Thu, Nov 19 2015, 8:34 AM
There is no question that the Fed hinted at a brave new world for global interest rates in yesterday's Minutes release, but for most market participan...
Thu, Nov 19 2015, 5:18 PM
This will largely be a rehash of the Mid-Day commentary as it captured all of the day's relevant themes. The themes in question are at least threefo...
Thu, Nov 19 2015, 4:42 PM
Mortgage rates moved nicely lower today, relative to the recent, plodding improvements. This brings most lenders back to their lowest levels sinc...
Thu, Nov 19 2015, 2:49 PM
Home sales appeared to slam on the brakes in October, at
least according to Redfin. The company
said sales increased by only 0.3 percent compared...
Thu, Nov 19 2015, 1:28 PM
Staying on this topic of yesterday's weird juxtaposition of analysis from the Fed, today's trading is fairly logical. The juxtaposition in question i...
Wed, Nov 18 2015, 12:19 PM
Residential construction data from October were mixed, but declines were largely due to the multi-family sector . Permitting was up modestly while th...
Wed, Nov 18 2015, 10:58 AM
Where
the heck did 40 years go? Call any person who underwrites loans or
draws docs and ask if they'd like to do that for 40 straight years. The
...
Wed, Nov 18 2015, 8:44 AM
It was another holiday muddled week for the Mortgage Bankers Association's
Market Composite Index. The index, a
measure of applications volume, ro...
Wed, Nov 18 2015, 7:33 AM
If I were to deliver my normal pre-Fed shtick, I would probably point out the fact that the Fed has a tendency to use the Minutes release to promote a...
Wed, Nov 18 2015, 6:22 PM
As expected, today's Fed Minutes were a non-event. Well, almost... While the bulk of the Minutes release was simply a wordier version of the October...
Wed, Nov 18 2015, 4:57 PM
Mortgage rates were just slightly higher today, keeping them in a holding pattern just shy of 4-month highs. This after an abrupt move higher fro...
Wed, Nov 18 2015, 1:32 PM
With the 2pm release of the Minutes from the most recent Fed meeting less than an hour away, bond markets are clearly in consolidation mode. Both Tre...
Tue, Nov 17 2015, 10:52 AM
Well that didn't last long.
After jumping to the highest level in a decade in October the Housing
Market Index (HMI) a measure of builder confidenc...
Tue, Nov 17 2015, 10:10 AM
I
do a little traveling (this week, hopefully, is California, Colorado,
and Kansas) so it was interesting to see that Pro Teck Valuation
Service...
Tue, Nov 17 2015, 8:30 AM
We had a good run last week of modest gains that followed the abrupt selling-spree that began in late October. In other words, rates rose quickly , ...
Tue, Nov 17 2015, 5:26 PM
Mortgage rates had an interesting day today, with most lenders beginning at slightly higher levels, but improving by the end of the day. The aver...
Tue, Nov 17 2015, 5:26 PM
Bond markets bounced back from a weaker morning trading session to end the day largely unchanged. The selling began at 3am, shortly after the start o...
Tue, Nov 17 2015, 2:20 PM
Ever heard of Carlyle? Is that like Cargill? How about Veritas? En vino? No?
Well, 2 of the above are almost exclusively responsible for bond...
Mon, Nov 16 2015, 10:52 AM
Many
nations are a hodge-podge of ethnic diversity, and the U.S. Census
Bureau tells us that there are at least 350 languages spoken across our
...
Mon, Nov 16 2015, 7:33 AM
There are several past examples of global tragedies affecting domestic interest rates. It's not uncommon to see far less grotesque events than those ...
Mon, Nov 16 2015, 5:37 PM
For a few moments in the middle of the day, it looked like bond markets might be thinking about getting something going insofar as making the recen...
Mon, Nov 16 2015, 4:53 PM
Mortgage rates moved slightly lower for the third straight day and have now spent 4 days without moving higher. Like the previous two business da...
Mon, Nov 16 2015, 3:48 PM
FHA's Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund (MMIF) is back in the
money . Housing and Urban Development
Secretary Julian Castro told Congress today that ...
Mon, Nov 16 2015, 3:42 PM
While we have all been
sitting around waiting for millennials to take the homeowner plunge we have
apparently overlooked that both they and their pa...
Mon, Nov 16 2015, 1:29 PM
It's been a slow day in terms of market-specific news as most major media outlets continue to focus on Paris. The only relevant market impact was the...
Fri, Nov 13 2015, 12:10 PM
After last months' disappointing Census Bureau report on September
new home sales - down 11.5 percent from a solid August - one might hope for an
Oc...
Fri, Nov 13 2015, 10:46 AM
Lots
of people love Friday the 13ths - we've had a few this year but there
will be only one in 2016 (May). The Gregorian calendar is full of
won...
Fri, Nov 13 2015, 7:33 AM
Because that's what you want right? I actually do have a very high probability prediction regarding rates over the next three months. If you can...
Fri, Nov 13 2015, 6:24 PM
If you happened to tune in for today's mid-day commentary , that was essentially the recap for today. But who likes opening links? So here's anothe...
Fri, Nov 13 2015, 5:03 PM
For the third straight day, mortgage rates have avoided moving any higher . Each of the past two days have seen only modest improvements. That ...
Fri, Nov 13 2015, 1:58 PM
It's still not making a ton of sense to refer to bond markets as moving in the same way that other markets are, but today is as close as we've gotten ...
Thu, Nov 12 2015, 10:59 AM
WalletHub published its findings from analyzing the 2015 best and worst small cities in America .
The analysis compared 1,268 U.S. cities with a po...
Thu, Nov 12 2015, 7:33 AM
Earlier this week, bond markets came to a fork in the road. There are two options for the next chapter in the current adventure. While neither is li...
Thu, Nov 12 2015, 7:06 PM
With today's 30yr Treasury auction and slate of corporate issuance, bond markets have worked through much of this week's supply. Neither had any prof...
Thu, Nov 12 2015, 5:08 PM
Mortgage rates finally had a winning day, but just barely . Underlying bond markets were actually mixed on the day, but this gave lenders enough s...
Thu, Nov 12 2015, 3:36 PM
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) is calling the third quarter of 2015
unquestionably the best quarter for the housing market in a decade...
Thu, Nov 12 2015, 1:44 PM
Bond markets had an uneventful overnight session as they shook the rust off from Wednesday's Veterans Day closure. Bond-friendly comments from Europe...
Wed, Nov 11 2015, 1:31 PM
Today is November 11 th ,
Veterans Day. The bond markets are closed, as are many companies, but
what does this date represent? (On a personal note...
Wed, Nov 11 2015, 1:13 PM
Mortgage rates rose sharply during the week ended November 6. Most contract rates had an average basis
point increase near double digits, returni...
Tue, Nov 10 2015, 12:34 PM
Apparently, issuers of corporate debt thought it would be best to get it out of the way early this week--perhaps with an eye on the mid-week holiday a...
Tue, Nov 10 2015, 10:27 AM
Consumer attitude appeared more
volatile or perhaps indecisive according to their responses to October's National
Housing Survey. Fannie Mae sa...
Tue, Nov 10 2015, 10:11 AM
Title companies , as well as real estate agents , find themselves in the middle of the MSA discussion.
Marketing and Services Agreements (MSAs) whe...
Tue, Nov 10 2015, 7:33 AM
We've talked a lot about 'repricing Fed rate hike expectations' of late, and the fact that this repricing has been accomplished via the recent sell-of...
Tue, Nov 10 2015, 5:20 PM
Bond markets may not have embarked on a thunderous stampede back into positive territory today, but at least they put a green mark on the daily char...
Tue, Nov 10 2015, 3:50 PM
Mortgage rates did something they haven't done on any other day so far this month. They avoided moving higher. While that's a welcome change, to...
Tue, Nov 10 2015, 2:56 PM
The judicial foreclosure states appear to finally be
clearing out their long-clogged foreclosure pipeline as foreclosure inventories
declined notabl...
Mon, Nov 9 2015, 10:10 AM
The
end of the year is in sight. Banks are doing their usual search for CRA
loans, employees are lining up Christmas parties, and...bidding on cat...
Mon, Nov 9 2015, 7:34 AM
Until last Friday morning, there was still too much disagreement about what might happen at the Fed's December meeting. The debate was definitely lop...
Mon, Nov 9 2015, 5:16 PM
Bond markets kept on doing what they've been doing every day so far in November: selling-off. Actually, if you'd like to look at it in slightly more...
Mon, Nov 9 2015, 4:14 PM
Mortgage rates continued pressing into the highest levels since July --themselves the highest levels of the year. In just over a week, the most ...
