Mon, May 23 2016, 9:43 AM
After 2012, low rates in US have followed Europe
Even then, US rates have set their own limits
Now we're bouncing along those limits again and '...
Mon, May 23 2016, 5:18 PM
The title says it all
Overnight session was calm
European bonds were weaker at the close, putting pressure on US bond markets
Bonds bounced b...
Mon, May 23 2016, 4:48 PM
Mortgage rates were relatively steady again , marking the third straight business day with almost no rate movement following last week's quick spike ...
Fri, May 20 2016, 10:57 AM
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said today that existing home sales sustained their recent momentum into April and rose 1.7 percent comp...
Fri, May 20 2016, 10:26 AM
Regarding this week’s MBA Secondary Marketing conference Marcus Lam with Opes Advisors writes, “Obviously this is not the most important thing, but ...
Fri, May 20 2016, 9:14 AM
It is the bigger picture, as opposed to day-to-day minutia that will drive trading momentum
Trading levels and technicals suggest an utterly indeci...
Fri, May 20 2016, 5:22 PM
A decrease in cash sales in February put 2016 on track to have the lowest share of such transactions in eight years. CoreLogic said that all cash purc...
Fri, May 20 2016, 5:04 PM
One of the most anticlimactic days in recent memory
bonds did nothing other than shuffle through some incidental 'housekeeping' trades
yields cl...
Fri, May 20 2016, 4:28 PM
Mortgage rates held mostly steady today, as some lenders were just barely higher and others slightly lower than yesterday's latest levels. With tha...
Thu, May 19 2016, 9:54 AM
Zombie foreclosures, those in which the properties become vacant before the legal process is complete, are down 36 percent in the current quarter co...
Thu, May 19 2016, 9:50 AM
Loan closing timelines in April remained at the recent low levels established the previous month according to Ellie Mae's new Origination Insight R...
Thu, May 19 2016, 9:48 AM
Tomorrow is Bike to Work Day. My cat Myrtle isn’t a big fan, especially when the sedative wears off and she realizes that she’s in an old milk crate w...
Thu, May 19 2016, 8:53 AM
Yesterday was a wake-up call, forcing us to think about defense vs offense
Shorter term trends already under attack
longer term trends aren't to...
Thu, May 19 2016, 4:54 PM
Bonds undergo token correction after yesterday's rout
technicals remain precarious
Fed speeches were in focus, but turned out to be fairly non...
Thu, May 19 2016, 3:34 PM
Mortgage rates bounced back today, to some extent, after rising at the fastest pace in more than 3 months yesterday. Most of yesterday's damage rem...
Wed, May 18 2016, 9:06 AM
Just looking at 10yr or MBS doesn't paint too much of a picture
But when we compare longer-term with shorter-term debt, things become clear
Bond...
Wed, May 18 2016, 7:56 AM
Here in New York the airplanes will be filled with capital markets staff and CEOs heading home from the MBA’s conference. More observations tomorrow.....
Wed, May 18 2016, 7:44 AM
Both mortgage applications and interest rates were essentially directionless during the week ended May 13. The Mortgage Bankers Association said it...
Wed, May 18 2016, 5:02 PM
Anxiety was growing yesterday about the Fed Minutes surprising
Bonds weakened
The Fed Minutes surprised
Bonds weakened some more
This coul...
Wed, May 18 2016, 4:29 PM
Mortgage rates skyrocketed today, relative to their recent average daily movement, following the release of the Minutes from the most recent Fed mee...
Wed, May 18 2016, 4:02 PM
As Fannie Mae did earlier in its May Economic Summary, Freddie Mac today downgraded its outlook for economic growth for the remainder of 2016. And ...
Wed, May 18 2016, 3:57 PM
Fannie Mae has again downgraded expectations for economic growth in 2016. Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist and the ESR Macroeco...
Tue, May 17 2016, 10:09 AM
Permits for residential construction reversed a four-month slide in April and housing starts bounced back from a sharp March decline. The increases ...
Tue, May 17 2016, 8:59 AM
Here’s something the funders can try in the lunch room today: bet a shipper that they can't catch a dropped dollar bill with their fingers.
Last ...
Tue, May 17 2016, 8:22 AM
"Bad" is a relative term, but momentum may be shifting
Today's trading will be pivotal in determining that
The stakes are not too high, for now ...
Tue, May 17 2016, 5:34 PM
2 things: tomorrow's FOMC Minutes and Today's Dell corporate bond
Both put pressure on bond markets
majority of weakness was in afternoon ...
Tue, May 17 2016, 4:37 PM
Mortgage rates moved higher today as investors sold assets ahead of tomorrow's Fed Minutes. Asset prices move lower when sellers outweigh buyers, a...
Mon, May 16 2016, 10:38 AM
The index that measures builder confidence in the new home market was unchanged in May for the fourth straight month the National Association of H...
Mon, May 16 2016, 9:22 AM
The European Central Bank has been collecting data on cyber-instances at 18 major banks as part of a pilot program that will be expanded to other le...
Mon, May 16 2016, 9:03 AM
Bonds have stayed strong, despite apparent headwinds
Technicals suggest we're due for a bounce
Such a bounce could still be part of a broader, p...
Mon, May 16 2016, 5:22 PM
Despite a mortgage lending environment that is both the most conservative and safest we have ever seen, David H. Stevens. President and CEO of the Mor...
Mon, May 16 2016, 5:20 PM
Bond markets began in slightly weaker territory and kept losing ground
Most of the losses were in by 10am as corporate issuance became the trade...
Mon, May 16 2016, 4:53 PM
Mortgage rates held surprisingly steady today, even though underlying bond markets were in noticeably weaker territory. As bonds weaken, rates norm...
Fri, May 13 2016, 10:52 AM
Most of the categories covered by the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) 1 st quarter National Delinquency Survey are now back to pre-housing cri...
Fri, May 13 2016, 10:44 AM
Applications to purchase new homes experienced a
sharp drop in April, falling 11 percent from March. But the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA),
wh...
Fri, May 13 2016, 10:36 AM
Critics of mortgage companies owned by money management firms (versus family or employee-owned companies) will often say that equity firms are in it f...
Fri, May 13 2016, 8:23 AM
10yr yields still consolidating in bigger picture.
"triangles" often throw head-fakes
Stocks' fate still unclear
Retail Sales is only big-...
Fri, May 13 2016, 5:49 PM
Modestly strong overnight session gave way to losses following Retail Sales data
Bonds never went too red and then gradually found footing
No ...
Fri, May 13 2016, 5:18 PM
Mortgage rates found their footing today, moving sideways to slightly lower after losing ground the past two days. Earlier this week, rates hit the...
Thu, May 12 2016, 10:50 AM
Fannie Mae continues to dribble out findings from its Q1 Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey®. The latest installment is an entry on the company's FM C...
Thu, May 12 2016, 9:57 AM
Lenders can make, and lose, plenty of money on a) income from servicing, and b) changes in value of that servicing. Of course all the news about servi...
Thu, May 12 2016, 8:50 AM
1.72 has been more of a roadblock than any other level for 10yr yields
We're currently at risk of bouncing there
Today's data may not help, bu...
Thu, May 12 2016, 5:10 PM
bond markets took a hit overnight and never fully recovered
Yields topped out heading into the NYSE open and again after the auction
30yr auctio...
Thu, May 12 2016, 4:48 PM
Mortgage rates moved higher again today, rising to the highest levels since last Thursday. That fact is contrary to the most of the mortgage-rate-r...
Wed, May 11 2016, 9:13 AM
The other day I was reading about customer loyalty programs. My cat Myrtle was sitting nearby, and seemed to have a look on her face as if to ask, “Ho...
Wed, May 11 2016, 8:37 AM
Despite mortgage rates that continue to hover near 2016 lows, mortgage application activity was essentially flat during the week ended May 6. Refin...
Wed, May 11 2016, 8:35 AM
Corporate issuance expected to continue
Treasury Auction cycle in full swing with 10's today and 30's tomorrow
Overseas auctions add to global s...
Wed, May 11 2016, 5:36 PM
Quiet overnight session and AM hours
unfazed by sharp gains in oil prices
bonds rallied into the afternoon and especially after the auction
1...
Wed, May 11 2016, 5:07 PM
Mortgage rates were very slightly higher today. That's counterintuitive because bond markets were slightly stronger, and that almost always coincid...
Wed, May 11 2016, 2:09 PM
Completed foreclosures were up in March, with a substantial increase compared to February, but continued to fall on an annual basis. CoreLogic said t...
