Tue, Aug 12 2014, 7:33 AM
As we recently discussed, summertime Mondays might as well be part of a 3-day weekend. Volume and participation on Mondays in July and August especia...
Tue, Aug 12 2014, 4:58 PM
MBS were generally flat today while Treasuries were slightly skewed toward higher yields. There's really not much more to observe about today's mov...
Tue, Aug 12 2014, 4:44 PM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency
(FHFA) moved another step closer on Tuesday to its strategic goal of issuing a
single mortgage-backed security...
Tue, Aug 12 2014, 3:14 PM
Mortgage rates were unchanged for
the most part today. Of the lenders who had measurable changes from
yesterday's latest offerings, slight...
Tue, Aug 12 2014, 2:28 PM
It's baaaack.
The condo market that is. At least according to CoreLogic which says
condo construction completions are up 90 percent to 2,100 ...
Mon, Aug 11 2014, 11:34 AM
As we've discussed in the past, bond rallies that are fueled by geopolitical risk require constant feeding if they're to survive and thrive. In oth...
Mon, Aug 11 2014, 10:40 AM
Most
professional baseball teams still have 30+ games left in their season
(out of 162), and there is plenty of jockeying in the media regarding
...
Mon, Aug 11 2014, 7:33 AM
Even during the strongest moves lower for rates, we'll still see periodic weakness within the trend. In other words, if rates are falling and general...
Mon, Aug 11 2014, 4:33 PM
Treasuries and MBS are heading out the door in very similar territory to Friday's latest levels. This is something of a relief considering they looke...
Mon, Aug 11 2014, 3:51 PM
While mortgage rates didn't enjoy as strong of a move lower as US Treasuries last week, they were nonetheless right in line with their best l...
Mon, Aug 11 2014, 1:53 PM
While HUD has yet to post an official announcement, multiple sources indicate Carol Galante has resigned as FHA Commissioner. David H.
Stevens, h...
Fri, Aug 8 2014, 12:52 PM
The fear of a bubble, according to TransUnion in a study it
released on Thursday basically boils down to fear of the unknown. There may exist a risk...
Fri, Aug 8 2014, 11:49 AM
There are plenty of big stories right now. In terms of broader markets, last night's announcement of US air strikes in Iraq was clearly the biggest...
Fri, Aug 8 2014, 10:45 AM
Mergers continue - and every one of them hopes it works out (and not like the cover of The Economist
titled "The Trouble with Mergers"). New York ...
Fri, Aug 8 2014, 7:31 AM
The simplest and easiest way to approach bond market movement is to simply follow economic data and analyze the moves in the context of that data. Wh...
Fri, Aug 8 2014, 5:04 PM
Remember the Polish Foreign Minister's warning about Russian troops amassing at the Ukrainian border? No? Can't blame you there, but what about the ...
Fri, Aug 8 2014, 3:28 PM
headlines about potential US air strikes in Iraq sent Treasury
yields plummeting. When MBS started trading this morning, they were
only moderatel...
Fri, Aug 8 2014, 3:08 PM
The gap between Americans who think it
is a good time to buy a house and those who feel it is a good time to sell
narrowed by six percentage points ...
Thu, Aug 7 2014, 12:51 PM
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae each reported
out another successful financial quarter today as each continued to reduce their
respective distressed lo...
Thu, Aug 7 2014, 12:17 PM
When we reference "European bond markets," we're talking about the undisputed benchmark for the Eurozone: German Bunds. It's important to keep in min...
Thu, Aug 7 2014, 11:18 AM
Ah
yes, it's almost that time of year again when the first "Back to School
Sale" signs start going up; children everywhere get that 'time is
run...
Thu, Aug 7 2014, 7:31 AM
First of all, there are far worse kinds of stagnation in bond markets. The current variety--while appallingly range-bound--is at least stagnant near ...
Thu, Aug 7 2014, 4:39 PM
17 to 9. That's the current score between Treasuries and MBS in terms of day-over-day price gains. Or look at it this way. 10yr yields just had the...
Thu, Aug 7 2014, 4:11 PM
The delinquency rate for one-to-four
unit residential mortgages decreased for the fifth consecutive time in the
second quarter of 2014. The resul...
Thu, Aug 7 2014, 3:50 PM
Mortgage rates moved moderately lower today as bond markets benefited from overseas risks. These risks take several forms at the moment, ranging f...
Thu, Aug 7 2014, 2:42 PM
Sure, the stronger employment numbers of late and the well-developed home price recovery haven't translated to any meaningful improvements in building...
Wed, Aug 6 2014, 12:02 PM
Driven almost exclusively by European bond market strength (and stock market weakness), Treasuries and MBS began the day in much better territory . ...
Wed, Aug 6 2014, 11:43 AM
It's no secret that big banks view cheap jumbo mortgages as 'loss leaders' to bring
in new banking and wealth management business. Given Wells Fa...
Wed, Aug 6 2014, 11:33 AM
The second in a series of live webinars
to help lenders prepare for the implementation of new disclosure has been scheduled
for August 26. The webi...
Wed, Aug 6 2014, 10:56 AM
HUD recently took took action against
a California lender for "denying or delaying mortgage loans to women
because they were on maternity leav...
Wed, Aug 6 2014, 9:43 AM
An increase in refinancing drove mortgage applications slightly higher
during the week ended August 1, 2014, even as the number of purchase
applica...
Wed, Aug 6 2014, 7:33 AM
Today's economic/event calendar is limited to the recently unimportant and uninspiring trade gap data, so let's talk about the stock lever and long te...
Wed, Aug 6 2014, 5:06 PM
Treasuries and--by default--MBS are still more than willing to take cues from European bond markets. This is especially true in the overnight session...
Wed, Aug 6 2014, 4:06 PM
Mortgage rates edged microscopically lower today, though some lenders were unchanged from Tuesday's latest levels.
this morning. Bond markets (...
Tue, Aug 5 2014, 11:37 AM
The beginning of the overnight session was uneventful, with relatively little movement until European markets came online. From there, bond markets...
Tue, Aug 5 2014, 11:21 AM
The expected surge in the number of
homes for sale has not yet materialized and the resulting tight supply is among
the factors leading to higher pr...
Tue, Aug 5 2014, 10:59 AM
The homeownership rate in
the US fell again last quarter, to 64.7%, the lowest rate in almost 20
years . Separately, the rental vacancy rate fe...
Tue, Aug 5 2014, 9:40 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association credited an increase in the
number of jumbo adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) programs in July for a slight
increase...
Tue, Aug 5 2014, 7:31 AM
At the risk of confusing "first chances" with "good chances," there's at least some chance that today will succeed where yesterday failed. As we di...
Tue, Aug 5 2014, 4:23 PM
It was a tale of two headlines today; one of the scheduled; the other, a surprise. The schedule economic data at 10am showed ISM's Non-Manufacturing ...
Tue, Aug 5 2014, 3:18 PM
Mortgage rates were just slightly higher
this morning. Bond markets (which set the tone for mortgage pricing)
lost some ground overnight and r...
Mon, Aug 4 2014, 12:28 PM
As it indicated in its "first look" at
June mortgage performance data released last month, Black Knight Financial
Services said today that the natio...
Mon, Aug 4 2014, 11:36 AM
Both MBS and Treasuries are trading in just slightly better territory than Friday's best levels. That's really about all there is to say about today....
Mon, Aug 4 2014, 10:44 AM
Are you an appraiser ? Maybe you should be honored: there are fewer and fewer of you every year, and your ranks are down to 80,500 nationwide . Ther...
Mon, Aug 4 2014, 7:33 AM
Bond markets did their best last week. After hitting the year's best levels in late May, nothing else has really happened, or even stood the chance t...
Mon, Aug 4 2014, 4:53 PM
For a day that sits adjacent to NFP Friday, today was calm and uneventful. Bond markets started out right in line with Friday's latest levels and i...
Mon, Aug 4 2014, 4:11 PM
Mortgage rates held their ground over
the weekend, with most lenders offering the exact same rates and costs
as Friday afternoon. There were n...
Mon, Aug 4 2014, 4:03 PM
The Federal Reserve's July Senior Loan Officer
Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices showed a continued easing of lending
standards and terms f...
Fri, Aug 1 2014, 12:31 PM
Construction spending in June fell slightly below
that in May the Census Bureau said today.
Overall construction put in place during the month wa...
Fri, Aug 1 2014, 12:21 PM
MBS and Treasuries started the day in slightly weaker territory after a fairly uneventful overnight session. On NFP day, all eyes are on 8:30am anywa...