence fell for the second straight month in February according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Ma...
Wed, Feb 18 2026, 3:11 PM
Mortgage rates at the average lender moved up by 0.01% today--the smallest increment measured by the MND daily rate index. This means that most borrow...
Wed, Feb 18 2026, 11:44 AM
On today’s Mortgage Matters live interview (at 1PM ET; feel free to ask questions) Faith Schwartz, who has an incredible pedigree, draws upon her deca...
Wed, Feb 18 2026, 11:06 AM
Any time the 10yr Treasury yield approaches--but fails to break--a number ending in .50 or .00, the analytical community is guaranteed to be discussin...
Tue, Feb 17 2026, 4:27 PM
Calm Start Even if Modestly Weaker
The day before and/or after a 3-day weekend is more volatile than the ave...
Tue, Feb 17 2026, 4:08 PM
It was an uneventful day for mortgage rates with the average lender holding right in line with last Friday's levels. In this case, that's a good thing...
Tue, Feb 17 2026, 11:48 AM
On Mortgage Law Today at noon PT Brian Levy, Loretta Salzano, and Peter Idziak sit down with Laura LaRia and Sandy Shatz for a deep dive into the lega...
Tue, Feb 17 2026, 11:25 AM
At the start of the domestic session, bonds had actually managed to build on last week's impressive gains, even if only by a few bps. That was a bit o...
Fri, Feb 13 2026, 4:13 PM
Bonds Close Out Epic Week of Resilience With Friendly Data
Friday was a logically friendly day thanks to sli...
Fri, Feb 13 2026, 2:07 PM
When the administration announced that Fannie and Freddie would be buying mortgage-backed securities in early January, rates fell sharply to the lowes...
Fri, Feb 13 2026, 1:54 PM
Existing-home sales pulled back sharply in January, quickly dashing any hopes that December’s year-end rebound brought, as harsh winter weather and st...
Fri, Feb 13 2026, 10:58 AM
Products, Services, and Software for Brokers and Lenders QC works as an early warning system, but it only creates value when findings are recognized...
Fri, Feb 13 2026, 9:55 AM
CPI came in just a hair below forecasts at the headline level and right in line with forecasts at the core level (unrounded .295 vs .300). Shelter com...
Thu, Feb 12 2026, 4:16 PM
Yields Magically and Mysteriously Sink to Lowest Levels in 2 Months.
At the 3pm CME close, 10yr yields were ...
Thu, Feb 12 2026, 2:35 PM
Just one day after an incredibly strong jobs report--something that would normally create problematic upward momentum for rates--the average lender is...
Thu, Feb 12 2026, 11:47 AM
Here at San Diego’s MCT Exchange 2026, the hallway chatter is varied. These are capital markets personnel, so things are pragmatic. One topic is Fredd...
Thu, Feb 12 2026, 9:07 AM
When the jobs report makes a big statement, bonds are more likely to exhibit elevated momentum and volatility in the following days. In more than a fe...
Wed, Feb 11 2026, 4:09 PM
Stunning Resilience
One could argue that our bar is set too low if we view today's bond market resilience as...
Wed, Feb 11 2026, 2:26 PM
Mortgage rates moved 0.03% higher today. On almost any other day, this would be a bit of a bummer, but in today's case, it's a victory. There was a t...
Wed, Feb 11 2026, 2:03 PM
Mortgage application activity was essentially flat last week, almost impressively so. After much recent volatility, the index is finding a brief momen...
Wed, Feb 11 2026, 11:50 AM
Products, Services, and Software for Brokers and Lenders “Escrow is supposed to be predictable. But in default servicing, that predictability dimini...
Wed, Feb 11 2026, 9:48 AM
Nearly an hour after this morning's surprisingly strong jobs report, 10yr yields are only 4.4bps higher at 4.19%. On a normal day, 4.4bps might be a f...
Tue, Feb 10 2026, 3:39 PM
Best Levels in Weeks Ahead of High Stakes Jobs Report
Rather than circle the wagons and consolidate the rece...
Tue, Feb 10 2026, 2:20 PM
Mortgage rates fell on Tuesday following a downbeat Retail Sales report. At 0.05%, it was the largest single-day drop since the uncommonly big 0.15% d...
Tue, Feb 10 2026, 11:52 AM
Products, Services, and Software for Brokers and Lenders There’s a reason $5.99 feels different than $6.00. Behavioral economists call it the “left-...
Tue, Feb 10 2026, 9:42 AM
Last Thursday, we discussed the paradox of a rally in the present moment being driven by future data. More specifically, the three downbeat labor mark...
Mon, Feb 9 2026, 4:31 PM
Early Volatility And a Decent Recovery
Bonds lost ground in the overnight session after Chinese regulators c...
Mon, Feb 9 2026, 3:15 PM
The past 2 weeks have seen very little volatility for mortgage rates. After being near 6% for a week in early January, rates rose abruptly to 6.21% (...
Mon, Feb 9 2026, 12:04 PM
Lenders are always analyzing automation for parts of the manufacturing process, and industry vet and STRATMOR Senior Advisor Sue Woodard has her thoug...
Mon, Feb 9 2026, 11:02 AM
Most nights, Treasuries trade in fairly low volume in a fairly narrow range. Last night's range wasn't much wider than normal, but most of the moveme...
Fri, Feb 6 2026, 3:31 PM
Potential Signs of GSE Buying as MBS Outperform
It was an uneventful day when it comes to scheduled data/eve...
Fri, Feb 6 2026, 12:51 PM
In the bigger picture, the past two and a half weeks have been marked by a very narrow range in the bond market. Because bonds dictate mortgage rates,...
Fri, Feb 6 2026, 11:32 AM
Mortgage application activity moved lower again last week, extending the pullback from January’s earlier burst of demand as weather disruptions and so...
Fri, Feb 6 2026, 11:31 AM
Products, Services, and Software for Brokers and Lenders Truework is a comprehensive income and employment verification platform that fully replaces...
Fri, Feb 6 2026, 9:53 AM
Friday is the quietest day of the week in terms of scheduled econ data and events, with the relatively unimportant Consumer Sentiment being the only n...
Thu, Feb 5 2026, 2:59 PM
Surprisingly Big Bond Rally Relative to The Data
Bonds went on a bit of a buying spree on Thursday. It was t...
Thu, Feb 5 2026, 1:52 PM
Mortgage rates are driven by bonds and that bonds care about employment data. There are quite a few different economic reports that focus on various e...
Thu, Feb 5 2026, 11:31 AM
Yup, another competitor for lenders come July: Bed Bath & Beyond is acquiring Tokens.com “to develop a blockchain-based investment and personal financ...
Thu, Feb 5 2026, 9:21 AM
Bonds were incidentally and inconsequentially stronger to start the overnight session, but began to see better gains after 7am ET. There were two nota...
Wed, Feb 4 2026, 3:57 PM
No Whammies in Wednesday's Data. JOLTS Rescheduled for Thursday
With the big jobs report on hold until next ...
Wed, Feb 4 2026, 2:58 PM
The average top tier 30yr fixed mortgage rate hit its highest levels in 2 weeks yesterday. The caveat was that the range has been very narrow during t...
Wed, Feb 4 2026, 11:45 AM
Products, Services, and Software for Brokers and Lenders Can AI help you spot the lending bias you can’t see? In his CEO Magazine Podcast interview,...
Wed, Feb 4 2026, 9:01 AM
Today's two key reports are ADP Employment (8:15am ET) and ISM Services (10am ET). The former came out a bit softer than expected, but bonds didn't r...
