Tue, Dec 29 2015, 9:14 AM
There continues to be little to observe or conclude in this 'holiday-light' trading environment. While today's data will provide at least something...
Tue, Dec 29 2015, 5:09 PM
Treasuries were significantly weaker today as oil, Europe, and equities all bounced higher. The move was led by a reversal in European bond markets...
Tue, Dec 29 2015, 4:27 PM
Mortgage rates moved slightly highe r today. While it wasn't a big move in the grand scheme of things, rates were already fairly close to their hi...
Mon, Dec 28 2015, 12:02 PM
Fetch
your HP 12c - here's some math magic. Take 259, multiply it by your
age, and then multiply that by 39. You'll see an interesting result.
(...
Mon, Dec 28 2015, 9:15 AM
2015's winter holidays are laid out nicely for financial markets. Both Christmas and New Years Day fall on Fridays. This makes it much easier to pre...
Mon, Dec 28 2015, 7:35 PM
While oil prices did move lower in the overnight session, and while stock markets followed that move, bond markets were a bit more independent. Speci...
Mon, Dec 28 2015, 6:49 PM
Mortgage rates were sideways to slightly lower today as underlying bond markets continue to operate in holiday mode. While that can occasionally ...
Mon, Dec 28 2015, 5:19 PM
The new RESPA-TILA Know Before You Owe regulations, commonly
called TRIID, was cited as a probable reason for a three day increase in the
average ti...
Thu, Dec 24 2015, 12:43 PM
Almost any article you see today on mortgage rates will say the same thing: "rates are roughly unchanged from last week." Almost every article w...
Thu, Dec 24 2015, 11:50 AM
Freddie
Mac's Office of the Chief Economist takes an intensive look at marketplace
lending in the December issue of its Insights
and Outlook . ...
Thu, Dec 24 2015, 11:45 AM
As
much of the nation reels from storms and their damage, and lenders
review their disaster policies, there is one thing we don't have to
worry ...
Thu, Dec 24 2015, 7:32 AM
It's hard to look at the ultra long term correlation between Fed Funds and mortgage rates and NOT be concerned about rates moving higher in 2016. ...
Thu, Dec 24 2015, 1:53 PM
stone silent and slightly positive
no economic motivation
a few traders closed short positions, which helps bonds improve
Today was by far...
Wed, Dec 23 2015, 11:22 AM
It
is the holiday season. Some of us abstain from drinking alcohol, some
of us don't. And among those that don't abstain, some drink a little and
...
Wed, Dec 23 2015, 10:51 AM
Newly constructed single-family homes continued to sell well
in November however October's earlier robust report was scaled down
dramatically . Th...
Wed, Dec 23 2015, 10:49 AM
There was, as expected
only a minimal immediate impact on either mortgage rates or mortgage
application volume in the few days following the Feder...
Wed, Dec 23 2015, 7:32 AM
It's no mystery that bond markets have been remarkably flat this holiday season. While the absolute range in 10yr yields during that time has been ...
Wed, Dec 23 2015, 5:37 PM
Mortgage rates moved up for the second consecutive day, but in an uncommon way. Mortgage-backed-securities (MBS) are the financial instruments th...
Wed, Dec 23 2015, 5:32 PM
While "whatever it takes to stay sideways" makes it sound like some sort of passionate goal, it's really just a byproduct of the season (or a simple...
Tue, Dec 22 2015, 12:11 PM
Yesterday I posted some USDA rural housing updates ,
and received a couple notes from astute readers on a couple errors. The
upfront guarantee fe...
Tue, Dec 22 2015, 11:20 AM
Existing home sales declined considerably in November
although the National Association of Realtors, in reporting the data, blamed in part new
dis...
Tue, Dec 22 2015, 7:33 AM
Today's chart illustrates the liquidity challenges that crop up at this time of year. The difference between last Friday and yesterday was really nig...
Tue, Dec 22 2015, 7:06 PM
Super light volume and participation
Data was overlooked (on-target GDP and weaker Existing Sales)
Oil and European yields pushed US rates a bit...
Tue, Dec 22 2015, 5:39 PM
Mortgage rates bounced slightly higher today, ending a 4-day winning streak that began with last Wednesday's Fed rate hike. Generally speaking, t...
Mon, Dec 21 2015, 11:09 AM
Cash sales rose incrementally in
September while continuing to diminish as a share of all sales on a
year-over-year basis. CoreLogic, in it's
mont...
Mon, Dec 21 2015, 11:00 AM
Congratulations
- from here on out we'll see more daylight in the Northern Hemisphere
every day. And for readers living in Anchorage, Alaska, wher...
Mon, Dec 21 2015, 7:33 AM
This week represents an age-old question for financial markets: Will markets be moved more by the results of the data or simply due to the illiquid ...
Mon, Dec 21 2015, 6:44 PM
Mortgage rates continued a trend of small, steady improvements into the new week today. This marks the 4th straight day of a winning streak that ...
Mon, Dec 21 2015, 6:44 PM
Heading into this week, we were well within our right to expect things to be slow for financial markets. Christmas is on Friday. Thursday is a half ...
Fri, Dec 18 2015, 10:51 AM
Few people grow up wanting to be an LO
or a capital markets gal. But plenty grow up wanting to be astronauts.
Ever wondered what an astronaut earn...
Fri, Dec 18 2015, 8:30 AM
With the relatively extreme importance of a Fed meeting that fell on December 16th, it was easier to overlook the fact that Christmas is next week . ...
Fri, Dec 18 2015, 5:40 PM
Low volume sets in for holidays
Asian markets shed risk on China/Japan headlines
Another new multi-year low for oil
stocks slide
all of th...
Fri, Dec 18 2015, 4:44 PM
Mortgage rates maintained their paradoxical descent following this week's Fed rate hike. The paradox can be accounted-for in several ways, but th...
Fri, Dec 18 2015, 3:15 PM
Should national housing policy move beyond its traditional
emphasis on homeownership to focus more broadly on "shelter?" Faith Schwartz, CoreLogic...
Thu, Dec 17 2015, 12:04 PM
Fannie Mae said Thursday there are indications
that easing lending standards may help mitigate some of the loss of housing
affordability moving into...
Thu, Dec 17 2015, 11:46 AM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency
(FHFA) has posted a proposed new rule for comment that seeks to provide greater
access to affordable housing for ...
Thu, Dec 17 2015, 11:39 AM
What are lenders talking about?
Besides the CEO of Wells Fargo saying in a recent speech that he sees,
"the wealth and investment management busin...
Thu, Dec 17 2015, 7:33 AM
Yesterday Yellen said that economic expansions don't die of old age . What she meant to say is that the Fed has been thinking a lot about the irrefu...
Thu, Dec 17 2015, 5:45 PM
Today didn't add much to the bigger picture. With the Fed hike so well telegraphed and the weakness over the previous 3 days, we may well have assume...
Thu, Dec 17 2015, 4:59 PM
Mortgage rates continued modestly lower today as financial markets continue sorting out their reaction to yesterday's Fed rate hike. As a reminde...
Wed, Dec 16 2015, 10:20 AM
Residential construction activity surged in November with
both residential construction permits and housing starts, permits especially,
beating anal...
Wed, Dec 16 2015, 10:12 AM
The financial services sector continues to evolve, or devolve as the
case may be. Certainly the wave of mergers and acquisitions continues,
and ju...
Wed, Dec 16 2015, 9:07 AM
Refinancing remained strong relative to purchase mortgage activity during
the week ended December 11 while application activity overall slipped. The...
Wed, Dec 16 2015, 8:20 PM
MBS traded less than a 3/8ths point range to end down an eighth of a point (Fannie 3.5) and 10yr yields traded an 8 bp range to end LESS THAN ONE BAS...
Wed, Dec 16 2015, 7:33 AM
Sometimes we approach days with big-ticket events with great anticipation only to be let down by the amount of excitement offered. Today is a bit di...
Wed, Dec 16 2015, 6:40 PM
Mortgage rates moved just slightly lower today, despite the long-awaited Fed rate hike. Once again, that's LOWER mortgage rates and a HIGHER Fed ...
Wed, Dec 16 2015, 2:09 PM
Naturally, this is the most changed Fed Announcement in recent memory. Strike-through indicates previous text. Underline indicates new text.
Releas...
Wed, Dec 16 2015, 1:39 PM
In order to end what it considered excessive borrowing by
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) and the Federal Home Loan Banks the
Federal Reserve,...
Tue, Dec 15 2015, 10:26 AM
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said on
Tuesday that its NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) dropped one point
in December ...
Tue, Dec 15 2015, 10:23 AM
Ninety-two percent of mortgaged homeowners now have positive
equity in their homes after more than a quarter-million emerged from being
underwater i...
